Ignorance is a big problem, and people's emotions make it worse. With the high amount of stories in the media about abuse in the church and abuse by a number of people in the public eye, people seem to be more willing to accept an allegation made as being truth without asked many questions, sometimes asking none. Some people are getting more angry about injustices happening in child abuse cases which is fine, but their emotions and biases are preventing them from looking into a case properly before forming an opinion. In MJ's case people seem to think it's clear cut because there were multiple allegations and he said he shared a bed with children.
I understand why people would jump to a conclusion there, but I wish people could understand that things are not always what they look like, each claim must be investigated thoroughly to determine its accuracy, and determining the credibility of the accuser is also very important. Personally, I've found that the biggest problem with the public is their emotions getting the better of them which leaves them unable to think clearly about any of this. The irony is that people like us are called "naive" and "stupid" when we say this should be researched carefully to determine the facts. In reality neither description fits us because it is neither naive or stupid to properly investigate cases to determine their accuracy, rather, it's responsible, professional and fair.
Multiple children in the McMartin preschool case were telling stories about satanic rituals and underground tunnels but neither of those things turned out to be true. This proves that just because multiple people make a similar allegation, it does not necessarily mean that the allegation is true. This follows on from the fact that claim does not equal proof, this is circular reasoning; the conclusion is in the premise. Many people out there are attempting to give their opinions more authority and credibility than they actually have, and it also looks like there are people who don't understand the difference between fact and speculation. I recently spoke with someone who didn't seem to understand that, it was the same old "Is it speculation that he slept in a bed with children?" No, but this does not prove abuse. Medical, photographic or video evidence is the standard you would need to prove such a thing, being in the same bed does not prove that anything happened. He also made no effort to hide that fact, I would expect a predator to want to keep that to themselves for fear of suspicion and getting caught. MJ seemed to be very naive about what people would think about this, but I guess that's what happens when you've lived in a fishbowl your whole life.
People tend to project their opinions of bed sharing onto him in an effort to say he was guilty which doesn't work. Not understanding why a person would share a bed in a non sexual manner does not mean that it doesn't happen, people are arguing from personal incredulity when they do that. They also need to remember that this is not about what they or other people with similar opinions think about this, since MJ was the one doing the bed sharing, it's about what he was thinking and intending. No other person on the planet besides him can say they know for a fact what he was thinking, it's overstepping the scope of a person's knowledge to do so.
