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Chris Langham: another celebrity victim or simply a legitimate investigation? |
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Saturday, 17 December 2005 |
Who can tell?
Only those involved and as a result I think it's foolish to be specific.
Indeed, a part of the problem I have with the entire celebrity culture is the way we ALL tend to form opinions and deliver judgements on limited (and media filtered) information.
Of course there are abusers just as there are innocent victims of false allegations.
And the vast majority... somewhere in between.
Only a fool ignores the real damage any kind of abuse can do to legitimate victims.
But likewise only a fool can fail to see the explosion of VICTIM CULTURE.
The benefits of claiming to be a "victim" are enormous - from the obvious financial ones to the gaining of sympathy for unsympathetic and damaged individuals. Many mentally ill, drugged and drink wrecked personalities find a way of justifying their failures on other events or people.
But the worst damage "fake" or "exaggerated" victims do is to the cause of genuine victims.
For every PR inspired story of a rape by footballers (often claimed by "victims" who turn out to be hookers), there is a loss of public sympathy for the genuinely damaged.
It's in the media interest to colour up arrests and investigations so as to sell papers and bump up ratings.
It's in police interest to inflate claims, especially in high profile cases, in order to gain positive publicity and generate promotions and budget increases.
It's in the legal interest that not justice but spectacular vengeance for huge crimes is seen to be given; so the details of the crimes are blown up and the sentences increased.
But we - the public - suffer.
Real criminals get away with it.
Our taxes are wasted by locking up men and women who simply don't need or deserve to be jailed.
The boundaries of corruption are pushed out.
More and more is accepted.
There's less and less ACCOUNTABILITY.
So the faceless behind the scenes believe they can get away with it.
They can't.
I'm aware of several very explosive investigations into behind the scenes activities ranging from manipulation of evidence to threats to jurors to benefit fraud and bent charities. Journalists themselves are not safe from examination of their own behaviour.
But the climate of deception continues.
So I tend to be sceptical when I see damaging reports about celebrities before investigations are completed.
And I keep a close eye on convictions that get overturned by the Court of Appeal - sometimes many years after the damage has been done.
So do many others.
The time for the vengeance of justice is getting very close indeed.
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