Recently I reported on the media’s focus on the victims of the so-called “inappropriate behavior” rather than decrying the tragic death, suicide and family left behind because a man felt compelled to kill himself rather than deal with the fall-out from the #metoo allegations at his workplace. The lawyer allegedly engaged in “inappropriate behavior” with two female office mates at the firm’s Christmas party and was found dead at a bottom of a cliff with his daughter’s teddy bear at the suicide site.

I thought it was bizarre enough that the media focused on grief counseling for accusers and office mates who would not find closure to the “inappropriate behavior” Christmas party allegations, rather than asking whether terminating any man accused of “harassment” or “inappropriate behavior” was the right thing for employers to do in light of the male suicide epidemic.

In a bizarre turn of events, Paul Hodkinson, Editor-In-Chief of a legal publication encouraged his readers to stay vigilant and continue the trend of #metoo allegations. In an article titled, “The Eversheds Tragedy and #MeToo: Why Victims Must Still Speak Out”, Hodkinson writes:

“both women are “devastated” at the news of his death, and one ex-Eversheds partner noted that they must be feeling terrible about the whole thing. Yet there is no suggestion they did anything wrong. If anything, calling out the behavior of a partner who had held such a status for more than 15 years sounds pretty courageous.”

He then blamed the suicide on the lawyer’s mental health problems without there being any evidence of mental health problems:

“Investigating such allegations is rarely straightforward, especially if the accused has a history of mental health problems.”

Hodkinson then expresses fear that these inconvenient suicides might have a chilling effect on #metoo allegations which have been so profitable for his journal:

“If individuals who have been harassed become more hesitant to speak out, that would be a terrible consequence to an already terrible story. It has taken decades to get to the long-overdue point where women feel as though their sexual harassment complaints would be taken seriously by employers. It is crucial that one tragedy not lead to another, where mistreated people are given yet more reasons to not speak out.”

The writer then comments that there could be a “silver lining” to the suicide — that employers might start taking these harassment allegations more seriously, and also start investigating the mental health of those accused.

Is he suggesting that anyone accused of “inappropriate behavior” at Christmas Parties suffers from mental health problems?

Tragic, but you couldn’t make this stuff up. The reporting on this case goes to show that the #metoo movement considers male lives dispensable and that even suicides should not slow us down from piling on with “harassment” allegations, even if completely frivolous.

Like this: Like Loading...