Tool Band • Page 23

Here’s the truth about false accusations of sexual violence

 

Don't be that person. Why is your instinct to believe a powerful, straight, white male celebrity you don't know, over a survivor of sexual assault that you don't know?

 

AFAIK, the statistics on this are on instances of sexual violence reported to the police, not posted anonymously on Twitter. If the accuser wants to retain her anonymity, great -- hopefully she can work with a reputable journalistic entity to validate/corroborate her story and give it more credibility than a tweet storm.

 

'Could it be true?
You don't seem like that kind of guy
Not you, you've got that one song that I like'

 

It would make absolutely zero sense for someone to make up a false accusation , given the way people react by harassing victims and not believing them why ewoul someone go through that

And they wouldn't include details like the tour and year

 

yeah the apologists in this thread don't get that at all, what the fuck are you people like?

 

@KidLightning I don't believe the singer of Tool (I'm also not really a fan, not that it's relevant). I don't disbelieve him either. All that is being advocated for is not having one anonymous twitter source destroy a person's career without any corroboration by anyone. That this is a controversial statement boggles my mind. I hope the person behind that twitter handle gets their story out and corroborated by a journalist (edit: or other people come forward to share their stories), but if there is nothing new after this I don't think there will be any lasting damage to MJK's career. It is too easy to brush off as an anonymous story.
Devil's advocate: it's real easy to look up a tour and year on setlist.fm or other websites. IMO, calling anyone who disagrees with your opinion apologists or lacking the proper instinct is a 'bad look.' edit - when reason and logic fails, it gets ad hominem real quick.

 

Because we have no evidence that these tweets even came from a survivor or, indeed, a woman.

As I said yesterday: if this is a real woman and she goes to a media outlet and speaks to a journalist, who can then at least confirm it's a real person while retaining her anonymity, I would change my view considerably.

 

And . . . blocked.

Jesus fucking Christ.

 

It would make sense for some basement-dwelling troll to make them up and sprinkle in tantalizingly plausible details, though.

Consider this: if some right-wing male nutjob wanted to damage the movement and hurt real victims, doing something like this would be an awfully effective vehicle for that. I'm actually surprised there hasn't been more of that over the past 6-12 months.

 

As far as I'm concerned, the devil has enough advocates. But here's a counterpoint for you: being the user that constantly runs to the defense of alleged predators in the Accountability threads, and now here, is a really, really bad look.

 

consider that you don’t have to be this stupid.

 

This thread is fucked

 

But by seeking to discredit the victim's statement you are believing him over her. Has a journalist verified his account of what happened? Or that he himself actually posted that tweet? The double standard here is a problem, and by not standing with the victim you are supporting the perpetrator, even if you don't want to use those words.

They used the same platform to make their statements, but you're believing him because you have some vague idea of who you think he might based on some songs he's written and performed. There's no reason that he has more credibility in this situation than the victim does, and history and data tell us he is likely to have less credibility here.

 

But this doesn't happen. Outside of Conor Oberst (which he himself has said many times publicly shouldn't be used as an example) where has this been true?

 

This.

I hope that if this is legit then justice is served. Tool have been my life. I love this band more than anything, they are the reason I love music. But I am not willing to listen to a rapist. It will change my view considerably on everything and I will not support MJK.

To be fair, I'm not supporting him now per se. I am just agreeing with what's bolded above. If this person goes to a journalist (even anonymously) it will change everything. I'm not going to destroy a man because of an anonymous Twitter post, I'm going to destroy a man because he is a criminal. I don't get why that's fucking controversial at all.

 

Because MJK is a person we know is using his real identity to make the statement. That's the crucial difference. If it were any other way -- if the accusations came from an existing account that obviously belonged to a woman who'd been using it for awhile, or if she'd gone to a publication like the Aziz accuser, for example -- I'd see it totally differently.

It's obvious and understandable why a real victim would take this fully anonymous approach, and I feel for her if that's what's happening here (and she will deserve an apology from people like me if that turns out to be true in the coming days). But we can't live in a world where any of 8 billion potential trolls can decide to ignite this type of firestorm on their lunch break for the lulz. At least, that's how I see it.

 

Damn, this thread seemed to be going relatively ok an hour ago...

 

this

doesn't

happen

 

Prosecutor in Patrick Kane case says accuser's mom lied about evidence bag

yeah never

 

That wasn't the accuser. And the lie wasn't about the assault, it was about a potential piece of evidence.

And do we really need to post the hundreds of true stories about powerful straight white men assaulting women?

 

And before I get banned from this site for believing that the bar for guilt should be set higher than "anonymous Twitter account is created and throws accusations" before destroying someone's career and reputation, someone please read my post history re: Brand New and With Confidence. I am in no way sympathizing with the abuser. If more comes out in this, I am selling every piece of tool memorabilia I own, which is a pathetic amount. But until then, I don't believe this story is enough to take down a man.

 

I've had enough of this dude.

 

some real heroes in this thread I see jfc