The Other McCain

"One should either write ruthlessly what one believes to be the truth, or else shut up." — Arthur Koestler

Comedian @KurtMetzger Tells the Truth: Feminists Are Worse Than Lynch Mobs

Posted on | August 20, 2016 | 2 Comments

Earlier this month, a stand-up comic named Aaron Glaser was reportedly banned from a group-theater project called Upright Citizens Brigade (UCB) after a female comic claimed Glaser had sexually assaulted her. There are no criminal charges against Glaser; instead, UCB conducted its own “investigation” of the accusation and banned Glaser.

Nobody outside UCB knew anything about this until a woman posted a Facebook comment, claiming to speak on behalf of Glaser’s accuser, saying she “wants to warn other women, and let other women who may have raped by this man know that they’re not alone.”

“Multiple women came forward” to accuse Glaser, who was banned “for raping women in the comedy community over the years,” according to the Facebook post. In a Facebook post of his own, Glaser denied the accusation, and criticized the way the UCB conducted its “investigation,” saying UCB never even informed him he was being investigated until after it had decided he was guilty: “They brought me in, told me ‘a number of women . . . feel in the past you’ve raped them,’ and then banned me.” The UCB didn’t publicly announce this ban, and Glaser blamed “internet vigilantes” for publicizing the accusations against him.

To accuse someone of being a serial rapist with “multiple” victims “over the years” is a very serious thing. The previous three paragraphs took me a lot of work to write because, as a journalist who spent decades with a copy of The Associated Press Stylebook and Libel Manual on my desk, I know that you have to be careful in reporting such serious accusations, especially when there are no official law-enforcement sources to quote. Carefully read any newspaper story about an arrest or an investigation or a trial, and you will notice that everything in the story is attributed to some official source — “according to the affidavit,” or “police said.”

Reporters are trained to write this way, because otherwise you could be vulnerable to a libel claim. Also, attributing information to sources is a requirement of basic honesty in news reporting: You did not personally witness the suspect robbing the convenience store, police said he committed the robbery, and you are just reporting what the police said. The charge against the suspect is a matter of public record and you, as a reporter, are merely conveying that information to your readers.

SERIAL RAPIST AARON GLASER PREYED
ON WOMEN IN NEW YORK COMEDY SCENE,
ACCORDING TO SOMEBODY ON FACEBOOK

No newspaper would ever publish a headline like that, because Aaron Glaser’s attorney would sue their asses into bankruptcy. No reporter in his right mind would try to sneak a story like that past the copy desk. Some old-school editors I’ve known would probably clobber you over the head with a copy of the AP Stylebook: “FACEBOOK? YOU’RE QUOTING A G–DAMNED FACEBOOK POST ABOUT A RAPE CASE?”

Ever since Al Gore invented the Internet, news industry standards have been spiraling downward, and we now have Serious Journalists who consider an anonymous Facebook claim to be proof that Aaron Glaser is a rapist. As might be expected, Glaser’s attorney is not amused by this:

Glaser directed Revelist to his attorney, Byron A. Divins, Jr., who maintains Glaser’s innocence.
“My client denies engaging in any horrific incident described in your piece,” Divins said in a phone interview.
He explained that “we have to wait and see” what the next steps will be regarding the case, until Glaser gets more info from UCB.
“They brought him in and informed him without asking for his side or who the accusers are or what they said,” Divins said. “At this point, the UCB needs to get back with my client.”
When asked why multiple women would conspire against his supposedly innocent client, he said he and Glaser need to know who the women are first.
“Not knowing who the accusers are — it’s hard to assign a motive,” he said.
Divins said he is not aware of any charges filed, just that “people made complaints and UCB acted to what they believe is appropriate.” He didn’t confirm whether or not Glaser plans on taking legal action against UCB, but said his client plans to contact them.
“Once we get all the information at that point we will decide,” he said.

Also not amused is comedian Kurt Metzger, who unleashed a series of brutally sarcastic messages on Facebook and Twitter mocking the UCB “investigation” as a travesty without any semblance of due process.

Metzger was demonized by feminists, and he was quickly thrown under the bus by Amy Schumer, for whose show he had previously been a writer:

Amy Schumer has spoken out against victim-shaming and criticized Inside Amy Schumer writer Kurt Metzger after he defended a fellow comedian accused of sexual assaults. “[Metzger] gets something from going after people, making them mad. That is not representative of me at all,” Schumer told Charlie Rose. . . .
Schumer said of Metzger, “I’ve asked him, ‘Can you just stop, because it comes back to me.’ Because he writes for the show, it’s a bigger story, because of our connection, so whatever tangent he’s gone off on, I have not agreed with, and it’s really upsetting to see someone I care about hurt themselves like this.”

Metzger responded with a Facebook post:

Actually I looked up lynch mobs and there don’t seem to be any who literally stopped chasing their criminal to chase one guy who said lynch mobs are bad. Also they didn’t lie about that guy and say he attacked rape victims. So actually I was wrong and you people attacking me are not a lynch mob. Lynch mobs are kind of focused and competent compared to you.

People who appoint themselves as personal agents of Social Justice are dangerous, and the advent of the trial-by-Internet-jury approach to rape accusations should frighten everyone, as should the kind of “journalism” that treats anonymous Facebook claims as proof of guilt.




 

Category: Sex Trouble

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2 Responses to “Comedian @KurtMetzger Tells the Truth: Feminists Are Worse Than Lynch Mobs”

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    […] The Other McCain covers feminists being worse than lynch mobs […]

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