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Steven Pinker's Aid in Jeffrey Epstein's Legal Defense

insidehighered.com

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Re: Steven Pinker's Aid in Jeffrey Epstein's Legal Defense

#2

Post by nabla9 »

Suspicion of hypocrisy or even bad character should not affect the strength of scientist's arguments. It may increase the scrutiny of those arguments and decrease the fanboy attitude around them. There is nothing wrong with that.

If you take the default attitude that every academic is devil incarnate, then look at their argumentation separate from their character, you should be able to stay more objective.

Re: Steven Pinker's Aid in Jeffrey Epstein's Legal Defense

#3

Post by mc32 »

nabla9 wrote: post #2

Suspicion of hypocrisy or even bad character should not affect the strength of scientist's arguments. It may increase the scrutiny of those arguments and decrease the fanboy attitude around them. There is nothing wrong with that. If you take the default attitude that every academic is devil incarnate, then look at their argumentation separate from their character, you should be able to stay more objective.

No doubt Epstein is guilty of horrible crimes. And while he is a troubling character, defending troubling people hasn't usually been much of an issue (OJ Simpson, Bundy, Khalid Mohammed, etc).

So why the outrage over another bad guy? I think the obvious answer is some things are to the public conscience more terrible than others, at least at a given moment, specially if they are in the zeitgeist.

As for the weight of the testimony, that should be up to the judge and jury to decide whether it was valid. I mean, lots of these high dollar defenses rest on semantics rather than the spirit of things (tax cases, etc).

Re: Steven Pinker's Aid in Jeffrey Epstein's Legal Defense

#4

Post by mr_puzzled »

This article is terrible. It tries so hard to paint Pinker as some sort of evil guy with the main argument being (what seems to me) how Pinker unintentionally helped Epsein a long time ago. They think somehow bringing in unrelated criticism of Pinker's work helps their case? Ridiculous.

To be very clear : Epstein is obviously guilty of some horible crimes. Pinker, seems like he crossed paths with Epstein and now people are out to get him.

Re: Steven Pinker's Aid in Jeffrey Epstein's Legal Defense

#5

Post by spamizbad »

mc32 wrote: post #3
nabla9 wrote: post #2

Suspicion of hypocrisy or even bad character should not affect the strength of scientist's arguments. It may increase the scrutiny of those arguments and decrease the fanboy attitude around them. There is nothing wrong with that. If you take the default attitude that every academic is devil incarnate, then look at their argumentation separate from their character, you should be able to stay more objective.

No doubt Epstein is guilty of horrible crimes. And while he is a troubling character, defending troubling people hasn't usually been much of an issue (OJ Simpson, Bundy, Khalid Mohammed, etc). So why the outrage over another bad guy? I think the obvious answer is some things are to the public conscience more terrible than others, at least at a given moment, specially if they are in the zeitgeist. As for the weight of…

I don't really have much of an ax to grind with Pinker as an academic but I do find it very sad that he chose to use his considerable intellect to intervene on behalf of an (alleged) jet-setting billionaire pedophile sex trafficker. And I think that reflects poorly on his character as a person.

The Epsteins of the world will always have a tremendous amount of legal resources at their disposal. I wish we lived in a world where the people like Pinker would lend aid to those wrongfully on Death Row or perhaps the economically downtrodden, rather than ultra-wealthy college donors who got jammed up in what looks like, if not for their tremendous wealth and legal resources, something that should be a slam-dunk case.

Re: Steven Pinker's Aid in Jeffrey Epstein's Legal Defense

#6

Post by mc32 »

spamizbad wrote: post #5
mc32 wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No doubt Epstein is guilty of horrible crimes. And while he is a troubling character, defending troubling people hasn't usually been much of an issue (OJ Simpson, Bundy, Khalid Mohammed, etc). So why the outrage over another bad guy? I think the obvious answer is some things are to the public conscience more terrible than others, at least at a given moment, specially if they are in the zeitgeist. As for the weight of…

I don't really have much of an ax to grind with Pinker as an academic but I do find it very sad that he chose to use his considerable intellect to intervene on behalf of an (alleged) jet-setting billionaire pedophile sex trafficker. And I think that reflects poorly on his character as a person. The Epsteins of the world will always have a tremendous amount of legal resources at their disposal. I wish we lived in a wo…

So, I think the right to be represented for many lawyers is like the right to free speech. If you're not willing to defend the worst, then you're not defending the right at all.

Re: Steven Pinker's Aid in Jeffrey Epstein's Legal Defense

#7

Post by tzakrajs »

Adia Benton, an assistant professor of anthropology at Northwestern University, said that beyond Pinker and Dershowitz, “I think there’s a tendency for men to overlook the foibles of their acquaintances and colleagues. The shunning of assholes and creeps is just not done. Especially when it comes to sexual misconduct and misogyny.”

Re: Steven Pinker's Aid in Jeffrey Epstein's Legal Defense

#8

Post by tzakrajs »

mr_puzzled wrote: post #4

This article is terrible. It tries so hard to paint Pinker as some sort of evil guy with the main argument being (what seems to me) how Pinker unintentionally helped Epsein a long time ago. They think somehow bringing in unrelated criticism of Pinker's work helps their case? Ridiculous. To be very clear : Epstein is obviously guilty of some horible crimes. Pinker, seems like he crossed paths with Epstein and now peop…

Pinker claims to now have known what the case was for. Fine.

Re: Steven Pinker's Aid in Jeffrey Epstein's Legal Defense

#9

Post by tzakrajs »

mc32 wrote: post #6
spamizbad wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't really have much of an ax to grind with Pinker as an academic but I do find it very sad that he chose to use his considerable intellect to intervene on behalf of an (alleged) jet-setting billionaire pedophile sex trafficker. And I think that reflects poorly on his character as a person. The Epsteins of the world will always have a tremendous amount of legal resources at their disposal. I wish we lived in a wo…

So, I think the right to be represented for many lawyers is like the right to free speech. If you're not willing to defend the worst, then you're not defending the right at all.

Totally, but he wasn't even getting paid to be the attorney. He was doing favors.
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