ParanoidObsessive posted... The show has healthy fans?
Ehh, this is dangerous thinking. Even in the recent spate of MeToo/SpeakingOut accusations, there've been multiple false accusations that were later walked back, but which still did massive damage to the people who were accused. False reporting is absolutely a thing, even if it's less common than under-reporting.
Basically, abuse allegations are an incredibly easy way to damage someone you don't like for whatever reason. Anonymity is absolutely necessary (especially in celebrity or underage cases), but it also makes it much harder to refute publicly (and can easily encourage false reporting with less fear of negative repercussions to the accuser).
We shouldn't dismiss abuse allegations out of hand (because that discourages future legitimate victims from coming forward), but the Internet specifically (and modern culture in general) tends to have a "guilty until proved innocent, and even then still probably guilty" mentality that is incredibly repugnant and destructive.
"Ehh, there's no smoke without fire" and "Ehh, they were accused so they're probably guilty" are terrible takes no rational person should ever voice when it comes to criminal accusations online. Especially when the general public is never going to see the vast majority of evidence either for or against, so almost every opinion is coming from a place of massive ignorance. Doubly so when it just furthers the toxic mentality (and opens the door to future abuse of the system).
Basically, it's yet another case where social media in general is the bane of modern society.
Appreciate the line you walk. I'm definitely more emotional when I put my thoughts out there. Your response to Rev is accurate.
Just curious for examples of people you'd suggest were falsely convicted.
I still don't think there's anything wrong with my suggesting that "there is blatant, historical and statistical under-reporting of abuse of women." - as studies tend to suggest this. But I do see how this observation
could be interpreted to buoy false accusations. It generally seems like the ratio of real accusations to false accusations is quite large though. Definitely important to get as much information as possible though.
Really, it'd probably be more accurate for me to say that abuse itself is simply underreported, regardless of gender.