Aoi

The speed with which so many individuals have treated an unproven and disputed allegation as settled fact in the Platner case is genuinely disturbing, particularly bc it was immediately folded into a preexisting narrative by those who already disliked him for entirely separate reasons. An allegation proves nothing by itself; it’s the claim that requires proof. It certainly doesn’t retroactively validate unrelated accusations, suspicions, or political judgments. Caution was especially warranted here, where the allegation was transparently useful both to Democratic factional struggles and to Republican efforts to discredit the broader “Left”. The media ecosystem that made this possible, one that increasingly equates skepticism w apology and substitutes guilt by association for evidence, creates exactly the conditions in which demagoguery reproduces itself.

As someone whose legal work has involved defending those accused of serious crimes, I’m accustomed to resisting the instinct to treat accusations as verdicts. Most progressives celebrate that principle in the abstract until they confront what it actually means in practice. The Senate race isn’t the courtroom and Platner isn’t entitled to the legal protections of a criminal defendant in the political arena. Nor do I think he was beyond criticism. His admiration for aspects of American military history and his time as a private contractor are perfectly legitimate subjects for political debate. But none of those questions are resolved, strengthened, or weakened by an unrelated allegation. The principle at stake is larger than one candidate.

me listening to Bonnie Tyler all day bcuz this is what this queen would’ve wanted