"McMaster's Imaginary Sex Ring"

[jimbogumbo]

A short follow up from the author of the piece:https://quillette.com/blog/2023/06/18/lessons-from-mcmaster-universitys-2020-sex-ring-social-panic/

[apl68]

A short follow up from the author of the piece:https://quillette.com/blog/2023/06/18/lessons-from-mcmaster-universitys-2020-sex-ring-social-panic/

Thank you for the follow-up.  The suggestions about how to avoid problems like this in the future all make sense.

"Witch hunt" is one of those emotive terms that it would be well to use with caution.  But if you've studied the actual witch panics of early modern times--I did in grad school, since that sort of thing took place in my field of study--what went on at McMaster U does have an awfully familiar ring to it.  Outbreaks of this sort of paranoia and panic are a perennial theme in human affairs.  This is why we need due process.  And why due process needs to be humane enough to take a "first do no harm" approach.