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Doing this seems completely unnecessary to me. Did Joi really make a mistake that they could have realistically avoided? To me, putting out this apology vaguel

Doing this seems completely unnecessary to me. Did Joi really make a mistake that they could have realistically avoided? To me, putting out this apology vaguely comes off as something like “virtue signaling” or “fishing for sympathy”. I’m not saying it actually is either of those things, I just don’t know the exact words to describe how I feel about it. Somebody please let me know if I am wrong and an apology is in fact appropriate from this person.

rodgerd 7y ago
> Did Joi really make a mistake that they could have realistically avoided? Yeah, how could he have known a guy convicted 5 years before they met was a high-profile abuser. I guess he could have asked lab founder, Minsky, about what services he received from Epstein.
- bananabiscuit 7y ago
  Didn’t notice that Jeffery was already convicted at that point. If we don’t want to believe in rehabilitation (not that it did Jeffery any good), then in that case, a resignation seems more appropriate than a few words for an apology.
  - devinjflick 7y ago
    I think your point about rehabilitation and "paying one's debt to society" is very valid. Unfortunately in Epstein's case the punishment hardly fit the crime, ultimately he served 13 out of an 18 month sentence. "after 3 1⁄2 months allowed to leave the jail on "work release" for up to 12 hours a day, 6 days a week. This contravened the sheriff's own policies requiring a maximum remaining sentence of 10 months and making sex offenders ineligible for the privilege. He was allowed to come and go outside of specified release hours"[0] Ito visited Epstein several times at Epstein's residences, which all apparently are plastered with enough "art" to make someone question if he really was a "reformed" sex offender. It should be perfectly clear to everyone that Ito understood two things: Epstein wasn't rehabilitated and Ito could claim enough plausible deniability if his dirty laundry ever got aired. His apology would be more meaningful if he actually donated to charities out of his own pocket rather than promising to externally raise funds... Check out the his Wikipedia entry on how lax that sentence was. 0: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeffrey_Epstein#Conviction_and_sentencing_(2008%E2%80%932011) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeffrey_Epstein#Conviction_and...
    - simplicio 7y ago
      Even with Epstein's light sentence, I'd be open to Ito saying he believed Epstein had served his time and been rehabilitated. But Ito doesn't even try to use that defense in his apology, because it would make explicit that he knowingly took money from a sex-offender. So instead he doesn't mention Epstein's conviction at all, uses some weasel language to make it sound like he was unaware of it without explicitly saying so, and tries to make it sound like he (Ito) was just a victim of circumstances. It's a pretty impressive non-apology apology, since he makes a big show of apologizing for something, but not the actual thing most people find troubling about his behavior.
joshypants 7y ago
Do you think our academic institutions should accept funding from billionaire pedophiles or not? The answer to this question may have some bearing on whether the apology is appropriate!
- bananabiscuit 7y ago
  I think an apology is empty if it was for something that the apologizer had no influence over. How can you expect somebody to deduce when they are dealing with a secret pedophile? As somebody else pointed out, Jeffery already had a record at that point though. But now the question is: should a person continue to get punished for wrong doing after they had served their time? Sure the answer seems obvious with Jeffery in hindsight, but I don’t think it’s obvious that the
stronglikedan 7y ago
> an apology is in fact appropriate from this person The apology is appropriate, but not because he had anything to apologize for, rather to attempt to quell the "outrage" of the holier-than-thou masses.
devinjflick 7y ago
This is worse than virtue signaling imo. It's more like public image disaster response. The only reason this apology is going out is because Media Lab/Epstein relationship is getting mentioned publicly and in the press. This apology would've meant something had it happened a month ago. Or if had any substance beyond vague usage of the words apology and sorry.

rodgerd 7y ago

> Did Joi really make a mistake that they could have realistically avoided? Yeah, how could he have known a guy convicted 5 years before they met was a high-profile abuser. I guess he could have asked lab founder, Minsky, about what services he received from Epstein.

bananabiscuit 7y ago
Didn’t notice that Jeffery was already convicted at that point. If we don’t want to believe in rehabilitation (not that it did Jeffery any good), then in that case, a resignation seems more appropriate than a few words for an apology.
- devinjflick 7y ago
  I think your point about rehabilitation and "paying one's debt to society" is very valid. Unfortunately in Epstein's case the punishment hardly fit the crime, ultimately he served 13 out of an 18 month sentence. "after 3 1⁄2 months allowed to leave the jail on "work release" for up to 12 hours a day, 6 days a week. This contravened the sheriff's own policies requiring a maximum remaining sentence of 10 months and making sex offenders ineligible for the privilege. He was allowed to come and go outside of specified release hours"[0] Ito visited Epstein several times at Epstein's residences, which all apparently are plastered with enough "art" to make someone question if he really was a "reformed" sex offender. It should be perfectly clear to everyone that Ito understood two things: Epstein wasn't rehabilitated and Ito could claim enough plausible deniability if his dirty laundry ever got aired. His apology would be more meaningful if he actually donated to charities out of his own pocket rather than promising to externally raise funds... Check out the his Wikipedia entry on how lax that sentence was. 0: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeffrey_Epstein#Conviction_and_sentencing_(2008%E2%80%932011) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeffrey_Epstein#Conviction_and...
  - simplicio 7y ago
    Even with Epstein's light sentence, I'd be open to Ito saying he believed Epstein had served his time and been rehabilitated. But Ito doesn't even try to use that defense in his apology, because it would make explicit that he knowingly took money from a sex-offender. So instead he doesn't mention Epstein's conviction at all, uses some weasel language to make it sound like he was unaware of it without explicitly saying so, and tries to make it sound like he (Ito) was just a victim of circumstances. It's a pretty impressive non-apology apology, since he makes a big show of apologizing for something, but not the actual thing most people find troubling about his behavior.

joshypants 7y ago

Do you think our academic institutions should accept funding from billionaire pedophiles or not? The answer to this question may have some bearing on whether the apology is appropriate!

bananabiscuit 7y ago
I think an apology is empty if it was for something that the apologizer had no influence over. How can you expect somebody to deduce when they are dealing with a secret pedophile? As somebody else pointed out, Jeffery already had a record at that point though. But now the question is: should a person continue to get punished for wrong doing after they had served their time? Sure the answer seems obvious with Jeffery in hindsight, but I don’t think it’s obvious that the

stronglikedan 7y ago

> an apology is in fact appropriate from this person The apology is appropriate, but not because he had anything to apologize for, rather to attempt to quell the "outrage" of the holier-than-thou masses.

devinjflick 7y ago

This is worse than virtue signaling imo. It's more like public image disaster response. The only reason this apology is going out is because Media Lab/Epstein relationship is getting mentioned publicly and in the press. This apology would've meant something had it happened a month ago. Or if had any substance beyond vague usage of the words apology and sorry.