Twenty years ago, I knew a man (now deceased) who had recently been accused of harassing and sexually abusing a teenage girl. At the time, he was renting from the girl’s father and lived in the home.
The irony? The man was gay–totally gay, had known so his entire adult life.
He described the nightmare of defending himself legally, spending tens of thousands to keep himself out of jail, only to have the girl admit, in the end, she made the whole thing up to annoy her father.
This falsely accused man was highly talented, did some book artwork for me and even designed a US postage stamp.
We discussed his experiences and he told me the worst part of the whole thing was having to prove a negative–having to prove he did NOT do something (logically it can’t be done) while the accuser was obliged to offer little or no evidence, on the premise that the accuser must always be uncritically believed.
Today, as we watch this Kavanaugh fiasco unfold, the problem has taken on epic proportions, because it seems rationality, rules of evidence, rules of decency and simple justice have been replaced by a Salem Witch Trial mentality disguising itself as something enlightened and progressive.
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