The following is the text of my answer to a question that was posed on Quora.com: "How does Rosanne Barr get away with calling people who come forward in the #MeToo movement 'hos'?"
I don’t endorse (nor appreciate the wording of) Roseanne Barr’s statement - however, over time I have come to have a very low opinion of the #MeToo movement in terms of its central and extrajudicial tactic, which is to publicly accuse high-profile men of sexual misconduct in the absence of any legal process in which they would have to substantiate their accusations, and in which the accused would have the opportunity to properly defend themselves.
#MeToo is based on the assumptions of “social justice” (assignment of guilt, and withholding of due process, according to biological or other uncontrollable factors), rather than natural justice (the presumption of innocence pending proof of guilt, and adequate due process regardless of biological or other uncontrollable factors). This is why the #MeToo hashtag is often used along side #BelieveSurvivors, or #BelieveAllWomen, which presumes that a mere accusation equals guilt if the accused happens to be male.
Ultimately, the #MeToo movement is not about fighting for genuine victims, but rather is simply about punishing men regardless of their guilt or innocence, which in turn indicates that it is based simply on hate (misandry) rather than any righteous pursuit of justice.
And so, although I wouldn’t have used Ms. Barr’s wording, I would certainly say that the movement overall has an integrity problem, and creates political leeway for women to ruin other people’s lives with near impunity, and for that reason I’m not really bothered by Ms. Barr’s statement, and am willing to give her a pass this time around.
