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Comment by johnnyworker | Hacker News Reader

> Seems perfectly reasonable people in academia would no longer wish to associate with his work. The author of this article is saying this should not be the case

No, the author isn't saying everybody must work with this person, they are saying someone who is working with the person should not be harassed for that.

> I'm very certain you can find plenty of real world examples of people's careers being ruined without incidents being criminally investigated

So what? As if that makes it okay, this medieval going after the totality of one's person and livelihood. Any and all people involved in such mobs are guilty of worse than whatever they use as excuse for their stonings.

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Name one point or place in history where a person’s reputation didn’t mediate how people treated them.

In the context of international relations both Barack H. Obama and Donald J. Trump were treated equally regardless of their personal reputations in their official capacity as heads of state.

That’s not true lol. They obviously still had to deal with the leader of the most powerful economy and military in the world, yes, but if you don’t think Trump’s reputation as an untrustworthy lying clown didn’t color those interactions (both official and personal) then I’ve got a bridge to sell you.

He was openly laughed at (not with) during addresses to the UN, for example.

More officially, the EU has been in crisis about building its own security since it became clear Trump seemed to hold a different meaning for “ally” than every president before him.

Those responses were in reaction to his relevant prior and concomitant actions as a head of state — not in reaction to his personal reputation as an individual.

Yeah sure, because True Intelligence is disregarding information you have about a person’s character when you engage with them…

A serial workplace or school sexual harasser affects many people's livelihoods, their own livelihood is very far down my list of concerns. Beware isolated demands for compassion.

There seems to be a reading comprehension challenge here. Commenters are struggling to understand the distinctions between being a sexual harasser, being accused of being a sexual harasser, being harassed for being an accused sexual harasser, and being harassed for working with an accused sexual harasser, while not being a sexual harasser yourself.

I understand the distinctions quite well, thank you. I spent around half an hour reading about the context of what he has been accused of doing before commenting.

> and [making accusations of] being harassed for working with an accused sexual harasser, while not being a sexual harasser yourself.

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