[blaser-waffle]

No one is questioning his book smarts or ability to perceive auditory sounds. But, like, learn how to read the room, man.

He waded into the crazy internet morass that is sexual assault and Epstein, and didn't realize that quotes like the one below might trigger a response. That is either hopelessly naive, or absolutely "tone deaf" -- these have been over-the-top, hyper-sensitive topics for weeks.

Maybe he's just so used to staking odd or controversial positions and didn't see this as any different, I don't know. But the optics are terrible.

> "The most plausible scenario is that she presented herself to him as entirely willing," Stallman wrote in his post last Wednesday. "Assuming she was being coerced by Epstein, he would have had every reason to tell her to conceal that from most of his associates. I’ve concluded from various examples of accusation inflation that it is absolutely wrong to use the term 'sexual assault' in an accusation."

[lliamander]

And yet, people are concluding from that quote that he "loves rape", which is so wildly different from what he is actually saying that I have to wonder if people even read his words.

It seems to me the problem isn't that he's tone deaf but that other people have terrible reading comprehension.