‘We’ve gone to the crazy place’: #MeToo movement now coming for thoughts as well as actions

The ambush of Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, who was hit with claims of sexual misconduct 36 years ago while in high school, may be the most public display of the weaponization of the #MeToo movement by the left, but it’s far from the only example.

Those behind the sexual harassment movement are expanding their scope to target not only inappropriate actions, but thought crimes, according to the New York Post’s Karol Markowicz.

“The #MeToo movement’s search for demons to slay has expanded well beyond just those accused of sexual misbehavior. Now, if you’ve done anything to disseminate the accused’s side of the story, they’re coming for #YouToo,” Markowicz wrote.

The piece draws attention to Ian Buruma, who was forced out as editor of The New York Review of Books because he published an essay by Canadian broadcaster Jian Ghomeshi. Ghomeshi, who had been accused of sexual assault by a host of women, was giving an explanation for his regretful behavior, as well as an apology.

The action drew fierce backlash from the #MeToo mob.

“In a new front for the mob, it’s not enough to target the perpetrator of the misdeed,” Markiwicz explained. “They are now targeting those who offer them a platform like Buruma did, or say anything warm about them at all.”

She noted that Buruma drew additional ire from the movement over an interview he did with Slate magazine — he paid homage to the mob as he explained his decision to publish the Ghomeshi piece, but dared to offer a little constructive criticism.

“I have absolutely no doubt that the #MeToo movement is a necessary corrective on male behavior that stands in the way of being able to work on equal terms with women,” Buruma told Slate. “In that sense, I think it’s an entirely good thing.”

“[L]ike all well-intentioned and good things, there can be undesirable consequences,” he added. “I think, in a general climate of denunciation, sometimes things happen and people express views that can be disturbing.”

Norm Macdonald is cited as an another example of the #MeToo mob, having “grown impatient with making distinctions between acts and thoughts,” turning on him for urging forgiveness for his friends Louis CK and Roseanne Barr.

The comedian saw an upcoming appearance on “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon” cancelled, Markiwisz noted as she said that Fallon told Macdonald producers were “crying” over him being allowed to appear.

And while the left is all about redemption and forgiveness for the worst of crimes, the mob is in no mood for absolution.

“People are right to be concerned that #MeToo has gone too far,” Markiwicz concluded. “There are few who don’t think the movement has done good work in exposing predatory men and encouraging victims to come forward.

“But when an editor is forced out of his job because he published something controversial, or a friend of the accused suffers professionally for his kind words, we’ve gone to the crazy place and need to come back from it.”

Karol Markowicz’s opinion post can be read here.

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