The professor of the #distractinglysexy fame loses his job

[Legbiter]

The Times should be highbrow enough. Although the "reputable" sources seem to be staffed by retards who just directly write their twitter feeds into articles and call it a day. Gotta get those clicks in and fast.

http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/science/article4478368.ece

[derspiess]

Wow.  I'd like to hear Meri's take on these new developments.

[Admiral Yi]

Wow.  I'd like to hear Meri's take on these new developments.

That's not fair.  She was proceeding on the assumption that the allegations were true, as were the rest of us.

And it must be said that science boy did a shit job of defending himself against the allegation.

[DGuller]

Wow.  I'd like to hear Meri's take on these new developments.

That's not fair.  She was proceeding on the assumption that the allegations were true, as were the rest of us.

That's not fair either.  Mobs form precisely because everyone "proceeds on the assumption", and few stop to think "wait, wait, this makes no sense at all, there most be more to the story".

[Legbiter]

He's not a PR flack and his colleagues couldn't throw him under the bus fast enough.

[Valmy]

Well this story just summed up everything I hate and fear about social media even more than I had originally thought.

That's not fair either.  Mobs form precisely because everyone "proceeds on the assumption", and few stop to think "wait, wait, this makes no sense at all, there most be more to the story".

I presume nobody here participated in the mob but yes. Besides it was not like Meri ever suggested that it was an assumption and the man might not be a monster. You can never defend yourself in social media, you are guilty. Well I hope everybody was proud of getting another person fired and their life destroyed.

[Malthus]

In terms of arguing on the 'net though, we can only 'proceed on the assumption' that what is reported is in fact accurate. This though was a failure of traditional journalism not social media - the speech was public (lending support to the assumption it was accurately reported).

[Valmy]

In terms of arguing on the 'net though, we can only 'proceed on the assumption' that what is reported is in fact accurate. This though was a failure of traditional journalism not social media - the speech was public (lending support to the assumption it was accurately reported).

The failure of social media was then launching a campaign of character assassination and public pressure and mob action. This is fundamentally unjust, you cannot defend yourself from this kind of attack, there can be no witnesses called or a fair hearing had. Traditional Journalism got it right eventually but social media works lightning fast. By the time we discovered the situation was more complicated than we thought, the pound of flesh from the mob terror had already been extracted. People who knew the truth of the situation were coerced into firing him.

It is garbage and horrifying.

[Malthus]

In terms of arguing on the 'net though, we can only 'proceed on the assumption' that what is reported is in fact accurate. This though was a failure of traditional journalism not social media - the speech was public (lending support to the assumption it was accurately reported).

The failure of social media was then launching a campaign of character assassination and public pressure and mob action. This is fundamentally unjust, you cannot defend yourself from this kind of attack, there can be no witnesses called or a fair hearing had. Traditional Journalism got it right eventually but social media works lightning fast. By the time we discovered the situation was more complicated than we thought, the pound of flesh from the mob terror had already been extracted. People who knew the truth of the situation were coerced into firing him.

It is garbage and horrifying.

Oh, I agree that it sucks.

[Ed Anger]

Chicks. 

[derspiess]

Wow.  I'd like to hear Meri's take on these new developments.

That's not fair.  She was proceeding on the assumption that the allegations were true, as were the rest of us.

All I'm saying is I would like to hear what she has to say.  But since you went there, it would be quite fair for me to call her out on this.  Always a good idea to wait for all the facts to be known before you start calling for someone's life to be ruined.

And it must be said that science boy did a shit job of defending himself against the allegation.

Well, I'm sure you know that the shitstorm began and then spread rapidly while he was flying back home.  He had no way of defending himself before certain people had already made up their minds.  But maybe he should have hired a PR firm before he boarded his flight from Korea, dunno.

[Valmy]

Well, I'm sure you know that the shitstorm began and then spread rapidly while he was flying back home.  He had no way of defending himself until certain people had already made up their minds.  But maybe he should have hired a PR firm before he boarded his flight from Korea, dunno.

Interesting that is exactly the same way the woman who made the AIDS joke got fired and defamed.

[garbon]

Did Meri call for his life to be ruined?

[Martinus]

If this unfortunate experience teaches us anything, it's that we should never take the word of a woman over that of a man.