Presuming one’s innocence means presuming that the plaintiff’s lying. In certain cases.
The presumption of innocence works well when we don’t know who committed the crime. The paradigm breaks down when fighting over whether a crime was committed.
Whoever solves this philosophical puzzle will do a lot for justice. The current rules fail both the victims and the accused. And the bystanders – all the people who worked on “Ordeal by Innocence” whose work will never be recognised.
The BBC said Friday that it will not air upcoming Agatha Christie special “Ordeal by Innocence” while an investigation into actor Ed Westwick on allegations of sexual assault proceeds. Filming has been disrupted as well on another BBC series starring Westwick, “White Gold,” which is available on Netflix outside of the U.K. “Ordeal by Innocence” […]
via BBC Pulls Drama Starring Ed Westwick; Filming Disrupted on His Comedy Series ‘White Gold’ — Variety
This is guilty first, fact check later. Scarlet letter. No trial, but careers ruined. Over reaction. Punishment does not fit the crime… IF there was a crime.
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You know how there are different justice systems, e.g. Hammurabi. At a certain point, people realise it doesn’t work well. I don’t think this works, for any involved.
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Accusations, indictments, evidence collection, and trials would all have to be held in secrecy to avoid punishment through media. Which I doubt could ever be achieved today. Nor would we want to (Spanish Inquisition style).
Following the now common technique of creating (what I believe is) the familiarity bias: lie loud enough and long enough and people will begin to believe it (cite: Nazi Joseph Goebbels), we’ll have to personify this technique to the point where people expect that all information is lies and not truth. This to turn all public accusations (by the media) into unbelievable fabrications.
Nullius in Verba will become the norm and not the exception. Establishing and maintaining credibility will then be the key — perhaps by using blockchain-bonafides. (I just made that up.)
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