A Startling Realization

I was half-drunk and half-asleep this morning when I was scrolling through my Facebook feed, when I caught a brief article about a member of New Found Glory being arrested on child pornography charges or whatever. I'm not going to get into that aspect of the story, because that's not what this blog is about.

This blog is about a quote that struck me in the comment's section. I can't recall it word-for-word, but the gist of it went along these lines: "Here in America, we claim that you are innocent until you are proven guilty, but the reality is that you're guilty until proven innocent... and even then, sometimes you're still found guilty by the media and public eye."

This struck a chord with me, because it's a devastating truth. I suppose it's some sort of staple in our mind that we've adapted from being a generation tied in so closely with media and whatnot. When we see someone is accused of a crime, the bigger percentage of the population always immediately thinks that person is guilty. It's almost as if the concept of a trial does not exist. It's actually a pretty sad situation for those who are wrongly accused, and have to spend the rest of their lives with this "guilty" stamp on them.

Once again, I want to elaborate... but this is a very, very sticky topic and I don't want people coming into the comments all feisty. My entire point is basically, that the quote was very eyeopening because I didn't realize this statement to be so true until I actually took a moment to think about it. I myself, am extremely guilty of already thinking someone is guilty of a crime the moment they're being accused or even considered.

We, the people, and the media, love to portray anyone a villain when possible. Whether it be over a falsely accused crime, or even something as petty as a celebrity tabloid...