Meet David Sabatini, a world class scientist unpersonned for little...

David Sabatini
Image: The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences

This is a story that deserves more attention, clearly - and I will almost certainly write about it again - but I just need to bring it to your attention because it certainly deserves it. So, where do we start?

So here is this man, Dr David Sabatini, a world-class biologist, a Novel Prize short list member and a leader of a team working on research potentially capable of making a critical difference in treatment of certain kinds of cancer. I guess it is hard to be more of a big deal than that.

In 2018, he had an open sexual relationship with a female colleague named Kristin Knouse. At the time Sabatini was about 50 years old while Knouse was 29. Yes, the age difference was significant but clearly neither one of the two was very young or belonged to a disadvantaged layer of society.

Knouse allegedly made it abundantly clear to Sabatini that was not an exclusive relationship for her. Sabatini, who was in the process of breaking up with his wife at the time, apparently hoped for more. or at least really wanted to have sex with her on numerous occasions. Be that as it may, she eventually filed a lawsuit against him claiming some sort of coercion - though she never claimed he had ever been violent against her, or issued any direct threats.

The result of it was a lawsuit that resulted in Sabatini being unemployed and likely unemployable as one potential employer, he NYU, turned him down following massive protests by a woke crowd likely viewing him as someone as evil as Ted Bundy. So much for the promise his research has for the world, I guess.

So what did Sabatini did wrong? With the exception of some unspecified "sexual grooming" at work - which may well be nothing, or just some sort of complimentary behaviour, Sabatini is not even accused of much anything. So what could he have done differently, to avoid ending up in this situation? Terrence Popp of Redonkulas.com inimitable, very "not safe for work" - and highly knowledgeable - speaker on mens' rights and issues would have likely identified several problems with Sabatini's choices - though none of them seem even mildly unethical, never mind criminal. Sabatini dated a colleague - and this is unsafe as many men know. Personally, I followed the "never date anywhere near where you work or live" rule long before I even heard of Popp and other mens' rights activists. But I have to say, this almost kills any dating prospects for someone engaged in any sort of intense professional activity - simply because if, say, you spend 60 or 80 or 100 hours a week engaged professionally and allow yourself the luxury of sleep to keep functional, you hardly have the time to explore dating opportunities.

Meanwhile, Sabatini is out of work and the world may have been pushed back a few years on a potentially paradigm-shifting and life-saving research. I guess political correctness and woke repressions have a higher priority.

Do read the links below - it is well worth it. And as always - keep your mind open and draw your own conclusions.