#4 The Truth about False Accusations

In 2013, Sichuan, China, 3 young boys rushed to the rescue of an elder woman, Mrs. Jiang, who fell down and was asking for help. No one, besides Mrs. Jiang herself, expected the old woman to start yelling about how the trio pushed her down in the first place. She was then sent to the hospital while demanding 200,000 yuan (31,200 USD) compensation from the boys' families for her self-diagnosed broken bones. Unfortunately for her, local policemen and doctors performed their responsibilities flawlessly, confirming that she fell down on her own and had no injuries, though many might hope she really broke her ankles and could not go outside scamming again.

The fact that there exists people who actually make up ploys to use their real or artificial miseries to extort something from others is fascinating. In 2009, a male student from University of Edinburgh was falsely accused of rape by his ex-girlfriend who initiated sex with him on his birthday, then cried that he raped her the next morning, most probably for revenge, or for the heck of it. He was under house arrest and had to attend hearings and pre-trials for two and a half years, only for the case to be dismissed almost instantly during the real trial in February 2012. During that period his friends stopped talking to him, he changed to a new school where his new friends soon found out about the case and stopped talking to him. Once he was declared innocent he called up University of Edinburgh, which practically threw him out for who they thought the "victim" made him to be, and all they said was 'fine'. Not a line about how sorry they were for the ways they handled his case and tarnished his reputation and future, because they were not.

In a false accusation case, the '"victims" are the real offenders and the alleged "culprits" are the real victims, but society just can't be bothered by the truth. Even when a person's status is cleared, it does not matter anymore since the damage is already done. The only news we usually see are the ones reporting incidents that happened or are believed to have happened, but it stops there.  No follow-ups on the investigations, on the evidences and confessions later made and on the actual ruling of the case, because those are boring and would not sell as much. So what if the alleged rapist turned out to be innocent, who cares? It's more important that you can tell your friends 'hey do you know about that rape case, the guy is a sicko, I've lost faith in people' and become applauded for showing sympathy towards the human race. If you know the "victim", better still, simply showering the person with concerns and humiliating remarks for the "culprit" to fulfil your social responsibilities. After sufficient time, even the "victims" would no longer care, leaving only the falsely accused frantically battling to prove their innocence.

False accusation is itself a crime of fraud, but in most cases it's one party's words against the other's, so coming up with a guideline to deal with this phenomenon can be tricky. With a functional brain and enough wicked intelligence, you can frame anyone of anything and people would not blink twice before condemning the person to the deepest levels of hell. Humans enjoy knowing about others' wrongdoings. We might celebrate fire-fighters and those who do good deeds to society as heroes without capes, but we shiver with excitement upon hearing stories about villains, the dysfunctional part of the world that makes us feel better about ourselves. We often describe criminals 'the lowest of the low' not just because their actions cause undesirable consequences, but they effectively serve as standing platforms to elevate the rest of society as greater, more morally correct human beings. Since we actively seek evils to glorify our self-worth, the falsely accused always face unfavourable treatment which is irreversible, while the false accusers freely surf the sympathy waves.  

Lying alone is not wrong, but lying with the intention to make someone miserable should be made punishable. However, stories are only known as they are told, and the media industry thrives on publishing whatever that boosts their profits, and fabricated lies top the best-seller list. People love to make judgements with little or no support, and a simple statement or headline can completely erase a person's future. If you ever contemplate falsely accusing someone, just bear in mind the ending of The Boy Who Cried Wolf. The shepherd boy was eaten by the wolves when the villagers no longer believed his lies. Karma is a bitch if you are one, hopefully.