I don't think I'm necessarily pro-Depp, I think I'm pro-process. If we're going to make feminism work (and we should) then we have to reach a position where the courts can deal with these accusations in a fair and even handed way. We have a legal process and should never have embarked on a system of 'trial by social media'. I think that crashed the course of feminism and we're seeing the backlash unfolding. Something I find frustrating because I've been warning about it since articles back in 2018.
You either have faith in the legal process or you don't and I think we should. I think democracy is founded on the principles of innocence until guilt is proven and i think everyone should be entitled to have their day in court. We can't cheer when our team win and then boo when the other team does - we have to have due legal process. That's the centre ground way. This case had a few problems, but it was a fair case and, having watched all the evidence, I reached a different result from the jury. Not wildly different, but different enough that I would've hung the jury in this case. But the jury were there and they saw more evidence than me.
I think the vast majority of people just want to pick a side - which is stupid. People who didn't watch any of the trial have decided guilt based on TikTok memes - that's madness. And yes, the Milgram experiment was a somewhat terrifying realisation that human beings are far more easily swayed than many of us realise. My first big hit on this website, way beck in 2018 was a story about a similar experiment... I wrote back then that MAGA and #MeToo needed to both keep an eye on where their group think was leading them. Since then MAGA stormed the capital building and #MeToo accused a Presidential candidate as part of a political land grab.
We live in terrifying times. Here's the story from young Penguin if you're itnterested. :o)
