Morgan Freeman Highlights the Biggest Problem with #MeToo

So now they've come for Morgan Freeman. 

While I was certainly glad to see the likes of Harvey Weinstein, James Toback and Kevin Spacey go down, #MeToo seems to be losing the plot. While this is only one of Morgan Freeman's accusers, this is obviously the biggest nothingburger that anyone has ever accused anyone else of in the history of sexual harassment.

This woman needs to step her #MeToo accusation game up if this is what she’s coming after #MorganFreeman with. □ C’mon son. Morgan Freeman was CLEARLY making that comment in reference to the white guy’s story about the lady he thought was pregnant. □ pic.twitter.com/imyXoHiPHa

— Gee Lowery (@LightSkinHero) May 24, 2018

And then there's this, though I can't say for certain it's true. Regardless, this isn't even a slightly out-of-line. Freeman is obviously talking about "being there" to see Michael Caine humiliate himself.

While sexual harassment is a serious issue, the media continues to portray it as a simple one of terrible men preying upon helpless women. It's nothing of the kind. For one, sexual harassment isn't completely one sided. As I noted before,

"...an AAUW study in 2006 found that 62 percent of women in college and 61 percent of men had 'experienced sexual harassment.' While “both male and female students are more likely to be harassed by a man than by a woman,” the difference isn’t as large as many would think. According to the study, 'Half of male students and almost one-third of female students admit that they sexually harassed someone in college.'"

Furthermore, sometimes with these sorts of things, there are false accusations such as at Duke and the University of Virginia. But I think the biggest problem is that small infractions that deserve reprimands, or mid-sized infractions that deserve punishment can get blown out be something worse and worse than it was in the first place. This doesn't just happen by malice, but can simply be because our minds start to remember things in a more extreme way, especially if we fixate on them. Once you've chosen a side, confirmation bias can set in. And with the whole #MeToo thing going on, confirmation bias is becoming societal-wide.

Indeed, one article on the whole Aziz Ansari debacle claimed "The world is disturbingly comfortable with the fact that women sometimes leave a sexual encounter in tears." I should note the woman, who published her accusation anonymously, claimed Ansari didn't coerce her in anyways but was just overly pushy and she left crying.

Of course, almost every guy I know has had a terrible sexual experiences, often with pushy women. Should we publicly humiliate them? 

Regardless, we shouldn't get carried away with the backlash. Getting rid of the abusers is very important. My opinion on #MeToo is very ambivalent right now. But it seems to be heading in the wrong direction at a very fast pace.