There Should Be An Incentive to Apologize, Rather Than To Gaslight and Attack
I know that Republicans and some folks in the media will try pain a false equivalency between Roy Moore/Donald Trump and Al Franken. In the case of Al Franken, we have a reported incident of boorish behavior that is unacceptable. In an employment context, it would likely lead to counseling and a reprimand, but probably not to immediate termination if the an employee express remorse and was willing to change their behavior. I think we should encourage men who have engaged in isolated acts of boorish behavior, unwanted touching, to apologize and correct their behavior.
On the other hand, you have Roy Moore and Donald Trump who simply deny their bad behavior, minimize it, attack and threaten their accusers, and insist that they have done nothing wrong. With such acts, they re-victimize those they have harassed and discourage other women from coming forward. Worse, what Moore and Trump are accused of is a pattern of abusive and predatory behavior, rather than just one incident.
It does not make sense to create incentives for men to act like Donald Trump and Roy Moore where they are given the benefit of the doubt because they are willing to lie and engage in a scorched earth campaign against their accusers. Indeed, by indulging in this false equivalency, it creates an incentive for those accused to engaged in scorched campaign against women, because there is no downside is the same, so why not attack, attack, since there is no upside to apologizing and correcting your behavior, particularly if the accused has not engaged in a pattern of abuse.
Now, if evidence were to come out that Al Franken engaged in a pattern of harassment, then by all means, he should resign. However, the evidence that has come out is that his behavior was boorish, but he was not trying to sleep with or enter into a relationship with the woman who has accused him of misconduct. I think many men have probably engaged in some boorish, sexist behavior at some time. Such behavior should be condemned. However, we should also encourage people to acknowledge and correct such behavior.
I think it is similar to folks who have a drug or alcohol problem. If they are in denial and let it continue to affect their work, they get fired. However, if they are undergoing treatment, it is treated like a disability so long as they are making an honest and steady effort to address the issue.
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