Spectral evidence & the skepto-atheist community explodes (again) over sex

[essentialsaltes]

This post has been a long time coming. Unfortunately, that doesn't mean it's particularly good, informative, or insightful.

jimhines' cartoon has been flying around recently:

Comments

Further info

[essentialsaltes]

Lousy Canuck has a detailed timeline of accusations & corroborations. Among them is the support of Karen from a coworker I lost track of. And a lot of smoke (not all of it anonymous) about Shermer. And a few things about Lawrence Krauss & other notables.

[ian_tiberius]

What Shermer did, I don't know. But I think that broadcasting anonymous allegations of a serious crime is contemptible, because there's no way for Shermer to speak in his own defense. He can't claim he wasn't at that conference, or that he has witnesses who can vouch for his behavior on that occasion, or anything else, because the accusation is anonymous. There's a reason our legal system doesn't admit anonymous testimony.

Also, there's this: "I reached out to one organization that was involved in the event at which I was raped, and they refused to take my concerns seriously."

I interpret this to indicate that she did not contact law enforcement. If the accuser won't call the cops, what action should the organization hosting the conference take?

I sympathize with anyone who's been sexually assaulted. But I don't think we can junk the normal standards by which we judge guilt and innocence for one particular type of accusation.

[essentialsaltes]

The latest wrinkle on the story I've seen is that because Shermer does not know who the accuser is, he must have raped many women.