Who truly knows, it’s likely not a single person here knows Cole off ice and what he’s like. If it was a post designed to cripple his reputation and career, it’s probably from someone who knows him personally and wants serious revenge for a variety of reasons, not some aggrieved fan. But the poster is correct, this is setting a precedent. I’m not saying you don’t investigate the claim and treat it seriously, but what is in fact stopping someone from doing this towards a big name player that their favourite team is about to play? How do you say well in this instance, it’s likely made up and is a hoax, without being seen as someone who doesn’t trust victims and believe women? You’d have to suspend the player until you can confirm or deny the claim. Maple leafs are set to begin game 1 of the playoffs against Tampa again or Boston and a deranged fan decides to create a burner account, type out a long and seemingly believable story about him raping them while he was in Switzerland or while on the road in a city, and now what does the NHL and Leafs do? Ignore it? Can’t really do that because what if there’s a 1% chance it’s real? I know people will say well nobody should ever do this and they’d be correct, it’s abhorrent and unethical beyond belief, but we all know people are nuts and are willing to do almost anything.
Nobody should be looking to take a moral high ground based on what we know here. It doesn’t do anything other then satisfy your own ego. Based on an anonymous letter, unless we have nothing else to go off of, you’d be an idiot to take a strong stance one way or another. Saying things like I “believe this victim” in this instance is nothing more than naked virtue signalling considering we don’t even have a name or know if this person exists. Nobody is saying he’s truly innocent either, how would we know? I know it’s been said, but I honestly could find out your identity, write out A detailed and plausible story ahout you raping me while in college or at your place of employment, and then you’re now guilty. Everyone needs to believe me because I’m the said victim, and I don’t even have to provide you with any text messages, pictures, videos, etc. or anything to prove it happened. I get evidence is hard to come by in SA cases and especially the longer it takes for it to be reported, but if all you need is a story, everyone is vulnerable as I’m sure everyone has 1-2 people in their life who doesn’t like them and may be willing to do anything to hurt them.
It’s actually a very good example, and upon further review it’s been proven it wasn’t even a monkey gesture. Most people here used the fact his teammates didn’t rush to his defence as proof it was a racist gesture, when that’s been debunked. But nobody ever admits they were wrong or made a rash decision, because that doesn’t carry any currency in this climate. There are still people saying Jordan Subban was a victim of a racist act to this day. That narrative will never change
I think the issue is nobody ever has any ideas on how to fix it, and frankly, the main issue is claiming it’s the culture that produces it. These acts sometimes are conducted by hockey players, yes, but that person may also play
Well said. The culture
posts like this and people who use this language (cishet) are a big problem in society and actually more dangerous to a democracy than most people think. It’s the type of person that could kill a man and justify it away pretty easily. We’ve all heard of religious killings where the accused is deemed guilty of many traits, all out of their control, to justify the act.
- Ian Cole is suspended with pay.
This may be getting a little philosophical. You don't have to make that leap. Outside of the court of law, we can live in a world where we can both believe her and not call Cole a rapist.
I suspect the current NHL investigation is based on these types basic facts, and not if Cole "did it". I suspect there's more to this story that is known by the NHL that is not publicly available. Otherwise, we likely wouldn't have seen a suspension.
Again... if those are the types of things some hockey players say... why is it problem to call out hockey players for saying it?
lol are we to suddenly question everyone because of one sensationalized court case
Of course, I’m just trying to brainstorm a variety of possible situations, since what we have to go off of is very hard to verify one way or the other.
A healthy dose of skepticism is generally always a good rule of thumb. An open mind to a variety of possibilities is good
No, I wouldn't be guilty. Don't confuse the public being disgusted by a story with actual guilt. If Cole is completely innocent, any investigation will very quickly be shut down and his name will be cleared.
How is it a good comparable? This isn't a situation that is up for interpretation. If even 50% of this story happened, Cole is a complete scumbag. The only comparable would be if the gesture not only didn't happen, but the players were never on the same hockey rink and never interacted.
i prefer my method: knowing that false accusations of rape are very rare
This type of mentality is exactly the reason lots of women refuse to report rape. By taking no position, you are implying that she must be judged on her credibility before we can believe her. That means the victim is suddenly defacto on trial for potentially lying, (lying about rape is an incredibly rare thing) without a single shred of evidence whatsoever. The last thing a victim wants is to be on trial.
Out of curiosity, do you have any proof that the author of the "Emily Smith" post is even a female?
