The Problem With Guilty Until Proven Innocent
I sometimes hate-read the comments on sites like Deadline Hollywood for the same reason I am morbidly fascinated by Facebook groups and subreddits devoted to mocking flagrant jackassery.
There’s something oddly compelling about reading the odious thoughts and aberrant opinions of some of the worst people on the internet, and by extension, American life.
When someone famous and powerful like, for example, Christopher Noth, is credibly accused of sexual crimes by an increasingly large group of women it invariably engenders furious, frothing-at-the-mouth rage among these commenters.
They are absolutely apoplectic, overflowing with anger. But they are not angry at Christopher Noth. Instead, they cast an accusatory finger at the women accusing the Sex and the City actor of crimes.
They angrily inquire why accusations are being made public if Noth has not been convicted of any crime. “What happened to innocent until proven guilty?,” they ask. Why are the names and reputations of these men being sullied before they have an opportunity to face their accusers in a court of law?
While these rage-powered commenters insist that powerful men accused of sex crimes be given the benefit of the doubt regarding their guilt or innocence, they have no problem lobbing angry accusations against accusers.
Accusers become the accused. Commenters hiding behind anonymity deride women like the ones who went public with charges against Noth of being greedy opportunist and liars out for a big payday and/or fame. It is assumed that they are motivated not by a desire for justice or a need to protect other women from being victimized but rather by a combination of greed, self-interest and a political agenda.
The irony is that these comments are themselves driven by an unmistakable political agenda. People like this have always existed. Once upon a time they called in to talk radio to express their deep-seated conviction that women who accuse powerful men of crimes are liars and sociopaths not to be trusted.
The internet has empowered these folks to be their worst, truest selves by giving them ugly, hateful online communities where they can spew hatred in the company of like-minded trolls. They were further radicalized by #MeToo and what they see as the sins of wokism and Cancel Culture.
These people believe all women alright, only they believe that all women are liars unless the people they have accused of crimes have been charged and convicted in a court of law.
The problem with applying that standard is that there are lots of legitimate reasons that women never come forward with sexual assault accusations. These include the knowledge that people like the commenters I have discussed will have a knee-jerk negative reaction to accusations and angrily and very publicly assume the best of the accused and the worst of the accusers.
Accusers also have to deal with a law enforcement and justice system that can make life agonizingly hard, if not impossible, for people who come forward about their assaults at the hand of the rich and powerful.
It doesn’t matter how many people come forward, or how seemingly clear-cut their guilt might be. If sixty-something women have nearly identical stories about the abuse they suffered at the hands of Bill Cosby, a man once revered as America’s dad, that just means, to these misogynistic skeptics at least, that sixty-something women are liars and opportunists out to destroy the good name of a man guilty of nothing more than being a womanizer and cheating on his understanding and supportive wife.
The more society changes and evolves, the more this group stays the same. That’s to be expected. Progress breeds backlash and this group is intent on dragging us backward by any means necessary.
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