Matt Lauer, EX-famous news anchor

[230RN]

While I admit that I have reveled in schadenfreude since the election, I do take a step back regarding AJ's quote above. While I can sympathize with "fight fire with fire",  I get a little scared when we start talking about things like "10-1 ratios" and acceptable collateral damage.

It begins to sound not much different than what this person said:
https://twitchy.com/brettt-3136/2017/11/21/teen-vogue-columnist-not-at-all-concerned-about-innocent-men-and-false-harassment-allegations/

 As a, "better 99 guilty men go free than one innocent man wrongly accused" kind of guy, that bothers me.

That's why I edited AJ Dual's remarks to include only the street fight analogy and stuff about "their" tactics.

That reflects the reason for our anger over the years, which came to the rolling boil of 2016.  I was hoping we wouldn't rest on our laurels in 2018. 2017 was a bit of a warning that we might actually forget "Why Trump" and MAGA and just sit on our back porches plinking at tin cans next November 6th.

WRT to the  "10:1" ratio, the numbers will fall the way they fall, bearing in mind that out of 100 high muckey-mucks including journalists nowadays, a majority will probably be leftists.  Thus, the sampling will reflect the population.

WRT the innocent versus guilty, I hope the population starts to remember how many times high-profile false accusations have been uncovered.

Accusations are cheap.  Defense is expensive.

Terry, 230RN

[MillCreek]

I think I'm looking at it contrary to most of the rest of you. I'm not looking at progressive vs conservative or any political aspect; I'm looking at actual predator vs somebody getting railroaded for a hug, or even totally false allegations. Speaking out is becoming the cool thing to do, almost like a fad. It will hurt innocent people and dilute any justified anger towards the actual perpetrators.

I realize I'm bucking the APS trend, but lynch mobs scare me.

I agree with you completely, Ben.  I have become exceedingly conscious about this lately, what with being an educated affluent middle-aged white male professional who works in a female-dominated profession.  I can say with certainty that I have never grabbed or assaulted any woman in my life, but I am equally sure that I have said inappropriate, unkind, unthoughtful or even sexually-oriented comments to women.

[230RN]

Jeeze, the worst I used to do was tip my hat at ladies and smile.  I quit raising an eyebrow at them while doing that as being too suggestive.

[just Warren]

I've just about stopped inviting them into my windowless van.

[Hawkmoon]

It does now look like my opinion is wrong. Still no actual data, but it looks to be becoming an "everybody knew" thing, ala Weinstein.

Unfortunately for Mr. Lauer, at least one of the young ladies he sexted seems not to have hit "Delete":

https://pagesix.com/2017/11/29/matt-lauer-accused-of-sexting-nbc-intern-and-staffers/

A source told Page Six, “There’s at least one picture [sent to her by Matt] which was a major part of the evidence, which is why the firing came so quickly … my understanding was it was so damning that it was unquestionable whether or not he should be fired.

“I think everyone was a bit surprised how quickly this all turned around. No one expected his termination to happen that quickly. I believe the silver bullet was the photo and that was so damning that they had no other option but to fire him.

And then there's the coup de grace:

“Plus, the girl had a high-power attorney and so everyone knew if NBC didn’t make a decision and push it out quick, they would have arranged for a sit-down interview with a competitor [and the messages could be made public]. Matt took the news well once he realized he was in a corner. He was very apologetic.”

Maybe he can hang out with Anthony Weiner ...

[French G.]

What's the endgame? Do we die as a species because the formerly known as men are afraid to express any sexual interest ever? This is a damn mess. Thinking of Scott Adams and hysteria bubble, we're damn close to stacking rocks on a guy until he confesses.

[T.O.M.]

Maybe he can hang out with Anthony Weiner ...

And this line made me spit on my monitor, ya jerk.   

[De Selby]

What's the endgame? Do we die as a species because the formerly known as men are afraid to express any sexual interest ever? This is a damn mess. Thinking of Scott Adams and hysteria bubble, we're damn close to stacking rocks on a guy until he confesses.

More weight!

