{"id":75986,"date":"2018-03-27T15:05:14","date_gmt":"2018-03-27T22:05:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=75986"},"modified":"2018-03-27T15:05:14","modified_gmt":"2018-03-27T22:05:14","slug":"the-wests-guilty-until-proven-innocent-mantra-is-wrecking-lives-international-relations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2018\/03\/27\/the-wests-guilty-until-proven-innocent-mantra-is-wrecking-lives-international-relations\/","title":{"rendered":"The West’s \u2018guilty until proven innocent\u2019 mantra is wrecking lives & international relations"},"content":{"rendered":"

Robert Bridge\u00a0\u00a0Courtesy RT<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n
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Western society is flirting with a disturbing trend where people are being denied the time-honored ‘presumption of innocence’. The same undemocratic method is even being used against nations in what is becoming a dangerous game.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Imagine the following scenario: You are a star football player at the local high school, with a number of college teams hoping to recruit you. There is even talk of a NFL career down the road. Then, overnight, your life takes an unexpected turn for the worse. The police show up at your house with a warrant for your arrest; the charges: kidnapping and rape. The only evidence is your word against the accuser\u2019s. After spending six years behind bars, the court decides you were wrongly accused.<\/p>\n

That is the incredible\u00a0story<\/a>\u00a0of Brian Banks, 26, who was released early from prison in 2012 after his accuser, Wanetta Gibson, admitted that she had fabricated injurious claims against the young man.<\/p>\n

\"The
\nColin Powell holds up a vial that he described as one that could contain anthrax, during his presentation on Iraq to the U.N. Security Council, Feb. 5, 2003. \u00a9 Ray Stubblebine \/ Reuters<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Many other innocent people, however, who have been falsely accused in the West for some crime they did not commit, are not as fortunate as Brian Banks. Just this week, for example, Ross Bullock was released from his private\u00a0hell\u201d<\/em>\u00a0\u2013 and not due to an accuser with a guilty conscience, but by committing suicide.<\/p>\n

After a \u2018year of torment\u2019\u2026 Bullock hanged himself in the garage of the family home, leaving a note revealing he had \u2018hit rock bottom\u2019 and that with his death \u2018I\u2019m free from this living hell,\u2019\u201d<\/em>\u00a0the Daily Mail\u00a0reported<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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Read more<\/div>\n

\"AUK will either have to offer facts on \u2018Russian traces\u2019 in Skripal poisoning or apologize \u2013 Kremlin<\/span><\/a><\/div>\n

There is a temptation to explain away such tragic cases as isolated anomalies in an otherwise sound-functioning legal system. After all, mistakes are going to happen regardless of the safeguards. At the same time, however, there is an irresistible urge among humans to believe those people who claim to have been victimized \u2013 even when the evidence suggests otherwise. Perhaps this is due to the powerful emotional element that works to galvanize the victim\u2019s story. Or it could be due to the belief that nobody would intentionally and unjustly condemn another human being. But who can really say what is inside another person\u2019s heart? Moreover, it can\u2019t be denied that every time we attempt to hunt down and punish another people, tribe, sex, religion, etc. for some alleged crimes against victims, there is a real tendency among Westerners to get carried away with moralistic zeal to the point of fanaticism.<\/p>\n

A case in point is last year\u2019s scandal that rocked the entertainment industry as the movie mogul Harvey Weinstein was accused of sexually assaulting numerous women over the span of a 30-year career. Eventually, over 80 females, emboldened by the courage displayed by their peers, drove Weinstein straight out of Hollywood and into the rogue\u2019s gallery of sexual predators. Few could deny this was a positive thing.<\/p>\n

But then something strange began to happen that has been dubbed the\u00a0\u2018Weinstein effect.\u2019<\/em>\u00a0Powered by the social media #MeToo movement, women from all walks of life began to publicly accuse men for all sorts of sexual violations, some from decades ago. Certainly, many of the claims were legitimate. However, in many cases they were not. Yet the mainstream media, which has taken great delight in providing breathless details of every new accusation, has shown little interest in pursuing those\u00a0stories<\/a>\u00a0of men who went on to suffer divorce, ruined reputations, and the loss of jobs without so much as a fair hearing in a court of law.<\/p>\n

As far as the mainstream media is concerned, and to be fair they don\u2019t seem that concerned, the victim\u2019s story is the only story that matters. Indeed, it was almost as if the victim had become judge, jury and executioner. This is, in reality, just one step from mob rule, and woe to anyone who\u00a0questions<\/a>\u00a0the motives of the movement, as French star Catherine Deneuve discovered.<\/p>\n

