My first instinct is to get angry. This story panders to my prejudices. A powerful, arrogant and privileged person who is famous for abusing his power in business is accused of abusing physical and/or emotional power? Mabel, get me my best pitchfork, we're going out tonight!
But then I remember the other part of my personality, the one that stands up for true justice, the one that objects when we make statements about people who appear to have stolen a phone or a laptop. I say these allegations haven't been proven in court, and we shouldn't "Try him in the press."
I think that attitude is warranted double when someone is contemptible. Justice for people accused of murder, of rape, of terrorism. This is the gold standard of justice, when we are fair with people who we think did it and deserve to be punished.
So. I am not speaking for him, and I am not minimizing the severity of the crimes innuendo is accusing him of committing. But I am speaking for our shared notion of justice.
Let these allegations be investigated thoroughly. Do not allow his wealth or power to discourage us. Let us show the world that we take accusations of violence against women on the job or in the home very seriously.
And when that process is concluded, let us form our judgments. But until then... Let us speak first to justice, and only second to our opinion of the individual in its cross-hairs.
In other words: "I was told to write this story, but I have no hard data on anything. Here's what the rumor mill is saying. We take stories like this seriously."
What a non-statement. Not sure why it was published. Maybe because it's Friday and the author wanted to leave?
I find that the least interesting thing of all. If you accused me of such things, I would have absolutely zero to say to the press. Innocent or guilty, you can only lose by talking to the press, especially off the cuff when they call.
The very best thing to do is to hire a PR firm who hires a lawyer with a bow tie and perfect silver hair to say, "Mr. Arrington is absolutely shattered by these accusations and is trying to recover in seclusion."
I would just state it as it is: "There's all these accusations floating around and no one is talking or offering up solid proof of anything (or police reports, for that matter). We just want you to know we are not avoiding the issue"
That would be better than some rambling prose that says nothing.
> Some former friends of Arrington’s, including Jason Calacanis and Loren Feldman have come forward this week to support her general claim, saying they have heard similar rumors.
Any number of people can hear the same rumor, without it being any more true.
I really don't want to be involved in this discussion, but since my name is bring brought up I need to make a couple of things clear:
First, and perhaps this is obvious, we should let the legal and journalistic process unfold. None of us know what is true except for the parties involved. These are very serious criminal allegations. Anything is possible--we just don't know.
Second, I made no mention of these rumors until the story broke and my name was dragged into it. I've sat on these rumors for years because they were just rumors.
Finally, I take no joy in any of this. I'm very happy that Mike and I broke up three years ago because I've been able to focus on my conference without his negativity.
> we should let the legal and journalistic process unfold
That didn't stop you from leading the conga line on Facebook[1]. That post and your other statements lead to you being used as a source to substantiate the claims, far from 'letting the process unfold'
I would be pretty harsh on this sort of journalism if it was a one time incident but there really seems to be a lot of smoke here.
And that typically means there is at least one fire.
And that is one fire too many.
Too often powerful figures are allowed to skate by because we want to believe the best of them. The internet is sometimes the only way victims can fight back - the threat of getting blackballed by someone that is asymmetrically powerful like this is otherwise too great to take the risk that a simple police report is going to get them justice.
That said, I hope that now that the potential victims have raised the issue that we all wait for the truth to come out.
I really disklike Arrington, i think hes an arrogant tool, but my opinion is based on his writings over the years, nothing else. I think this kind of scumbag tabloid journalism is a disgrace to the tech industry and techcrunch is a plague on all our houses. This matter should be dealt with by the authorities and those that report on it are feigning their concern in an effort to push up their pageviews.
This is not a news story related to technology or startups, nor is it though provoking or inspirational. I don't see how this belongs on HN, other than for tabloid sensationalism.
MA is someone not loved here in HN and in the tech blogs.Why is this story on the front page? Who seriously cares what happens in MA's life? (pg,please add a downvote button)
The worst part of this is the way these things tend to take on a life of their own once they're out of the box; they spiral quickly and can (and often do) harm the innocent / victim/s. The chaos tends to radically confuse what did or did not happen. And ultimately, even if Arrington did nothing wrong, he's going to get severely burned.
But then I remember the other part of my personality, the one that stands up for true justice, the one that objects when we make statements about people who appear to have stolen a phone or a laptop. I say these allegations haven't been proven in court, and we shouldn't "Try him in the press."
I think that attitude is warranted double when someone is contemptible. Justice for people accused of murder, of rape, of terrorism. This is the gold standard of justice, when we are fair with people who we think did it and deserve to be punished.
So. I am not speaking for him, and I am not minimizing the severity of the crimes innuendo is accusing him of committing. But I am speaking for our shared notion of justice.
Let these allegations be investigated thoroughly. Do not allow his wealth or power to discourage us. Let us show the world that we take accusations of violence against women on the job or in the home very seriously.
And when that process is concluded, let us form our judgments. But until then... Let us speak first to justice, and only second to our opinion of the individual in its cross-hairs.