These depressed people use "consequences" as a brief hit of superiority, allowing them to escape the reality of their own failed lives.
...and as quickly as it picks them up, it is gone again, and they then need to search for that next dose of "justice".
Complexity, self-reflection, nuance, are all distractions from what is an emotional addiction.
And like any addiction, you cannot satiate it by giving it more of what it craves. Apologies attract more of them, and they go back to hit the apologizer for more "consequences", like trying to get the last little hit, even if they can see there's nothing left.
Don't engage these people. They are worthless.
Sexual harassment is an enormous problem in every industry. People who just want to do good work and be a part and contribute become targets for predators who objectify, diminish and harass. Culturally it became not okay and people realized they were heard and that these people could have consequences.
A lot of people get riled up about such cases because they have faced similar situations themselves [see also how instances of racism/bigotry can become viral -- it taps into a latent anger]. It becomes cathartic and representative. A movement.
And the creeps of the world surely must have taken notice by now. The imagined Lothorios can stick to actual social events because it's pretty established that it's not a good idea at work, or anything remotely work related (including trade shows and conferences).
Yet what is cited as the origin of the torch mob -- a twitter thread -- has a lot of pretty clear accusations by long time Twitter users, some of whom are fairly well known figures.
And FWIW, to use Animats' argument that lack of court proceedings is evidence, surely there's a lot of actionable libel in some of those twitter threads if they are invented. If there isn't such proceedings, is that proof that they're all true? I think we've hit a halting problem!
https://www.hipstersofthecoast.com/2020/06/noah-bradley-admi...
You even say you were drunk and did stupid things. It is plausible that you wouldn't even remember doing it.
If anything, your comment is exactly the problem OP is talking about.
That being said, I'm also not surprised that people on HN side with a man with a history of sexually harassment over his victims.
For inexplicable reasons, the HN crowd seems to think that because they're awkward around women that the same thing that happened to Noah can happen to them, but being awkward around women is not sexual harassment. Just don't grab a woman's body without her permission or try to proposition her within minutes of meeting her, and you'll be fine.
