Here we have an article that I do not really have an issue with in any way. Its simply a piece covering Bill Maher’s personal feelings on the case. Which in this case are interesting, since he seems to have intimate knowledge of the situation due to knowing someone close to the scene.
Granted its still nothing more then hearsay, another opinion to add to the many in the breeze already. But it gives an interesting prospective. One that I am inclined to find some validity in.
Granted I am a Maher fan. But at the same time, I don’t see what would be gained by lying. Its not like its not easy to check.
But I do have an issue (as I so often do) with how the person adding the piece onto social media choose to “headline” the piece.
“Another way of saying that we should believe the victims of sexual abuse . . .”
No one with ANY credibility is going to say that we should NOT take claims of sexual assault seriously. That is just, common sense.
However, you have to take such allegations in the same way that you would take any other allegations. When someone is accused of robbery, the automatic response is NOT to throw the person in prison until they are proven innocent. Its the reverse.
It may be a pain staking system for some to absorb if the decision is not to their satisfaction, but it is like that for a reason.
False allegations wreck lives and waste already stretched budgets and resources. People that are firm believers in free societies can not also follow a “guilty until proven innocent” philosophy when it comes to crime, in particular in rape cases. AGAIN I do not dispute the problem of sexual assault, nor the need to address it. But one must be careful not to create more problems, in an attempt to remedy another problem.
I have even seen some go as far as to dismiss ALL the problems caused by false allegation campaigns (seeing them as a worthwhile cost in the fight against sexual assault).
If you think in this way, then your a sexist moron that needs a brain. The term “justice is blind” exists for a reason. People with their differing levels of bias, emotion, intellect levels and other factors are often unable to clearly comprehend a given situation. You need a clear and unbiased source, to have a clear and level headed punishment.
Advocating circumvention of this process is not helpful to the cause of stoping sexual assault/domestic violence, its downright detrimental. Remember the story about the boy who cried wolf?
That is what you are going to get, if your philosophy of “punish first, verify later” is put into practice. All it takes is a few high profile false accusations, then next thing you know the masses will cast a weary eye to ALL assault claims. And as a result of that, future victims will suffer.
Now to change topics.
I have to wonder what is up with these so called “progressive” digital publications and their unprofessional behaviour.
Today I finally unfollowed Salon on facebook, because it seemed that it would only deliver an unending sea of biased trash pieces, many related to the Sam Harris/Bill Maher incident and various feminist issues.
And it seems that this trend towards biased opinion pieces (over neutral, factual based pieces) has taken hold, in particular on the trickiest of subjects. Some notable examples from the last year are those concerning the Bill Maher+Sam Harris+Ben Affleck Islam controversy, Bill Maher’s subsequent Michael Brown controversy (he called him a thug, a reaction to previous evidence of Brown being shown committing a crime just before his demise), and of course the Bill Cosby allegations (along with almost everything else in the realm of sexual assault).
These so called “Progressive” sources routinely promote and release pieces laced with little more then allegations and contempt. This is not “progressive” reporting.
Fuck, this is not “reporting” PERIOD. This is Fox News, left edition. If the O’Rilly factor had a left leaning sister program, this is it!
Heres an idea for “progressive” journalism . . . How about actual journalism!
A Raindrop In The Ocean 