The Shoe On The Other Foot?
[11/21/2002] [Corum Hibernius]In a previous article, we looked at a situation where someone committed a crime by posing as a knight. Much has been discussed about how this person should atone for their sin and serve a penance meted out by the Emerald Hills Circle of Knights. There is some rumor of the circle retracting their accusation against this person. I cannot speak of the details of this story, but it does lead to the reason I am writing this article. What happens when the shoe is on the other foot? What if a person is accused of an act like physical assault, rape, purposefully injuring someone during a battlegame or ditch, using illicit substances at an event, posing as a knight or otherwise misrepresenting themselves... and they didn't do it? What can a person do when falsely accused by someone, either by mistake or with malicious intent? Unfortunately, the accusation always seems to be enough to convict someone in the court of public opinion. It is called character assassination and can be done by mistake or on purpose. What can a person do when faced with that? If someone is only accused of rubbing Lord Snortely's 12 year-old daughter on the butt, that person usually ends up bruised and battered by the end of the day... and almost every day they play until the vigilantes get tired of it. But what if the poor bloke who was accused was mistaken for someone else, or just falsely accused? Will anyone say they are sorry for the jimmy-jack, headshot, full-swing action? Probably not. What about if someone is falsely accused of injuring someone on purpose, and that is used as a pretext for black-balling the accused? Even though the accuser hasn't a shred of physical evidence, and the evidence they do give is total bullshit? The accused has very few options available to them: quit, or buckle-down and take it. What can be done in situations like that? Do the accusers have to serve a penance for destroying a reputation? Shouldn't they have to make some sort of public apology or some show of contrition? Justice should be for all, and not for the privileged and politically well-connected. It should work for the righteous, and punish the wicked.
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