Jian Ghomeshi
is a creepy douchebag, who, until recently, was one of the chief arbiters of
Canadian culture. Think about that for a minute. What does it say about a
country’s art scene that would choose to be represented by such a goof? I
digress.
A lot of
things have come out about this demented hipster lately that leaves little
doubt in most people’s minds that he is a narcissistic letch; but there just
wasn’t enough to convict him of a crime.
This has
made a lot of people understandably upset, and inspired many to call for
drastic changes to the system. Just what kind of changes I’ll leave to the
experts, but in this highly emotionally charged atmosphere, I would caution
everyone to remember that a conviction is never guaranteed.
If there is
one thing that protects us from the wrath of dictators, or the hysteria of the
mob, it is that. It’s what separates democracies from tyrannies, free societies
from closed ones. Innocence is the default assumption, allegations must be
proven, and everyone, but everyone, gets to defend themselves.
Now I would
never make excuses for an evident scoundrel like Ghomeshi. But I would never
deny him his trial either. Some seem upset that there was a trial at all. What
they apparently wanted was an automatic conviction in a kangaroo court. Many
are angry with the Defense lawyer, Marie Henein, but don’t
specify how they themselves would have conducted the defense, or what sort of
defense they would have allowed under their ideal system. These are not
technicalities; until such things are specified, calls for change aren’t much
more than demands for a witch-hunt. And
while “I believe the victims” hashtags all sound very nice, they do reject outright
the presumption of innocence.
There
probably are changes that do need to be made to the justice system, there are
indeed things that the law and society at large need to do to improve the lot
of victims, and there is possibly the political will to do it now. But whatever
changes end-up being made, don’t forget that a conviction is not supposed to
be easy, and it is the prosecution’s responsibility to prove guilt. If there’s
anyone the demonstrators should be angry with, it’s the prosecutors, who
completely failed to make the case; it was their responsibility, their
opportunity, and their bungle. Any reforms that weaken the threshold of
evidence or weaken citizen’s rights to defend themselves would not serve
justice any better.
In the
aftermath of the acquittal, it may be of some comfort that Ghomeshi is not
getting off scott-free. His life is ruined, his career is over, and he's got no one but himself to blame. He’s not
getting his job back at the CBC; he will never work in broadcasting again. He
will be lucky to scrub the toilets at any radio station from here on in. He’s
the public face of sleaze: who’s going to hire him? He will be lucky to appear in public without
getting pelted with lettuce. No one will read his book. No one will remember or
care about Q, or Play, or Moxy Fruvous. Nothing he does again
will ever matter. He will only be remembered as a guy who liked to hurt women.
It will be the denouemant of his Wikipedia entry, and main plot of his obituary. For a
narcissistic primadonna like him, that’s probably a worst punishment than
anything the judge could have handed down.
His day in
court seems almost irrelevant.
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