Bahama Times

Thursday, Mar 28, 2024

Our focus on past bad behaviour is blinding us to the wrongs of today

Our focus on past bad behaviour is blinding us to the wrongs of today

Society’s compulsive need to rake over retrospective sins means that we fail to focus on wrongdoing in the here and now. We should not prioritise retrospective punishment over contemporary justice.
In recent years the decades-old inappropriate behaviour of people has become more newsworthy than how they conduct themselves today.

So, when Tory MP Caroline Nokes accused Boris Johnson’s father, Stanley, of smacking her on the bottom 18 years ago, it was immediately highlighted by the media as today’s news.

Just to ensure that Noakes’ accusation remained newsworthy, the Labour Party exhorted the Tories to launch an investigation into Stanley Johnson’s behaviour. Adopting the tone of a political therapist, shadow Home Secretary Nick Thomas Symonds stated that a ‘serious allegation’ needs to be treated ‘extremely and sensitively’.

As is so often the case with retrospective allegations of misconduct, others soon pile on with their recollections of harassment. Ailbhe Rea, the New Statesman’s political correspondent, stated she was grateful to Nokes for calling out Johnson and stated that he had “groped me at a party at Conservative conference in 2019”.

In many cases retrospective accusations of sexual misconduct are motivated by the impulse of spoiling the reputation of a public figure. Take the case of Brett Kavanaugh. In 2018, Christine Blasey Ford went public with an allegation of sexual assault by Kavanaugh, the conservative judge who former President Donald Tump had chosen to replace the retiring Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy.

Ford claimed that back in the early 1980s, she was assaulted by Kavanaugh at a school party in Maryland. After Ford’s accusations made the headlines, two other women came forward to accuse Kavanaugh of sexual harassment at high school parties. These accusations made the headlines and Democratic Party politicians tried to use them to discredit Kavanaugh and block his nomination to the Supreme Court.

It is, of course, next to impossible to investigate an allegation of sexual harassment that occurred nearly four decades ago. Nor is it possible to investigate ‘sensitively’ the alleged vile behaviour of Stanley Johnson 18 years ago. Invariably such accusations are met with denial. In a situation where ‘she says’ is met by ‘he says’ people come to a conclusion on the basis of whether their sympathy lies with her or him.

However, something has radically changed! In the current era it is sufficient to make an allegation of sexual harassment for the accuser to gain the moral high ground. Since the emergence of the MeToo movement in 2017 there has been a veritable flood of retrospective allegations – often implicating prominent men. Whatever the outcome of these allegations they, at the very least, lead to spoiling the reputation of the accused.

A veritable army of offence archaeologists is constantly searching the past for examples of past behaviour with which to criminalise or at least embarrass their target.

Even before the rise of the MeToo movement, the mantra of ‘Believe The Victim’ enjoyed cultural authority. The duty to believe an allegation means that by virtue of making an accusation, the accuser gains access to the identity of being a victim. All that is needed is to mobilise one’s memory in order to achieve victim status.

No doubt individuals bear responsibility for the crimes that they have committed in the past. However, accusations of crimes perpetrated decades ago require the same standard of proof as those mounted today. Otherwise, injustice will prevail.

Let us focus on the boorish and inappropriate behaviour of public figures in the here and now rather than engaging in the dubious project of offence archaeology.
Newsletter

