The Curious #MeToo Case of Yascha Mounk
Plus, Measure 110 on the chopping block, and awards season comes for the family
My Smoke ‘Em pod partner Sarah Hepola and I often discuss how it’s no longer 2020; how decisions made in that overheated season have proved unpopular - hello, DEI! Or rather, goodbye - and, as I have written about here, fatal. I have a piece about Measure 110, the Oregon law passed in 2020 that decriminalized all drugs, about to drop, in which I chart some of the measure’s disasters, most tragically to human lives as well as to the state as a whole.
It was unpopular for a long time to point out the deaths and destruction; not anymore. The measure received support from 58% of the voters in 2020; now more than 70% want it amended or repealed. The Oregon legislature is currently in special session, deciding the measure’s fate - or not; maybe it gets kicked to the general election in November. Meanwhile, the main sponsor of the measure, Drug Policy Alliance based in New York City, keeps up the drumbeat of how Oregon voters voted back in 2020, and insinuates that anyone who wants to see changes to the law is a “drug war defender.” This is patronizing. The world changes, and people - who are on the ground in Oregon, living the results - can decide for themselves without the attempted shaming. The law was a test; it can be improved; try to be part of the solution rather than using time and funds to scold people from 3000 miles away. I’ll link my piece when it drops, sometime in the next week.
More proof that it’s not 2020 (or 2017!): Writer Celeste Marcus this week sought some public retribution from writer Yascha Mounk, claiming he raped her back in 2021 and demanding something be done. What that something is, no one is really sure. Marcus did not report the incident to the police, nor has she pressed a civil suit. She did write a piece for the literary magazine Liberties, where she is managing editor, and somehow thinks Jeffery Goldberg, the editor of The Atlantic - where Mounk was a longtime contributor until this week when, as a result of Marcus’s accusation, the magazine cut ties* - should be a mechanism in getting Marcus what she wants. Which, aside from wanting Mounk to see a rapist when he looks in the mirror and also saying she does not want him to be alive, is vague…
*clarification added. Episode and show notes contain details and links
