I’d like to call everyone’s attention to this piece over at Doubtful Blog, in which Sharon Hill makes the case for hanging back rather than rushing in:
There have been so many incidents of outrage theatre over the past few years where snap judgments (followed by a conviction and metaphorical execution) have been made – mostly about feminist, social justice or he-said/she-said disputes – based on poor or no evidence except someone’s story or second or third-hand claim.
Her advice is certainly worth reading and heeding, and there is little that I can add to it, other than this: If you find yourself in a situation where (1) you are confident that fence-sitting is the proper epistemic stance, (2) most everyone else is rushing to take sides, and (3) they are almost invariably falling down on just one side of the fence, then you should ask yourself whether you are swimming around in a pool of homeopathic skepticism.
Mixed metaphors, I know. Never could get the hang of analogies.