[Hawkmoon]

It's all okay, though, because Lauer says he's "truly sorry."

https://pagesix.com/2017/11/30/matt-lauer-breaks-silence-i-am-truly-sorry/

Sure he's sorry -- that he just lost a $25 million/year gig, and is likely unemployable in his chosen profession for the foreseeable future. You bet he's sorry, but not for the hurt he caused to other people.

[freakazoid]

Unfortunately for Mr. Lauer, at least one of the young ladies he sexted seems not to have hit "Delete":

https://pagesix.com/2017/11/29/matt-lauer-accused-of-sexting-nbc-intern-and-staffers/

And then there's the coup de grace:

Maybe he can hang out with Anthony Weiner ...

So what was this horrible picture he apparently sent, and what were the circumstances surrounding it's sending?

[T.O.M.]

It's all okay, though, because Lauer says he's "truly sorry."

https://pagesix.com/2017/11/30/matt-lauer-breaks-silence-i-am-truly-sorry/

Sure he's sorry -- that he just lost a $25 million/year gig, and is likely unemployable in his chosen profession for the foreseeable future. You bet he's sorry, but not for the hurt he caused to other people.

Like most criminals I see in court, they are sorry.  Sorry they got caught, not necessarily sorry for committing the act that led to them facing the consequences.

A local radio station was having an interesting conversation about this trend this morning.  It came down to a discussion of the cases where the victim acknowledges that the acts were consensual, but after the fact indicate that the consent was based on fear of retribution/career damage/etc.  This boiled down to a question: is it now unacceptable for a person with authority (real or apparent) to seek or engage in a romantic relationship with someone in the workplace?  IMHO, it is foolish to do so in this day and age, because of the way these situations are playing out.  As I once heard said, don't fish off of the company pier. 

That said, SWMBO and I started dating when we were both employed as prosecutors in the same office, but in different units.  I was a supervisor (not her supervisor).  So, I guess I would be in deep these days.   

[230RN]

Sure he's sorry -- that he just lost a $25 million/year gig, and is likely unemployable in his chosen profession for the foreseeable future. You bet he's sorry, but not for the hurt he caused to other people.

Like most criminals I see in court, they are sorry.  Sorry they got caught, not necessarily sorry for committing the act that led to them facing the consequences.

These remarks illustrate once again the difference between one's behavior being regulated by an internal code of ethics versus being regulated by an external monitoring entity.

A trivial and obvious point, of course...

...yet too many people just don't get it.

Terry, 230RN

[DittoHead]

is it now unacceptable for a person with authority (real or apparent) to seek or engage in a romantic relationship with someone in the workplace? 

Yes, but that's not really new. 
That has been the case everywhere I have worked for the past ~10 years. It is very strongly discouraged regardless of any disparity in authority. Relationships, especially ending ones, tend to create a lot of drama that doesn't belong at work.

[dogmush]

Don't *expletive deleted*ck where you work.

This is not a new concept in workplaces.

[Hawkmoon]

A local radio station was having an interesting conversation about this trend this morning.  It came down to a discussion of the cases where the victim acknowledges that the acts were consensual, but after the fact indicate that the consent was based on fear of retribution/career damage/etc.  This boiled down to a question: is it now unacceptable for a person with authority (real or apparent) to seek or engage in a romantic relationship with someone in the workplace?  IMHO, it is foolish to do so in this day and age, because of the way these situations are playing out.  As I once heard said, don't fish off of the company pier.  

That said, SWMBO and I started dating when we were both employed as prosecutors in the same office, but in different units.  I was a supervisor (not her supervisor).  So, I guess I would be in deep these days.  

Many companies have rules prohibiting ANY relationships between employees. Thirty-plus years ago I worked for a company that did not have any such rule. I was a project architect, and I entered into a relationship with a colleague who was also a project architect. We were at the same level, so (one might be tempted to think) there was no problem, since it wasn't against the rules, and I had no authority over her.

Except that about the time the relationship ended the owner unexpectedly restructured the organization, and named me as "Director of Technical Services" -- which put me over all the project architects (and everyone beneath them). In essence, I supervised everyone except the boss's personal assistant, and the marketing department. And this became a problem because my former girlfriend was doing a piss-poor job of keeping a couple of major contracts on time and within budget, and this was discussed during her annual review. As might be expected, her response was "You're just making this up because you don't like me any more."

