the mean wrote:Under that theory, anyone who just pays out prior to a court judgment gets a pass. I'm not willing to go there.
That's not the logic, at all. A settlement means nothing, one way or the other. I'm tired of seeing it trotted out as proof of guilt, is all. If anything, it makes the accused's claim look flimsier, to me. You want to out this person? You want their career to be ruined? You want to get the word out so that this doesn't happen to others? So why take a paycheck and a contract that says you can't mention it? I'm just saying a settlement could mean a lot of things other than guilt of anyone. It has no weight in that regard.
the mean wrote:The number of accusers crossed with the culture of sexual harassment at Fox News (see Roger Ailes) crossed with O'Reilly's personality doesn't make this one hard to believe.
Number of accusers, imo, means nothing. It costs absolutely nothing to accuse someone of something. Barely any effort at all. I'm surprised there aren't hundreds of accusers when it comes to every single high profile, financially well off person there is out there. Hell, it might actually even amount to that, on average. Also, 'culture' of your work place is not sturdy evidence. And I don't know Bill O'Reilly, so I can't comment on his personality. This is all shit that would never stand up to any actual argument. Not much more than a bunch of 'hunches' from people with predetermined agendas. Meaningless to critical analysis. Maybe he did, maybe he didn't. None of this stuff makes any impact on the argument. And that's what I was asking; Is there actually anything solid under all of these 'LOL BILL O'REILLY IS A GOD DAMN RAPIST' memes/comments/etc that I'm seeing. I guess there isn't.
the mean wrote:In the end, O'Reilly doesn't care if you or me think he was a serial sexual harasser. He's also not "ruined". I'm sure he'll get a payout on his way out the door. Ailes got $60 million, even after Fox's non-O'Reilly/Hannity top talent backed up his accusers.
[/quote]
Yeah, I don't really feel sorry for the guy. His career is certainly going to take a hit from this. But I don't care one way or the other. I just hate how much 'accusations' hold water with people when they dislike the person they are being charged against. The most glaring example is Bill Clinton. Everyone continually jumps on these band wagons will make endless excuses for that guy. But the list is pretty endless on both sides. I think sexual harassment and worse is pretty terrible. I hate how it's kind of a (negative) publicity tool, now. Seems pretty gross.