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I'm not a doctor nor do I play one on TV but if I had to make a diagnosis I would say based on this story that astrophysics appears to have a social media disea

I'm not a doctor nor do I play one on TV but if I had to make a diagnosis I would say based on this story that astrophysics appears to have a social media disease. It could be a cancer similar to that social media cancer affecting other parts of our society. It is definitely a disease though and looks to be spread by oratorial infection of gullible individuals who transmit to their peers using digital tools. Education may be the only effective treatment in the long term though it takes time and a commitment to the truth at all levels of society to accomplish that goal. It is very serious for this lady to start making sexual assault allegations against colleagues. Things like this taint reputations for a lifetime since there will always be someone who hears about the allegation but not about the supporting data or the end conclusions.

spoiler 4y ago
> It is very serious for this lady to start making sexual assault allegations against colleagues. Things like this taint reputations for a lifetime since there will always be someone who hears about the allegation but not about the supporting data or the end conclusions. For the reasons you laid out, the people who consciously and falsely accuses someone of a crime should be charged with the same crime, but double the penalty (for they tried to both ruin a life, and deceive/abuse the system). Obviously malice needs to be proven in this case too.
- doodlebugging 4y ago
  Slander and libel laws probably cover this situation. I agree that the penalties should be high for someone who intentionally invents charges like this and spreads them today. In past years the damages to reputations could be a lot more local and shorter duration when the false charges are refuted with facts. Local people would know the full story and would be less inclined to hold something like this against a person once charges were proven false. The accuser would take the reputational hit. Today you make charges like this online on social media and there is no way to scrub that from the record. Those allegations will persist like an incurable disease and will be accessible to anyone locally or internationally who searches for info about the accused. That reputational hit will persist on the accused for their lifetime and into their children's lifetime. Penalties for false allegations like this should be very harsh.

spoiler 4y ago

> It is very serious for this lady to start making sexual assault allegations against colleagues. Things like this taint reputations for a lifetime since there will always be someone who hears about the allegation but not about the supporting data or the end conclusions. For the reasons you laid out, the people who consciously and falsely accuses someone of a crime should be charged with the same crime, but double the penalty (for they tried to both ruin a life, and deceive/abuse the system). Obviously malice needs to be proven in this case too.

doodlebugging 4y ago
Slander and libel laws probably cover this situation. I agree that the penalties should be high for someone who intentionally invents charges like this and spreads them today. In past years the damages to reputations could be a lot more local and shorter duration when the false charges are refuted with facts. Local people would know the full story and would be less inclined to hold something like this against a person once charges were proven false. The accuser would take the reputational hit. Today you make charges like this online on social media and there is no way to scrub that from the record. Those allegations will persist like an incurable disease and will be accessible to anyone locally or internationally who searches for info about the accused. That reputational hit will persist on the accused for their lifetime and into their children's lifetime. Penalties for false allegations like this should be very harsh.