The (female) writer, D.C. McAllister, described the poisonous\u00a0environment of suspicion\u201d<\/em>\u00a0that has beset relations between men and women.<\/p>\n

While women\u2019s willingness to hold men accountable for criminal sexual behavior is to be applauded, the scorched-earth approach we are seeing today is destructive because it undermines trust,\u201d<\/em>\u00a0McAllister\u00a0wrote<\/a>\u00a0in The Federalist.\u00a0When anything from a naive touch during a photo shoot to an innocent attempt at a kiss is compared to rape and sexual abuse, we are not healing society but infecting relationships with the poison of distrust.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

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\"Jimmy\u2018Guess what\u2019s in my pants\u2019: Jimmy Kimmel slammed for hypocrisy after Oscars #MeToo speech<\/span><\/a><\/div>\n

In other words, neither men nor women have gained anything from this otherwise-well-intended campaign against sexual improprieties. However, this is not the first time the West has allowed raw emotions to knock the train of progress right off the tracks. History books are replete with examples of Western campaigns rising out of sheer mass hysteria. But at least in those wild times there was still some semblance of justice, complete with trials and investigations. Now compare that with our \u2018modern\u2019 times, when all it took for the United States to win approval for an illicit attack on Iraq was for Colin Powell to shake a vial of faux anthrax in front of the UN General Assembly.<\/p>\n

With these historical hiccups in mind, it is possible to argue that the West has truly forgotten the lessons of history because they are certainly repeating them today.
\nBy way of example, consider where the great bulk of US troops are encamped today \u2013 in and around the Middle East \u2013 and then ask yourself how they got there. The answer is by hook and by crook, and not a little public manipulation and chicanery. That is because, in our insatiable desire to defend victims \u2013 the good guys, we are told \u2013 we are allowing ourselves to ignore crucial evidence while placing blind faith in what we are being told is the truth. Clearly that has not been the case to date.<\/p>\n

From the accusations that Iraq was harboring weapons of mass destruction to launch against innocent people, to the current claims that the Syrian government of Bashar Assad is using chemical weapons against his own people, the West is gambling that claims based on zero evidence will always work to fulfill ulterior motives. So far, the ploy seems to be working with the gullible public, but sooner or later truth will catch up, indeed, as truth usually does.<\/p>\n

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\"EUEU recalls Russia envoy, backs UK belief Moscow \u2018highly likely\u2019 responsible for Skripal poisoning<\/span><\/a><\/div>\n

Just this month, for example, an assassination attempt was made against Sergei Skripal \u2013 a former double agent who had moved to Salisbury, England following a spy-swap in 2010. Any guesses as to who the British authorities have\u00a0ruled<\/a>\u00a0\u2013 without a trial, evidence or motivating factor \u2013 is the main culprit? Yes, Russia. Yet, even the usually loyal British press has started\u00a0expressing<\/a>\u00a0reservations over the dubious claims.<\/p>\n

This should come as no surprise since the UK, a member of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), has staunchly refused to provide samples of the alleged nerve agent to Russia for analysis. Why would it do that? Would anyone be surprised if this investigation goes the same way it did for all those Russian athletes who were, unjustly,\u00a0banned<\/a>\u00a0from the Winter Olympic Games this year?<\/p>\n

Or perhaps the same way it went following the 2016 US presidential elections, when Russia was accused of meddling on behalf of Donald Trump \u2013 zero evidence to back up the slanderous accusations, which are responsible for putting US-Russia relations into a free fall.<\/p>\n

In conclusion, the unsightly spectacle of Western capitals backtracking on legal precedent \u2013 from domestic cases to international \u2013 makes it all the more clear why it is so anxious to win back the media mountaintops \u2013 it has no evidence whatsoever to support the reasons behind its increasingly illicit behavior. It is therefore incumbent upon them to own the narrative, as well as the justice system. How long this democratic charade can last is anybody’s guess.<\/p>\n

@Robert_Bridge<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

The statements, views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of RT.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Robert Bridge\u00a0\u00a0Courtesy RT Western society is flirting with a disturbing trend where people are being denied the time-honored ‘presumption of innocence’. The same undemocratic method is even being used against nations in what is becoming a dangerous game. Imagine the following scenario: You are a star football player at the local high school, with a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-75986","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","category-world"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75986","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=75986"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75986\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=75986"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=75986"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=75986"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}