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Comment by 3327 | Hacker News Reader

Come on. All these guys who claim they are so smart and well rounded now all of a sudden are doing "I'm Sorry" posts as if they didn't know. WTF - of course they all were aware. Its easy acting all matter of fact and smart with everything else and then "I'm Sorry". Refer them to a public prosecutor because examples are needed for this to stop. We need some examples to be made.

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>Refer them to a public prosecutor because examples are needed for this to stop. We need some examples to be made.

Setting aside the fact there's nothing to prosecute in most of the cases, I'm curious why you think making examples of people is more important than punishing them in proportion to their offenses.

This post is a perfect example of what I've mentioned elsewhere.

If you ever find yourself in this person's shoes (innocent or guilty) you have nothing to gain by this sort of public display of remorse/sepukku as others have called it.

This type of angry, vitriolic, hate-filled-person will condemn you no matter if your apologies are sincere or not. The only logical move is to deny, people like the poster above will never believe you anyways but they're unwinable anyways.

As long as leftism rules the cultural zeitgeist apologizing for bad behavior will never be enough to matter.

Apologies like McClure are insincere because his behavior has likely been going on for years; targeting many many women (at least 6 according to his accuser); and because McClure knew then, as he does now, that he was in the wrong.

Why do you think he is apologizing? Do you really think he is sorry or just sorry he got caught? I'm sure he is sincere, sincere that he feels bad that he got caught and is now suffering the consequences. This is just like the murderer who cries crocodile tears during sentencing.

Occam's razor. A devil does not become a saint overnight.

How do you get away with asserting that he has likely done this "many many" times?

I do agree that an apology under these circumstances is not ideal, but what should he do, exactly? Dig a hole and jump in? Not respond at all? Just say it is true and leave it at that? Any response is going to be subject to dissatisfaction from some part of the mob that we are all part of.

I think the key is to realize that at some point in your life, you were the devil, whether your transgressions were subject to public scrutiny or not. Have some sympathy for the devil and do not be the one who casts a stone.

> How do you get away with asserting that he has likely done this "many many" times?

Sarah posted on twitter that other women have reached out to her claiming similar behavior.

https://twitter.com/sarahkunst/status/881004317674577920

> I think the key is to realize that at some point in your life, you were the devil, whether your transgressions were subject to public scrutiny or not. Have some sympathy for the devil and do not be the one who casts a stone.

In regards to his apology, I thought the qualifiers were offensive and it made me think he was being insincere. I see your point about the pitchforks and mob mentality and I see how my original comment can contribute to that.

That said, I also fee that as a society we have to emphatically reject this type of behavior, especially perpetuated by people with power/influence/resources against those without. We jail people in this country for far less.

I have been asking the same questions as you reading this thread, but I didn't jump to a conclusion anywhere near as readily as you have. There are far too many unknowns about the situation for me to do that.

You had me until 'leftism'. Could you further elaborate on this point?

I second this. It was a compelling argument until self-sabotage via way of injecting politics.

He doesn't have anything to gain, but his company does. They don't need the messy distraction of this incident ruining their business. This is their attempt to broom it, and they may end up brooming him as well.

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