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That does happen, women of certain demographics are seen as more expendable, but it sure as hell ain't "conservative women." It’s Black women and Indigenous women and queer women and women with disabilities and POC women and autistic women, and women who aren't feminine enough and all the other categories that get you discriminated against.

So, let's review what is actually happening.

After a story broke that Maine Senate Candidate Graham Patner (consensually) sexted a woman while married (and then admitted it to his wife, went to couple's counseling together, and now she says she has known about this for a while and they have worked through it), the NYT has released a very scary sounding article about Platner's past, that seems to contain a lot more rhetoric than substance. Let's look at some quotes:

"Several women did just that, describing Mr. Platner as a fun and caring partner, and saying they felt safe with him. Some remain friends with him to this day, years after their relationships ended."

This is a quote from the article, describing how Platner's past relationships feel about him. Here's more:

"Caroline Lemp, who dated Mr. Platner for several months in 2013, described him as a “gentle giant.” She said he never made her feel unsafe or showed any signs that he was struggling with the physical or mental effects of his military service."

"The others, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said Mr. Platner was never physically threatening. One, a nurse from Belfast, Maine, who dated him for a couple months after he returned home to Maine, described him as responsible, intelligent and supportive. Another, who dated him in Washington between roughly 2011 and 2013, said she witnessed some “potentially problematic behavior,” referring to his heavy drinking. But she “felt really safe with him,” she said."

The NYT claims:

"This article is based on interviews with more than two dozen people, including six women who had been romantically involved with Mr. Platner. The Times spoke with friends or acquaintances of several of the women, reviewed contemporaneous text and social media messages and saw some of Ms. Fifield’s diary entries."

However, despite numerous accounts of kindness, if some signs of PTSD and problematic behavior, the NYT chose to highlight predominantly Mrs. Fifield's story. She is the only one to accuse Platner of physical abuse, stating:

"He regularly grabbed her by the shoulders — sometimes hard enough to leave marks — and, on one occasion, yanked her out of a cab by her wrist after an argument when she wanted to stay in the car.

During one argument, she recalled, he twisted her arm behind her back, shoved her into a bedroom and held the door closed from the other side so she couldn’t get out, telling her to remain there until she was “calm.” Eventually, Ms. Fifield said, she fell asleep and left the next morning.

“It hurt,” she said. But she added: “It didn’t cause an injury, it didn’t break my arm.”

The times does note:

"Mr. Platner “strongly disputes” any claims of physical intimidation or altercations, his campaign said. The Times could not independently corroborate Ms. Fifield’s account of the altercations."

Yet, they decided to publish this anyway. They certainly did try to verify however.

"The Times reviewed texts between Ms. Fifield and Mr. Platner, along with Google Chat exchanges, texts and Facebook messages between Ms. Fifield and her friends during and after the relationship. The Times also reviewed some of Ms. Fifield’s diary entries from after the relationship had ended, and spoke with two of her friends who confirmed that the pair had an emotionally volatile relationship but could not corroborate the physical altercations or the most controversial comments she described."

The article also offers a review of Mrs. Fifield's own personal diary, which is absent any descriptions of physical abuse.

There is more in the article, quite a bit about Platner's toxic behavior after getting back from the Marines, but this is the only depiction of physical abuse.

If, as the article presents itself, this were a series of women, who each independently had violent, threatening, or abusive experiences with Platner, that would be one thing. That would be a clear pattern of abuse, and a clear indication that this man needs to be far far away from any halls of governance. But that is not what this is. This is one woman, Mrs. Fifield, who's uncorroborated is contrasted by dozens of others. One woman, who also worked for the Heritage Foundation, one of the most prominent far-right political organizations in America.

So to recap:

Two NYT reporters, working for a publication that has a history of bias against leftist candidates, contacted as many of Graham Platner's ex-girlfriends as possible, the vast majority of whom said they felt very safe and he was incredibly kind. However, they decided to publish a story heavily featuring allegations from one woman who worked for a far-right organization and who openly supports Graham's opponent in the race, with allegations they could not verify and not supported by the other women they contacted, but dressed up as a narrative about a pattern of problematic behavior.

This is not a me-too moment. This is a clear and deliberate smear attempt by a centrist publication and a conservative woman against a now socialist ex-boyfriend. The article does describe some very problematic behavior, and some concerning accounts. However, that which can be corroborated is no more than Platner has already discussed. He has been very open about his past alcoholism, toxic masculinity, and problematic behavior. He has also been very open about how he has changed from that, how he grew, and why his beliefs are different now.

https://web.archive.org/web/20260515113210/https://www.vulture.com/article/social-media-feeds-chaotic-good-projects-clipping.html

we're looking to create an AI policy, and when we were talking about this, my boss (older millennial) was genuinely shocked to hear that younger people do not (seem) to view AI positively (a la the recent commencement speakers being booed)

please rb for larger sample size!

Question 1/3

Thank you for helping with this data collection. Please rb for as big a sample as possible!