I believe and stand with Leigh.<p>Thinking of mutual colleagues of mine and how long this apparently has been happening (and to be clear, <i>not</i> about this or other victims) reminded me of something Larry Lessig wrote about his own abuse:<p>"The real evil isn’t the Hitler. The evil is the good German. The evil is all those people who could’ve just picked up the goddamn telephone and stopped it."[0]<p>[0]<a href="http://nymag.com/nymetro/news/features/12061/index7.html" rel="nofollow">http://nymag.com/nymetro/news/features/12061/index7.html</a>
This entire thing is absurd, childish, and evil, all at the same time.<p>If anyone believes that Jacob Appelbaum raped or sexually assaulted her, she should file criminal charges, and possibly a lawsuit.<p>All the rest of this is 'we don't like Jake, he's an asshole' high-school nonsense.<p>If you don't like him and think he's an asshole, fine - say so, if you want. But trying to smear him with unsubstantiated claims of rape and sexual assault is morally indefensible.<p>I'm still waiting for charges to be filed, and to see the outcome of a trial, before I buy into allegations of rape and/or sexual assault. But I have to tell you, this character assassination stuff is beyond the pale, and disinclines me to give any credence at all to the allegations.<p>It isn't illegal to be a boor and a cad. At least, not yet.