All that "evidence" that the screenshot was fake -- the color analysis, timeline, XIFF info, pic rotation and cropping, etc?
It didn't prove anything.
We believed what we wished to believe. Truth became the handmaiden of ideology. We, the "Reality-based community", turned out to be as susceptible to self-deception as the most deluded right-wing fundie fanatics.
What we should learn is that we are human, and have no privileged claim on truth; and that maintaining a grasp on reality is an ongoing process, a constant struggle with our own epistemic flaws.
In my opinion, the realization of our profound epistemic fallibility is the most important issue here -- far more important than whether Weiner broke any laws or whether he will resign. Before we can improve our society, we must improve ourselves; before we can do better, we must learn to know better. We must better understand our weaknesses.
Sadly, it is not a lesson easily learned...
Update: people, it's not about the dick, or the picture, or prudery! it's about the fact that we believed all those "refutations" because we wished to believe -- we collectively chose pleasing lie over unpleasant truth, and persuaded ourselves that this lie was truth.
It doesn't matter what this self-deception occurs over: sexting, nuclear physics, or agricultural policy. It occurs. Who knows on how many issues we similarly deceive ourselves this very moment? Who knows how many of those issues are serious policy problems which, unlike Weiner's weiner, genuinely matter?
We deceive ourselves, and we should strive to deceive ourselves less. A LOT less.