Objectively horrifying...

[Forty Two]

Even after a jury verdict, none of us "knows" what happened, unless we're witnesses, and even then the knowledge is limited to what we personally can attest to.

To suggest that all persons accusing someone else of sexual assault should be "believed" is a political statement. It's not a statement related to truth or fact or the reality of what happened. In almost all types of criminal cases, there are a range of possibilities from an accuser being a truth-teller with a comparatively flaw-free memory, to a liar with a bizarre memory faults and defects. In between are people who think they're telling the truth but are wrong, people with bad memories but good faith, people with bad faith but good memories, etc.

In any incident in which we were not involved, none of us knows what happened, so to "believe" one person or another based on our presupposition that persons of that type don't lie about stuff of that kind is "prejudice." It's not wrong to say "I don't know what happened," and "she says X, he says opposite of X, so on what basis do I give the nod to one or the other?" If the answer is "because women/men generally tell the truth in these situations" then that's prejudice, prejudgment, and stereotyping. If the answer is, "because evidence Y corroborates X" or "because evidence Z corroborates opposite of X," then you have a judgment based on evidence particular to that case.

[mistermack]

In any incident in which we were not involved, none of us knows what happened,

I agree, in the one-on-one sex cases.

Funny thing is though, in the example I quoted, everyone actually knows what happened, but they still managed to wind up with verdicts of the exact opposite.

[Brian Peacock]

So now, according to you, people accused of rape and sexual assault should be considered guilty, unless they can prove their innocence.

But Liverpool fans who crush 96 people to death should be considered "unlucky". Until the official whitewash declares them "victims".

The unfortunate thing for that narrative is that the police didn't crush anyone, the stadium didn't crush anyone, even god was nowhere to be seen on the day. The only people doing any crushing were Liverpool fans.

Aren't facts irritating?

How much are you drinking these days?

[pErvinalia]

Not enough water, clearly, as brain shrinkage seems to be a possibility..

[laklak]

I hate when that happens.

[mistermack]

Not enough water, clearly, as brain shrinkage seems to be a possibility..

Not in your case.