Related Articles

Bahama Times
0:00
0:00
Close
Paper straws found to contain long-lasting and potentially toxic chemicals - study
FTX's Bankman-Fried headed for jail after judge revokes bail
Blackrock gets half a trillion dollar deal to rebuild Ukraine
Israel: Unprecedented Civil Disobedience Looms as IDF Reservists Protest Judiciary Reform
America's First New Nuclear Reactor in Nearly Seven Years Begins Operations
Southeast Asia moves closer to economic unity with new regional payments system
Today Hunter Biden’s best friend and business associate, Devon Archer, testified that Joe Biden met in Georgetown with Russian Moscow Mayor's Wife Yelena Baturina who later paid Hunter Biden $3.5 million in so called “consulting fees”
Singapore Carries Out First Execution of a Woman in Two Decades Amid Capital Punishment Debate
Google testing journalism AI. We are doing it already 2 years, and without Google biased propoganda and manipulated censorship
Unlike illegal imigrants coming by boats - US Citizens Will Need Visa To Travel To Europe in 2024
Musk announces Twitter name and logo change to X.com
The politician and the journalist lost control and started fighting on live broadcast.
The future of sports
Unveiling the Black Hole: The Mysterious Fate of EU's Aid to Ukraine
Farewell to a Music Titan: Tony Bennett, Renowned Jazz and Pop Vocalist, Passes Away at 96
Alarming Behavior Among Florida's Sharks Raises Concerns Over Possible Cocaine Exposure
Transgender Exclusion in Miss Italy Stirs Controversy Amidst Changing Global Beauty Pageant Landscape
Joe Biden admitted, in his own words, that he delivered what he promised in exchange for the $10 million bribe he received from the Ukraine Oil Company.
TikTok Takes On Spotify And Apple, Launches Own Music Service
Global Trend: Using Anti-Fake News Laws as Censorship Tools - A Deep Dive into Tunisia's Scenario
Arresting Putin During South African Visit Would Equate to War Declaration, Asserts President Ramaphosa
Hacktivist Collective Anonymous Launches 'Project Disclosure' to Unearth Information on UFOs and ETIs
Typo sends millions of US military emails to Russian ally Mali
Server Arrested For Theft After Refusing To Pay A Table's $100 Restaurant Bill When They Dined & Dashed
The Changing Face of Europe: How Mass Migration is Reshaping the Political Landscape
China Urges EU to Clarify Strategic Partnership Amid Trade Tensions
Europe is boiling: Extreme Weather Conditions Prevail Across the Continent
The Last Pour: Anchor Brewing, America's Pioneer Craft Brewer, Closes After 127 Years
Democracy not: EU's Digital Commissioner Considers Shutting Down Social Media Platforms Amid Social Unrest
Sarah Silverman and Renowned Authors Lodge Copyright Infringement Case Against OpenAI and Meta
Italian Court's Controversial Ruling on Sexual Harassment Ignites Uproar
Why Do Tech Executives Support Kennedy Jr.?
The New York Times Announces Closure of its Sports Section in Favor of The Athletic
BBC Anchor Huw Edwards Hospitalized Amid Child Sex Abuse Allegations, Family Confirms
Florida Attorney General requests Meta CEO's testimony on company's platforms' alleged facilitation of illicit activities
The Distorted Mirror of actual approval ratings: Examining the True Threat to Democracy Beyond the Persona of Putin
40,000 child slaves in Congo are forced to work in cobalt mines so we can drive electric cars.
BBC Personalities Rebuke Accusations Amidst Scandal Involving Teen Exploitation
A Swift Disappointment: Why Is Taylor Swift Bypassing Canada on Her Global Tour?
Historic Moment: Edgars Rinkevics, EU's First Openly Gay Head of State, Takes Office as Latvia's President
Bye bye democracy, human rights, freedom: French Cops Can Now Secretly Activate Phone Cameras, Microphones And GPS To Spy On Citizens
The Poor Man With Money, Mark Zuckerberg, Unveils Twitter Replica with Heavy-Handed Censorship: A New Low in Innovation?
Unilever Plummets in a $2.5 Billion Free Fall, to begin with: A Reckoning for Misuse of Corporate Power Against National Interest
Beyond the Blame Game: The Need for Nuanced Perspectives on America's Complex Reality
Twitter Targets Meta: A Tangle of Trade Secrets and Copycat Culture
The Double-Edged Sword of AI: AI is linked to layoffs in industry that created it
US Sanctions on China's Chip Industry Backfire, Prompting Self-Inflicted Blowback
Meta Copy Twitter with New App, Threads
The New French Revolution
BlackRock Bitcoin ETF Application Refiled, Naming Coinbase as ‘Surveillance-Sharing’ Partner
×