I've been busy and
haven't posted in a while, but I've gotten many requests for my
comments and thoughts on the Covington incident.
The
main reaction I have to the event is disappointment with the way so
many people did not bother to concern themselves with facts before
passing judgement.
This
event was a simple thing to judge: it was covered by an entire
hour-long video of the whole thing, and showed everything that
happened. If someone wanted to know the truth about the incident, all
they had to do was go on the internet and watch the video.
This
wasn't a case where there was no video evidence and it was one person's
word against another. The whole thing was recorded and available for
anyone to watch.
Yet, what happened?
There
were thousands of angry reactions, people posting on the internet and
exclaiming their anger at the Covington students and calling for
punishment and even violence against them.
What
is truly sad about those reactions is that they clearly show that the
people reacting that way clearly did not watch the video.
Even
though the whole incident was on recorded and could be watched, there
were literally thousands of people who condemned the Covington students without watching the video.
That is what is truly disturbing about this incident.
In
a democracy, people should always be presumed innocent until proven
guilty. Every citizen within a democracy should assume that every other
citizen in that democracy is innocent.
The
problem with this event is that is showed how thousands of people
rushed to judgement without giving the Covington students the
presumption of innocence. Even though the facts were freely available
by watching the video, these people did not give those students a fair
trial and just assumed guilt.
And
that is the danger is all of this. If we allow ourselves to go back to
the ways of "guilty, until proven innocent", then we are reverting back
to the way of thinking of the Dark Ages. Mankind suffered for
centuries, millions of innocent people were jailed, tortured, and
murdered - all because the concept of "innocent until proven guilty" had
not yet been established.
That
premise is a KEY foundation of democracy, and really, of civilization.
Without it, society degrades to a point where events like the
Inquistion or the Salem Witch Hunts occur, resulting the punishment of
innocent people.
In
a free and democratic society, it is always important to get the facts
of what happened first; to assume innocence until clear evidence of
guilt is shown. This is especially true nowadays, because due to the
internet, it is often entirely possible to watch an event directly and
see what really happened.
It
is becoming more and more important to do this; to resist the urge to
assume and condemn someone without first seeing the evidence. If we
allow ourselves to make snap judgements of guilt without reviewing the
facts, we will be creating a society that is less and less democratic,
and much less free and fair to it's citizens.
And
ultimately, sooner or later, it may be you who is being accused of
doing something. It will be you who will begging for a fair trial.
And
if you've fought for "guilty until proven innocent" and convinced
people that way of thinking is right, you will not get a fair trial.
You will have your life destroyed as the result of a mere accusation, even
though you are not guilty.
That is completely unfair. And it is the hidden danger in this kind of
thinking. The effects of it can clearly be seen in this event with the
Covington students.
LKvi
No comments:
Post a Comment