There still exist people who (sometimes/on-some-issues) act and think unreasonably. Good ways of life do not reliably make these people like you. That is as it should be. Aiming to please them would be a mistake.

Meanwhile, you'll notice nothing all that bad happened to him. He wasn't assaulted. He wasn't put on trial or sent to jail. All that happened is some people he did business with found out that he and they disagree about a lot of stuff, and they realized they didn't want to do business with him anymore, and prefer he go do business with people more like himself. That reaction is so reasonable that it actually works whether you are in the right or wrong.

You might say his reputation was ruined. But that's not true. I think well of him now, and didn't think of him at all before. His reputation simply became more accurate, which, on the whole, tends to be a good thing.

BTW, I say all this while happening to disagree with him about one of his major points, about gender differences contained in our DNA. I think he's wrong about that, but I also think he was interested in the truth, so I praise him anyway.

Edit: According to wikipedia, both students and donors supported Summers more than not.

> nothing all that bad happened to him

most people would characterize "getting smeared on pretty much all major media outlets" and "forced to resign" as pretty bad.

> He wasn't assaulted. He wasn't put on trial or sent to jail

"you probably won't go to jail" is a pretty far cry from your original post, that "no one can fault you."

He got faulted bigtime.

He pretty much got ousted by the faculty. Harvard lost hundreds of millions in alumni donations because they were upset Summers was treated this way.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lawrence_Summers#Summers.27_opp...

No one reasonably can fault you. No one published reasonable explanations of why/how he'd done anything wrong. No one said anything that would be embarrassing or difficult to explain to his friends. No one said anything that would weigh on his conscious.

He clearly was in the wrong job, for a man like himself. He should aim his life more towards cooperating with people he considers decent human beings. A push in that direction, isn't so bad. The only reason he might not like it, is if he isn't focussed on the truth, and still has mixed feelings (sometimes preferring status, reputation with silly people, etc). Mixed feelings are not safe ground.

I see your point. Part of being the president of Harvard is never saying anything controversial, no matter how much the organizers of a conference push you towards it. I think it was Vartan Gregorian who said a University president could charm, but never offend.

You basically give up your freedom of speech.