Anyone who thinks an adult telling about being molested as a child is a liar --

[BainsBane]

104. How about a presumption of innocence for Dick Cheney or George Bush

Scooter Libby, Chris Christie, or George Zimmerman? I find it fascinating that the presumption of innocence is always used to defend accused sexual predators and denounce as liars women who dare to speak about their assaults.

Innocent until proven guilty is true for every accused person facing legal justice in this country, yet it is only for sexual predators that people insist on using that as excuse to silence any criticism of an accused predator. Evidently raping a woman or child elevates a man to a standing that other accused criminals do not benefit from. It is NEVER raised when it comes to charges against women for falsely accusing men of rape. The few women officially accused of such crimes are not considered innocent until proven guilty around here. Instead, they are denounced, wished to rot in hell, and invoked to protect every subsequent sexual predator, despite the fact the FBI says false allegations are exceedingly rare.

The one exception to this pattern is Catholic priests accused of pedophilia. Duers always see them as guilty. Whether that is because they are religious figures, they molested boys rather than the lowly female, or both, I don't know. The disconnect is obvious.

In this case, the entire argument is bullshit. There is no trial. The statue of limitations has long expired. People must know that, yet they continue to dissemble by saying "if it's true he should be brought to trial." They then go on to again accuse yet another woman of lying. I believe none of it. He could come out tomorrow and admit to raping that child repeatedly and nothing would happen to him. Dylan has given her public statement. Many insist she is lying. She is female and therefore incredible. Her alleged assailant is male, an overrated film director, who for some unfathomable reason some consider more worthy of respect than the woman who now recounts being repeatedly violated by him as a child. The man married the teenage daughter of his girlfriend, for God's sake. Someone who would do something like that is clearly vermin. That was enough to make me thoroughly repulsed at the thought of him. I did not know whether the child abuse charges were true until this week when I read Dylan's account.

The implication are very clear. Rapists and sexual predators are not only innocent until proven guilty, they are always innocent for many around here. Their victims are always liars. The implications are our present rape culture: only 3 percent of rapes result in prison terms, some as brief as thirty days, while 25 percent of women have been raped at some point in their lives, and a goodly percentage of men on top of that. A culture that allows that to continue does not happen by accident. It is carefully nurtured and defended. Rape victims are disbelieved, shamed, and threatened when they come forward. The implications are sexual assailants operate in this country with virtually impunity.

A legal concept of presumed innocence does not restrict my right to free speech and my right to form opinions about accused predators immune from justice. The OP and I have every right to denounce a sexual predator who will NEVER see justice. We have every right to not enrich him by attending his films, and we have every right to form clear impressions of the people that defend him and every other accused rapist, from Julian Assange to that Heisman trophy winner. A legal concept that governs the accused's legal standing in the justice system does not rob us of our right to form our own judgments, anymore than it restricts Allen's defenders from judging Dylan Farrow as a liar. Some will always see rape victims as liars and will always defend accused rapists. All I can do is speculate as to why. Meanwhile hundreds of thousands more abused children and raped women are denied justice because that is the rape culture that is and nurtured in incidents like this and in every other case of sexual assault that comes to light.