By now everyone knows.

It is a given to any sane adult and any sane parent, that no one likes child molesters. Even in prison those criminals are considered the lowest.

However, in our climate of fast media and sensationalism, I do not want to see a climate of society to rush to judgment. Not simply on this issue, but on the future of what kind of society we want to live in.

Please do not comment on this particular case. I am addressing what can happen to society as a whole long term if we allow our emotions to try people and allow the media to try people, instead of the rule of law.

Even outside the issue of child molestation. If we allow fear of the  nature of a charge to rule our minds, even with accusations of crimes on adults can lead to hurting innocent people.

EVEN WITH ADULTS, I do not want to see blind acceptance of an accusation merely because of the emotional reaction to the charge the accused has been charged with.

If a woman wants to get even with a neighbor or co worker or boss, there is nothing stopping them from making a false claim in a "he said she said" case.

Now, in this particular case, there SEEMS to be much more than that. But my point is to let the courts do their job. Let the juries do their job. Because if all we do is grow to blindly accept a charge we can end up with a society full of jury pools that look for a reason to convict, rather than look at facts. That climate can affect all of us.

A perfect example was the case back in the 80s, when untrained police and child care workers improperly lead children to make accusations on the stand about innocent day care workers, because the society over zealously blindly reacted to the nature of the charge.

This is NOT about child molestation. This is about what kind of climate our society should want. It is as much about the rights given to us in the Constitution as it is about the rights of the accused. If we don't default to "presumption of innocence: and "beyond a reasonable doubt", and we simply act like a mob because we don't like what the person is accused of, long term, that climate can erode all of our rights.

OJ did it. The guy from Barretta did it. It wouldn't surprise me if Micheal Jackson had molested kids. However, the price of living in a free society, is only as strong as demanding the system be held to the burden of proof to minimize the risk of wrongfully putting someone innocent in jail. It is far better to let the guilty go free than to allow the climate of fear put someone innocent in jail.

It is especially important in "he said she said" cases where the case is solely based on "witness" testimony. People can and do lie on the stands all the time. So while this case horrifies decent people, long term, due process and burden of proof are far more important long term.

Otherwise if we always go by emotion, there would be no need of courts. We could do what Muslim men do with women and murder them at half time during a soccer game.