Stupidity Cubed

I’ve not said a lot about the recent Herman Cain flap–and nothing here, as far as I can recall. A couple of observations, though:

Every (and I do very specifically mean EVERY) case of workplace “sexual harassment” that I have been personally aware of, and near enough to know the players, has been bogus. Not just questionable: B-O-G-U-S. I’m not saying that sexual harassment in the workplace does not take place, just that I have no personal knowledge of ANY legitimate sexual harassment charges made based on workplace (or even remotely work related) behaviors. My own take, based on the cases I know personally, is that in each case, the women involved deserved and needed a whipping for having made their slanderous accusations, but in at least one case (and maybe another) some sort of “settlement” was made to make them go away. Very away.

That sort of shakedown really offends me.

And then there’s this comment in an ABC “story”:

Cain has already denounced the two previous allegations of sexual harassment against him as false, and suggested at least one of the women was a poor worker. But an ABC News investigation found that both women are highly respected professionals who have gone on to successful careers in and around government.

I hate to break it to the idiots who wrote that, but “Cain… suggested at least one of the women was a poor worker,” and “both women are highly respected professionals who have gone on to successful careers in and around government” does not form any basis for contradiction. Success in a “government career” isn’t necessarily based on being a good worker. Pournelle’s Iron Law of Bureaucracy hints at part of the reason for this:

Pournelle’s Iron Law of Bureaucracy states that in any bureaucratic organization there will be two kinds of people”:

First, there will be those who are devoted to the goals of the organization. Examples are dedicated classroom teachers in an educational bureaucracy, many of the engineers and launch technicians and scientists at NASA, even some agricultural scientists and advisors in the former Soviet Union collective farming administration.

Secondly, there will be those dedicated to the organization itself. Examples are many of the administrators in the education system, many professors of education, many teachers union officials, much of the NASA headquarters staff, etc.

The Iron Law states that in every case the second group will gain and keep control of the organization. It will write the rules, and control promotions within the organization.

As far as I’m concerned, since the women have “gone on to successful careers in and around government” anything they have to say now is worth less than a bucket of warm spit.

And then there’s the “substance” (such as it is) of the accusations I read. Cain made NON-SEXUAL “inappropriate gestures”? WTF is that, and how does something like that constitute sexual harassment in the mind of anyone but a seriously disturbed person who’s just itchin’ for a fight?

Still, I’m willing to suspend judgment–on the unnamed accusers (and the one woman whose lawyer has spoken). As Professor Jacobson says,

Let’s sum up the “facts” as they are known right now. Mostly unnamed people accused Herman Cain of unspecified conduct which some people who will not specify the people or the conduct have deemed “inappropriate.” And one of the unnamed people received a piddly $35,000 severance package almost 15 years ago for unspecified conduct which included conduct unrelated to Cain.

Now that they’ve got themselves a noose made of a bunch of hooie, the Mass MEdia Podpeople Hivemind looks like all it’s waiting for is a bit of gasoline to get on with the lynching and cross burning…

Update: Yep. I’m right. The media’s giving plenty of time and “ink” to someone claiming to be a lawyer of one of the women who was an accuser. “She’s not going to affirmatively make any public statements or public appearances about the case, everything will be through me,” the guy is quoted as saying. Sorry bubba and whiny baby claimed as client. Faceless accusers are worthless in my book. Worse than worthless. Using intermediaries to make proxy attacks while remaining in the shadows doesn’t even rise to the level of Tawana Brawley hoax “legitimacy” in my eyes.

(Cornell University Law) Professor William Jacobson has said in another place something that is also germane here, about the “agreement”–not necessarily “settlement”–one woman reached with the restaurant association Herman Cain was working for at the time in question:

Some people are acting like a $35,000 severance payment is a big deal. Trust me, it’s not. It’s less than the cost of defense of a case, and it avoids distractions and publicity which even a weak or false claim can bring. Some large companies will fight these claims even if the cost of defense exceeds a possible settlement, because the company wants to send a message to the workforce that you can’t just make a claim and get a check. But most smaller companies, and certainly a trade organization which needs good publicity, will settle quickly and quietly. I read nothing incriminating into a $35,000 severance agreement with an employee who also had other gripes with the company in addition to the as-yet unspecified issue with Herman Cain.