Guys, I feel this Biden situation needs to be seen as a cautionary tale, because what I see is that one side is taking advantage of some cultural shifts while the other is, without realizing, getting lost in them.
It is great that we are empowering people to speak up about misbehavior from powerful people in the past, and that some people are getting prosecuted for past criminal behavior that was swept under the rug. However, we need to be careful with being overzealous with all of this, or of confusing some social awkwardness from some individuals with potentially predatory behavior.
The other side has taken a position that resonates with many when it comes to these issues: People make mistakes in the past, we care about the present and the future. Of course, they say that because they support criminals and abusers like the Grifter-In-Chief, but take a moment to think about how the narrative is powerful. Most people have done stupid shit in the past, many times unintentionally. While we are desperately looking for any minor flaw in our candidates and ready to flog them in the public square, the GOP gives Donald Trump a chance, and the bastard is giving his constituents what they want- as bad as those things are.
So, let's be careful here. We expect the best from our candidates, but we know they are human, and we have to be willing to evaluate them for the good they have done and the good they can do, not only for a past mistake or two, in particular, if the mistake is minor and can be corrected with an apology and with being more careful.
Our field has excellent people in it, flawed like you and me, but great people anyway- let's not lose perspective here!
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