Apparently Friday evening an accusation of molestation was made by a girl against one of the chaperones at the Ltown Middle School dance. She told friends, as I understand it, not anyone in charge. This rumor spread like wildfire, parents getting involved, and the police being called.
The chaperone was investigated, and surveillance cameras showed that the girl was lying - the incident never happened.
She, the girl, was detained by police in some form, but in the meantime the villagers whipped out their pitchforks and lit their torches, and took to social media to post this man's photo and personal information, accusing him of this terrible deed. Even AFTER the incident was cleared up and made public, they STILL went on their rampage.
So a couple of things:
Kids lie. This girl may be a malicious little bitch, but it's more likely that she just ran her mouth without thinking and it turned into a ####storm that got out of control.
How did it get out of control?
Because alleged adults don't know how to freaking act. In their zeal to get in on the act, they didn't stop to get any facts or find out what happened - they just mindlessly proceeded to destroy this man.
Apparently all that is needed to convict someone of a terrible crime is mere rumor. We see it every single day in the news: some dumbass makes an allegation and the mindless bots go wild promoting it, and won't back off even after it's proven untrue. They just go and jump on some other rumor.
THIS is an "if you see something, say something" situation. Shut them down. Chastise them strongly. Don't be polite to them. Don't enable them or humor them. Don't ignore them. This person is not your friend, and in fact they are your potential enemy and destroyer. If they'll do this to one person, they will do it to you. They will go on the attack against your kids, your parents, your spouse. They are a member in good standing of the dangerous mindless mob, and you are not safe from them.
As I said, I don't necessarily blame the girl for being stupid, but I absolutely blame the "adults" for jumping into the middle school fray without knowing the situation or waiting for any confirmation. The adults are supposed to be in charge, but that's a scary thought when they act like careless brutish mob. We real adults need to shut that down. It's not good enough to merely not participate in it; we must work to actively shut this crap down when it occurs.
We must be the change.
The chaperone was investigated, and surveillance cameras showed that the girl was lying - the incident never happened.
She, the girl, was detained by police in some form, but in the meantime the villagers whipped out their pitchforks and lit their torches, and took to social media to post this man's photo and personal information, accusing him of this terrible deed. Even AFTER the incident was cleared up and made public, they STILL went on their rampage.
So a couple of things:
Kids lie. This girl may be a malicious little bitch, but it's more likely that she just ran her mouth without thinking and it turned into a ####storm that got out of control.
How did it get out of control?
Because alleged adults don't know how to freaking act. In their zeal to get in on the act, they didn't stop to get any facts or find out what happened - they just mindlessly proceeded to destroy this man.
Apparently all that is needed to convict someone of a terrible crime is mere rumor. We see it every single day in the news: some dumbass makes an allegation and the mindless bots go wild promoting it, and won't back off even after it's proven untrue. They just go and jump on some other rumor.
THIS is an "if you see something, say something" situation. Shut them down. Chastise them strongly. Don't be polite to them. Don't enable them or humor them. Don't ignore them. This person is not your friend, and in fact they are your potential enemy and destroyer. If they'll do this to one person, they will do it to you. They will go on the attack against your kids, your parents, your spouse. They are a member in good standing of the dangerous mindless mob, and you are not safe from them.
As I said, I don't necessarily blame the girl for being stupid, but I absolutely blame the "adults" for jumping into the middle school fray without knowing the situation or waiting for any confirmation. The adults are supposed to be in charge, but that's a scary thought when they act like careless brutish mob. We real adults need to shut that down. It's not good enough to merely not participate in it; we must work to actively shut this crap down when it occurs.
We must be the change.