History is again repeating itself, abet in a different forum. This time it is a mass hysteria about sexual accusations of harassment by celebrities by women who were either sexually assaulted or disrespected.

While many of these accusations may very well be true, some are so old that it is next to impossible to verify and others it is a she said he said situation with a great number coming forward to say this man did this to me.

It is like the Red Scare after World War I and the witch hunt for communists behind every tree in the 1950s. Yes there were real people who betrayed their country for communism, but many others were painted with a very broad brush by the mass hysteria that was created by the initial claims.

Just look at what is happening on Twitter and this #MeToo campaign that is being waged by women against their (so called) attackers. While I have no doubt that many have been victims and kept silent for various reasons, there are those that I am quite positive that have falsely joined in to damage the reputations of men in our society who are in the public spotlight.

This has turned into a ‘Us against them situation’ and just making any hint of an accusation causes the man being accused to be automatically censured by many of the public and in many cases suspended from his job. What happened to the concept/idea that you are innocent until proven guilty?

In today’s society it is far too easy to publicly infer another’s guilt without proof (just by accusation) via Facebook or Twitter and many other social forums. Thus we the public reading about these accusations must take a step back and wait for the facts to be revealed before any form of judgment takes place.

Jumping to conclusions has become worse as people these days want answers instantaneously and do not want to wait for the true facts to be brought forward into the public’s eye. What is happening is like when a set of dominoes is set up for some trick and the first domino is accidentally/prematurely knocked over starting a chain reaction that can not be stopped.

Please remember this- Once an accusation has been made it can not be erased from our computerized world! Even back in the days before the Internet a newspaper front page story was never retracted on the front page, the retraction was always on an inside page towards the back and not prominent to the eye so as to not draw attention.

So to summarize I am not saying that everyone one of these accusations are untrue. What I am asking for is to suspend the public belief that every accusation is true so that the innocent are not condemned with the guilty. It is very easy to believe someone is guilty and very hard to be seen as innocent when you have been unjustly denounced in the public’s eye before all the facts have been revealed.

That is my opinion- Jumpin Jersey Mike