Doing something

Read up on this pair of articles recently. It's horrible what people have to go through sometimes; I can't even conceive about how it would be to be in the shoes of these victims. I agree that more should be done regarding this issue.

The thing is, when I read stuff like this it's always about how something should be done or we should pay attention to those who do something. It's pretty general advice. I learned to pay attention to what isn't said in an argument, and so the absence of a practical course of action is glaring to me. Who do you go to if you are harassed and the higher-ups might not be inclined to listen? Who do you talk to if standing up means you are irrevocably marked amongst your peers? What would be appropriate protocol for these situations?

When things are left undefined like this people have a tendency to perceive the ambiguity as freedom and run with it. In an ideal world, what people need to do is report the matter to a higher authority that is objective and impartial; said authority would ideally undertake a thorough investigation, and if found guilty the offending party should be punished within the extent of the rules. And, I believe this is most important, after being punished the offending party should be allowed back into society; having paid his debt he should be able to go back to living his life however he sees, except he won't be breaking the law anytime soon.

However the world isn't ideal. It's an open system. Accusations stick to a person, perpetuated by rumor. We are subject to biases, and too often there are some quite murky areas with the judgement of our equals. Like how one man lost decades and is still in prison for a lie, or how one person had his life upended for thought crime.

Make no mistake, I think that something really should be done. It's just that we have to realize that in the hands of a motivated enough individual, anything that was meant to be enabling can be abused. Any course of action should have a clause for determining when things have gone wrong and how to quickly make reparations.