Allegations!

“Represented as existing or as being as described but not so proved; supposed.”

This is Represented as existing or as being as described but not so proved; supposed; one of the definitions of a word that is taking more and more importance in the legal and media vocabulary, a word that is often being misused in order to protect the “rights” of the criminals, and, a rather new phenomenon, a word used to smear “out of the blue” and forever a person that has not been proven guilty yet.

The word is alleged!

It used to be in the books that any accused person was innocent until proven guilty!

The concept was pretty clear and simple and the word “alleged” applied perfectly. Eventually, because criminals are starting to have more rights than regular citizens, the media and the lawyers started to misuse the word. Today, even when a culprit had been caught red handed, on the spot where the crime was committed, on camera and in front of witnesses, he becomes an “alleged suspect” despite the fact that everybody knew he is the real suspect.

It was easy to go a step higher and literally abuse the word, go from some vague or crazy allegations to the guilty verdict of the media before any trial by law.

This is happening all over, again and again and some recent high profile cases come to mind, like the Duke Lacrosse team alleged rape despite the lack of DNA evidence, proof, and testimonies contradicting the defense attorney and the DA. We already had one instance of “alleged” murder of civilians by the military that brought to the fore all the anti-military types in the media, references to Nazi Germany or to My Lai in Vietnam.

The interesting thing with these allegations that turn about anybody into a suspect, from John Doe, to teachers and alleged sexual misconducts, Police officers and alleged excessive force, soldiers and murders at war, is that it is now up to the accused to prove to the world that he/she is innocent. Furthermore, the person(s) or media that formulate or echo the allegations don’t even have to show proofs, or apologize when everything deflates and the “alleged” guilty party is cleared.

Actually, we had a good example on the last blog with Lisa re-inventing history, calling us idiots, while at the same time refusing to give us any references, authors, links anything to back her statements or for us to research.

That is the way the world goes round now, a world designed by Mr Stupid for Mr Stupid. What do you think?