How tweets portrayed Jon Tennant as an offender and which small group of people was behind these accusations
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Accusations against Jon Tennant on social media: how tweets portrayed Jon Tennant as an offender and which small group of people was behind these accusations
The purpose of this piece is to uncover the connexions behind the most serious accusations that targeted Jon Tennant on social media, of which almost all have now been removed. However specific and portraying Jon Tennant in a grim light, these tweets can all be linked to a few individuals and their friends.
The intention of this piece is to stress the effect of these strong accusations on the portrayal of Jon Tennant on social media. These tweets have had the concrete and serious consequences of isolating Jon Tennant from all his projects and endangering his livelihood. In this piece, we also consider how to link these accusations to facts.
Let us stress, also, that if social media proved to be a powerful tool against powerful men (those holding positions that made them powerful enough to endanger the careers and livelihoods over the women they abused), this was not and has never been the case for Jon Tennant. Quite on the contrary, Jon had been developing and working for years on his open science projects for no salary and in a spirit of collective decision-making. He had only recently accepted short-term paid positions and was hence hit to the full by the loss of his prospective jobs. Not quite the picture of an immovable abuser systemically nested into a network of power and decision-making over the livelihoods of others, eh…
In relation to what is going to be discussed in this piece, any person who would like to be more specific than general accusations about how Jon Tennant was an abuser and a harasser, and bring forward concrete facts at concrete times, is welcome to come forward and speak. What matters for Jon’s family and friends, above all, is to understand what happened. So far, any time we asked specifics about the accusations targeting him (what Jon has done, specifically, to start with), or supported the matters being brought towards the competent jurisdictions, the authors of the accusations backed off or refused to give details. In particular, the police have got in touch with various individuals to ask for more information and to ask if they would like to make an official report regarding accusations of rape — all people said no. We insist, in particular, on the fact that none of these people even accepted to inform us about WHAT Jon may have done (i.e. which facts have been committed) that would underlie their strong accusations. Now, more than one year after Jon’s death, it would be decent to explain which facts justified the ordeal Jon was put through, making him seen expelled from the Open Science MOOC he co-founded, losing his jobs, many friends, and the life he had built, at age 31.
Any additional information may be sent directly to Rebecca Tennant. Guarantees of confidentiality of testimony may be offered if needed.
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On 31st October 2019, Open Con published its statement. The statement was void of any detail regarding what part of the Open Con’s code of conduct Jon Tennant had broken. Immediately, though, one ex-girlfriend and one ex sex-partner of Jon Tennant, added a specific color to this announcement by Open Con, supported by some of their close friends:
Notice that, on the day of the announcement of the ban by Open Con, the portray is already set: abusive people out — safe spaces from those who bully, harass and abuse — specifically sexual harassers and abusers. Note the confirmatory stance of an ex-girlfriend “who was at the receiving end of all this in the past”.
The same ex-girlfriend further develops her position over the following days: it is not about her only; there have been many reports about Jon Tennant “in the OA community” in the past.
And not only in the OA community, apparently, also the paleontology scientific community :
Which one of her supporters from the paleo community strongly confirms :
Apparently, according to that ex-girlfriend, Jon Tennant « kept violating women » at conferences, and he is a domestic abuser :
What about the ex-partner who considered it important to recognize the importance of the announcement?
She re-stresses the importance of listening to the victims on November the 2nd…
… and on November the 3d, that ex sex-partner labels Jon a rapist :
The following days, this thread is published by her (you could not be more specific):
And here again, stressing that the incidents were “multiple” in the OA world:
The portrait is hence very specific: multiple accounts of Jon acting inappropriately, a rape, sexual harassment… and then this comes forward: linking Jon’s actions with jail… the portrait is complete (but was, as you see, contradicted):
Other reactions were numerous, and any attempt to ask clarifications was met with these types of reactions, which tended to confirm that Jon Tennant was a multiple women’s predator:
I could go on longer about all the interpretations and projections made on Jon Tennant’s case, including men alluding to rape scenarios that said more about their own rape fantasies than about Jon Tennant’s case…
Now, let us go onto the facts and the confrontation between tweets and facts:
1) The accusation that Jon was reported for abuse in paleontology
Where are these accusations, except on social media? We contacted all organizers of paleontology conferences that Jon attended, none of which could confirm that Jon had been reported or talked about for questionable behavior involving unwanted sexual contact, all indicating that no such report had been made, officially or unofficially.
About the paleontologist, friend of the ex-girlfriend, who accused Jon in such an affirmative manner, considering the paleo community had failed his victims, a private voice from the community expressed the fact that “XXX is one of those people who feels it’s her absolute ‘right’ to out and shame people on Twitter. She’s a massive online ‘bully’ and keyboard warrior”. Was the occasion too good to be lost, there?
2) multiple reports in the OA community?
Of which multiple reports are we talking about, ex-girlfriend? Can you back it up with more evidence than only your own words?
3) The ex-girlfriend accusing Jon of being a domestic abuser
There is a strong difference of tone between what she says in her tweets, and the letter she wrote to Jon Tennant after they broke up (background information is available on the personal blog of Rebecca Tennant, Jon’s sister). Time may reveal things retrospectively, but in this case, it seems she radically evolved from not believing a guy she had never spoken to before, who was telling her that Jon Tennant was an abuser, to becoming a close friend to that guy and endorsing his narrative. This would call for an explanation from both. However, both people rejected attempts at mediation.
4) The ex sex-partner’s accusations of rape
When you are talking about rape, are you talking about your rape by Jon Tennant? Or are you referring to another case of rape?
Was the Open Con ban about a case of rape? You are a member of Open Con, so you know precisely what the ban was about, and that the ban was not about you, nor about a case of rape. Did you take this opportunity to project on Jon Tennant other cases of sexual abuse?
5) Other members of Open Con
To the Male Open Con Member whose tweets are mentioned here: you are a long-involved open Con member, so you know precisely what the ban was about. Why are you implying so grossly then, that Jon might be in jail? Because no one goes to jail for what Jon Tennant did and that got him banned from Open Con… Why do you confuse voluntarily readers about the gravity of the offenses committed by Jon Tennant?
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These accusations played an important role in Jon seeing his life torn apart and his professional perspectives shattered for good. Probably, these people are still rejoicing about having taken part in an act of collective justice. However, this coalition of serious — and up to now unfounded — accusations looks a lot more like plain mobbing and online abuse than actual justice.
Any person, who would like to be more specific than general accusations about how Jon Tennant was an abuser and a harasser, and bring forward concrete facts at concrete times, is welcome to come forward and address these to Rebecca Tennant. These people may require confidentiality agreements over the information they may want to hand over if needed.
