No need to apologize. Trail and conviction by mob is odious whether the mob is a collection of allegedly intelligent and educated hackers or whether it’s beer-guzzling trailer-trash.
The bottom line is, you have an accusation on the Internet without the benefit of an accused person facing their accusers, without a process for presenting and evaluating evidence in context, and without any kind of judge or referee in place to rule on any issues of admissibility or propriety.
We get together and lament how places like Fox news can distort the truth and present biased cases against people. And then when something comes along and plays to our prejudices, we whip out the torches and pitchforks, planning to ruin the accused plagiarizer and whatever professor may or may not have accepted this ridiculous essay.
Quite honestly, I find the thought of this person suffering in the future when they apply for a job somewhere entirely repugnant. Now, if there is some process and he is expelled from school or censured on his academic record, let him explain that to whomever asks. But the idea of having to defend himself against mob sentiment is a giant step backwards to frontier justice.
People fuss and fret over surrendering their liberties to the TSA. We should think about what part of civilized behaviour we voluntarily surrender when we act like this.
I was actually apologizing for the due process reference since it was a concept formed from the Magna Carta, and I wasn't necessarily adding to the discussion.
But I do fully agree he should have due process, for all we know he was punished already by his university (though I don't know why they would leave the essay posted online...)
The bottom line is, you have an accusation on the Internet without the benefit of an accused person facing their accusers, without a process for presenting and evaluating evidence in context, and without any kind of judge or referee in place to rule on any issues of admissibility or propriety.
We get together and lament how places like Fox news can distort the truth and present biased cases against people. And then when something comes along and plays to our prejudices, we whip out the torches and pitchforks, planning to ruin the accused plagiarizer and whatever professor may or may not have accepted this ridiculous essay.
Quite honestly, I find the thought of this person suffering in the future when they apply for a job somewhere entirely repugnant. Now, if there is some process and he is expelled from school or censured on his academic record, let him explain that to whomever asks. But the idea of having to defend himself against mob sentiment is a giant step backwards to frontier justice.
People fuss and fret over surrendering their liberties to the TSA. We should think about what part of civilized behaviour we voluntarily surrender when we act like this.