If the Roman rulers of their time knew one thing — and they knew a great many things to be sure — that nugget of wisdom was to beware of the mob and to take careful steps to vent as well as mitigate its propensity to spiral out of control.
The emperors' main tool was the gladiatorial games, but they might have smiled fondly upon social media networks, seeing the platforms' potential to distract the population while they solidified their power. But like other repressive, state-centred regimes of modern times, Roman emperors would have no doubt quickly restricted and manipulated the use of social media as well as the Internet after realizing those tools' abilities to channel a people's outrage, regardless of whether that energy be righteous or misguided.
These days, the instant public vilification of people such as that American dentist who shot the lion is not uncommon. Granted, the guy didn't exactly sound like the most credible or even likeable person — having in the past lied about other unlawful hunts elsewhere — but surely the staff who worked at his dental clinic didn't deserve to get treated like his evil minions. They couldn't work for some time during the ensuing public backlash that saw the business stalked and vandalized with hateful messages by angry, self-righteous social justice warriors who were setting the bar particularly high for their kids. Apparently, they're trying to teach us that a reasonable and responsible response to a deplorable act is simply to resort to more deplorable acts.
Perhaps the dentist had it coming, although that argument is a slippery slope. But what happens when someone doesn't have it coming whatsoever, and that person's life is irreversibly uprooted and violently shaken around?
In some instances, the accused merely resembled a suspect in a fuzzy picture — such as the one posted by police in the U.S. during the search following the Boston Marathon bombing. The fact then 22-year-old Sunil Tripathi was completely innocent did not stop denizens of the 'net from ruthlessly lashing out not only at the falsely identified but his family as well. That tragic story wrapped up when the student, who had been reported missing a month before the bombing even occurred, was found dead in a river. However, authorities suspect he took his own life from an unrelated bout of depression.
A picture of a brief moment in time might be worth a thousand words, but it can also be misleading. We might not always like the speed or efficacy at which our justice system works, but it beats mob justice any day. There are merits to the notion of innocent until proven guilty.
There is a legal philosophy that espouses the idea that it is preferable to allow 10 guilty individuals to walk in order to ensure not a single innocent, wrongfully accused person ends up incarcerated.
Those who disagree either lack the ability to empathize with a person facing wrongful charges — or the wrong person facing charges for an actual crime — and the ensuing ruthless public storm, or they would apparently be quite willing to understand their own lot should they ever end up wrongfully accused and incarcerated.
And let's not pretend an innocent person has never been wrongfully incarcerated. The worst of these not-altogether-uncommon tales are of those who are later exonerated in light of new evidence. Efforts should be made to reduce such tragic instances, not set the stage for even more to happen.
While the gears of justice might grind slowly and imperfectly, surely that beats resorting to abandoning reason, due process as well as sober, rational judgement for frenzied, ravenous, blood thirsty and when-wrong-unapologetic mob justice.
So the next time another person is offered as a sacrificial lamb on the altar of the court of public opinion, consider reserving judgment until all the details are known.
