content: The Smear Campaign Against Bill O'Reilly While I typically try to keep political posts in v/politics, this is more of a mens rights issue in the grand scheme of things than a political issue, though there is a lot of intertwining of the two. It's interesting to see how the media in general is eviscerating Bill O'Reilly over accusations that he ultimately settled out of court. The fact that he settled for the large sums of money that he did only bolsters their attack.  Let's for a second put ourselves in Bills shoes and assume innocence for the sake of argument. You're a rich and powerful man. Famous for your political insights and your ability to appear to mostly neutral, but having a conservative slant regardless. You are respected by your peers. For whatever reason, you have people accusing you of things that aren't true. You could go through a lengthy legal process which tarnishes your brand for the length of the trial and then some, or you can quietly settle out of court and your brand isn't tarnished. Your livelihood is tied to your reputation. Your employer greatly values you to the extent that you're top paid talent - not only at the company, but in the entire industry. You bring in way more money than anyone else. At this stage in your career rocking the boat may be too big of a risk to take. Let's also not forget that a person can be held personally liable financially for sexual harassment claims in the workplace if they're found to be true. Obviously we're not all Bill. Most of us are pretty normal people. So instead imagine you're you at work and someone makes an accusation against you. Or you're at a party and someone makes an accusation against you. These are real things that happen to us. We may not have the money to settle out of court. We may barely have enough money to scrape together for a legal defense. I think it's very telling that unsubstantiated as of yet smear campaigns gain as much traction as they do. Ultimately, we all need to keep in mind this easily could be any one of us. It could be your father, brother, uncle, nephew, or friend. Wouldn't you prefer the media at large not go on a smear campaign until the facts of the case are reached? Wouldn't you prefer that people understood that settling a case is not admission of guilt. Just some food for thought.