In the last six months, two people in my local community have had their lives turned upside down and their professional reputations pretty much destroyed by rushes to judgments after accusations were made against them. The first person I know fairly well, and they did nothing wrong, nothing that remotely warranted the reaction against them. The second person I don't personally know at all, but I've followed their situation closely, and again, it did not come close to the negative reaction it stirred up.
This is something that hit pretty close to home to me very recently. All it takes is some accusation/allegation to be made, it gets picked up by a few bad actors, or groups that stir up such trouble, and it can turn into a social media feeding frenzy. Then more people start jumping on board with their own rushes to judgment, and soon the press gets involved, and before you know it peoples lives are turned upside down without any regard for the facts, truth, or reality.
I've seen this happen on the national stage, and even the state stage here. But this was right in my backyard.
Don't rush to judgment. Get the facts straight, put things into perspective, don't join lynch mob until you feel there's truly just cause for it.
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