[ SECRET POST #1843 ]

[case]

⌈ Secret Post #1843 ⌋


Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.


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Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 03 pages, 50 secrets from Secret Submission Post #263.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 1 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 1 - not!fandom ], [ 1 2 - too big ], [ 0 - repeats ]
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments and concerns should go here.

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

That's probably because whether there was any truth to said scandal is kind of up in the air. The kid who was at the center of it had a father who admitted on tape that he was suing MJ for his money, iirc.

[(Anonymous)]

There was more than one kid and at least one family the Jacksons paid off to go away. That alone makes me suspicious regardless of him never being found legally guilty.

[meadowphoenix]

You might want to consider the other side of the coin. He might have been paying people let go of a true crime. However, many people, not in just this case, threaten to sue because they know that the publicity will hurt, and they'll probably get a settlement, even if their case doesn't actually have any merit. It's basically legal blackmail.

[(Anonymous)]

Well aware. And paying someone off if the allegations were false doesn't impress me, either.

[(Anonymous)]

That's how blackmail works.

[(Anonymous)]

Really? Wow. I had no idea.

Since I apparently need to spell it out for you, supporting blackmail and giving in to it doesn't say much to me about a person's character.

[(Anonymous)]

It says they know that an accusation like that, even if false, will destroy them. The fact that people still think of MJ as a pedo even after he was find innocent is proof of that.

[meadowphoenix]

Why not? You could spend 1 mill dollars in legal fees by the time the trial is over, and have an even more tarnished public character no matter what the verdict is, or you could spend 300,000 and be slightly more whispered about. Obviously, one is the smarter decision.

[(Anonymous)]

The one where you vehemently defend yourself against malicious accusations is the smarter one, and the one in which my respect is earned. Giving in to blackmail is pure idiocy and frankly, makes me wonder more about someone's character than if they go through a trial and are found not guilty. Especially if you already have a not guilty verdict on your side.

[meadowphoenix]

While your respect might be earned with the other, saying that it is also smarter lacks logic. Giving in to blackmail is usually idiotic, because it's usually illegal. The person blackmailing is putting themselves out on a ledge. If you simply control the flow of your secret getting out, they've got no leverage and you have the right of law. A blackmailer can only prosper if you give in.

Legal blackmail, when someone threatens a civil or even criminal suit, when you haven't done anything wrong, makes it effectively impossible to control the flow of information. All information is public in a way you can't control, since cases are public record. The person threatening isn't risking anything in a criminal trial, only money in a civil one. Furthermore, having a not guilty trial in a civil suit means absolutely nothing; the burden of proof in a civil case is so much lower as to have that info be useless. Moreover at the end of the either kind of trial, win or lose, if there's enough publicity, they can make oodles of cash anyway. It is literally a no lose situation for them.

You're also completely ignoring the role of the jury. Hint: they aren't really a rational, considering group. The more accusations, the less rational they are even if the accusations not true. This may surprise you, but people decide on their prejudices about how the world works (for instance the "where there's smoke, there's fire" point of view you were espousing above) even when they're wrong.

There's also your reputation to consider, but that's fine if you don't think it carries any currency. It does, but whatever.

However, if you settle, you will probably give them far less than if they sue in a civil trial and you can make sure they never make money off of their accusations. Gag orders are the name of the game and a far better way of thwarting accusations than going through a trial.

Personally, I don't respect people who will let personal pride, when circumstances turn it into nothing more than some Socratic ideal, lead them into ruin.

[(Anonymous)]

Seriously? I don't really give a fuck about legal definitions of blackmail. If someone accuses you of child molestation and you're innocent, you don't pay them off. And if you do, you're plain stupid. This has nothing to do with money - and let's face it, it's not like MJ was hurting in that area to give a damn - it's about morality. And bringing reputation into it? Michael was regarded as a freak show. The only reputation he has is his musical one and for that, I suppose I should be grateful. At least he's not being lauded as a pinnacle of human behaviour when he clearly wasn't, allegations aside.

[meadowphoenix]

l m a o. Morality? What construct of morality are you living in? Just what is immoral about refusing to let people make money off of you on their terms, when they are so very clearly going to make money off of you someway? Is there not enough justice for you or what? I mean, the legal system has very little, frankly, to do with morality, especially civil law. So to suggest that going through the legal process, which very much encourages settlement is going to preserve your upstanding nature? I can't stop laughing. I mean, to you, maybe, but in general/in society? Uh, no. It's like you don't even know how it works.

Having a criminal reputation is very different than having a eccentric/crazy one. For one, most people in America think child molesters are the scum of the earth, while very few of them would blink at a celebrity demanding penguins in their dressing rooms. Being a freak isn't nearly the same thing as being a sexual freak. You can justify supporting crazy people; it gets ten times harder when they're criminal.

No seriously though, what is immoral? Stupidity and immorality aren't the same. Many many moral things are devoid of common sense.