Quote:
Originally Posted by bigtmac19
http://www.thesocial.ca/video?vid=831058
Very interesting discussion at the beginning of The Social today regarding the verdict and comments made by the Judge. It's about the first 5-7 minutes of the show.
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I guess if by interesting you mean "breathtaking in its vapid and irrational analysis." Watching those hosts flail around making facile complaints while misunderstanding and expressing outright falsehoods about the decision makes me despair for humanity. All four utterly failed to understand the ruling, or how the justice system works.
* They criticize the ruling for bringing up the behaviour of the complainants after the alleged assaults. But the judge himself pointed out that it wasn't the behaviour itself that was at issue, but the fact the women all lied about their behaviour, which damaged their credibility.
* They expressed outrage that the judge said we need to be careful about the stereotype that accusers are always telling the truth, saying they've never heard of such a stereotype. Then later in the segment they laud the 'we believe' hashtag. What is the 'we believe' hashtag but a presumption that accusers always tell the truth?
* They complained that the accusers seemed to be punished for communicating with one another. It's baffling that none of them understood why that's a terrible idea.
* They said that if a bunch of people accuse someone of something, that's enough to establish that it's true. The audience cheered.
* At no point did anyone on the panel point out that the complainants lied to the police and courts.
If that's the kind of analysis we can expect of this ruling, I despair for our capability as a society to deal with these sorts of issues. This sounds elitist, but I sometimes wonder what fraction of Canadians have enough power of reason and clear thinking to even understand the principles underlying our justice system. It terrifies me to think of what kind of justice system we would have if it was altered to suit the intelligence and temperament of the kind of people on that show and mindlessly cheering in the audience.