 

[MillCreek]

There are a ton of intra-staff romantic relationships in hospitals, and most healthcare facilities have the prohibition about not directly supervising your romantic interest.  The tricky part is when things fall apart and one party gets a no-contact/anti-harassment/domestic violence order against the other.  In Washington state, these orders often have a distance provision; i.e.: party A needs to stay at least 200 feet away from party B at all times. This is a head scratcher when both party A and B work on the same unit and you have to figure out who gets transferred, if one party does not volunteer to go.

[grampster]

Heh.  I found my wife the easy way.  I crashed into her car with my police cruiser.  Her very first words to me were "You dumb sonofabitch, look what you did to my car."  A few months later I saw a young woman in a local pub.  She looked familiar as well as attractive.  I walked up and smoothly remarked, "Don't I know you from someplace?"  She looked me up and down and said, "Yeah.  You're the dumb sonofabitch who smashed up my car."

6 months later we got married.  51 years later, we're still married.

[dogmush]

Heh.  I found my wife the easy way.  I crashed into her car with my police cruiser.  Her very first words to me were "You dumb sonofabitch, look what you did to my car."  A few months later I saw a young woman in a local pub.  She looked familiar as well as attractive.  I walked up and smoothly remarked, "Don't I know you from someplace?"  She looked me up and down and said, "Yeah.  You're the dumb sonofabitch who smashed up my car."

6 months later we got married.  51 years later, we're still married.

And during arguments she still brings up the smashed car....

[grampster]

^^^^

[Kingcreek]

erections have consequences

[freakazoid]

Heh.  I found my wife the easy way.  I crashed into her car with my police cruiser.  Her very first words to me were "You dumb sonofabitch, look what you did to my car."  A few months later I saw a young woman in a local pub.  She looked familiar as well as attractive.  I walked up and smoothly remarked, "Don't I know you from someplace?"  She looked me up and down and said, "Yeah.  You're the dumb sonofabitch who smashed up my car."

6 months later we got married.  51 years later, we're still married.

 

[p12]

Don't *expletive deleted*ck where you work.

This is not a new concept in workplaces.

I always heard it as "Don't  dip your  pen in the company ink well"

Sent from my SM-T230NU using Tapatalk

[French G.]

In general good advice but the flip side is here is a group of people somewhat like you that you spend a lot of your life with. Relationships will happen. Jobs change, and it is worth getting a new job if it is the relationship of a lifetime. And there is a wrong and a right way to do it. Okay, many wrong ways. In the Navy dating was discouraged, but they couldn't stop it. Only thing that was hard and fast was fraternization issues due to difference in grade or senior/subordinate. Never really had much trouble, I did have one married couple which isn't supposed to happen. The dumb husband worked for me and the New Jersey italian wife would make her way across the hangar to rip him a new one with regularity. But mostly entertaining. And once people were married and at different commands? Best thing ever for me, way less personal outside of work issues coming out of dual military families, and often your most professional folks, usually because they were competing at home to see who advanced first.

[MechAg94]

These remarks illustrate once again the difference between one's behavior being regulated by an internal code of ethics versus being regulated by an external monitoring entity.

A trivial and obvious point, of course...

...yet too many people just don't get it.

Terry, 230RN

Well, I have had at least one liberal tell me bad personal conduct by a Republican was worse because they claim to have good values and Democrats don't.  When you have a chunk of your base who believe the ends justify the means, things can get out of control.

The main thing I would keep in mind with regard to accusations and false accusations is not to jump to conclusions at the first report of scandal.  If the accusations are false, the story usually breaks down eventually.  If the news only breaks within 30 days or so of the election, it might be best to ignore it altogether and don't let it affect your choice. 

I haven't seen any actual stories, but I keep hearing bits and pieces saying the accusations against Moore in Alabama are falling apart.  The accuser isn't trustworthy and the evidence they supposedly had is not panning out.  One of you may be paying closer attention to this.

[Hutch]

So, I guess nobody hangs mistletoe at the office Christmas party this year?