A Few Myths

It's got to be confusing for the average person.
There's a famous show called "Myth Busters", and it's time to do a little of it here.

First Myth: One pupular song from the last year said, "You're so beautiful. You must be a beautiful person inside..." What a bunch of hooey.
Beauty outside is a matter of youth, vanity, or luck, -- not personal growth or depth, but many of those who have it think they can take it to the bank and trade on it. Look at this story.
A swedish model decided because she was a privileged beauty, she could assault the crew and passengers on an airliner.

"I don't know how famous she is, but . . . she told me herself she was a model."

Kamizela, dressed in a beige, button-down shirt and jeans, was sentenced to one year of probation and fined $10,000. She entered court wearing leg shackles.

Hollywood doesn't help anyone here either. Many movie stars are chosen for their looks and not for their talent; and certainly not for their inner beauty. It'd be a very different industry if they were.

Women are as prone to abuse and brutality as men. History, human nature, and hundreds of studies throughout the world show that. (Even some popular TV shows shows like "Desperate Housewives" show it, if you must have your thinking done for you.)
For a system to need to prove a man an Abuser so desperately as to require perjury to satisfy its prejudice, is disgusting.
And then, it is a truly bizarre perception of the "public interest" to be unwilling to prosecute perjury and correct the results.

Second Myth: Politeness and civility indicate sincerity and trustworthiness.
Sheesh, how many examples do you need? The Nazis were famous for politely ordering people to their deaths. They even had a (all jewish) orchestra play soothing classical music for the lines into the gas chambers.
The Nazis were psychopaths. They acted politely to mask their lack of propriety and moral courage. It was not an indication of propriety and morality.

Everyone gets upset when they find their rights to property, free association, free speech, and freedom of movement are curtailed. It's not a sign the person is a criminal.
When the those rights are taken from someone unjustly, a person of good character never surrenders the fight to seek fairness. What is sad is how many do not continue the fight; or simply die in the attempt -- one way or the other.

Third Myth: Due Process protects and preserves justice.
If the laws are fair, and fairly implemented, --which usually means all the checks and balances are in place--, then there is a possibility that due process protects the quality of justice.
When the laws are written to be prejudiced, then nothing can protect the quality of Justice. Australian Intervention Orders are an excellent example. The whole purpose of that law is to skirt the concepts of habeas corpus and transform a civil complaint into a criminal charge.

The Nazis passed laws against being Jewish. Due process was simple: Determine if the person was Jewish, then send them off to be gassed.

Many of us remember the massive show trials from the former Soviet Union. They were broadcast to the world and took months, yet the outcome was determined before the start.
Fewer people know of the hundreds of thousands of small show trials from the Stalin and Khruschev eras.
There are so many similar stories: A person is led into an upstairs flat where three judges sat. The person was accused, questioned, then sentenced. There was often a prosecutor and someone to act as representation for the accused (whom the accused had never seen before.)
The accused pleaded any way they chose, then -- since they hadn't had any chance to gather evidence or presented whatever evidence they had (and it was ignored) -- pleaded their case.
It only took a few minutes. The trials were quick "in the interests of justice", and efficient. The accused was sent down a back or side staircase never to be seen again.

It's startlingly similar to the Intervention Order process in Victoria for men. In effect, Victoria -- and most of Australia -- have made it illegal to be a man in a relationship. The only small difference is that (up til now), men are not being executed.

All that Due Process guarantees is that the judges and administrators have plausible deniability -- until the laws are proven immoral, unjust, or illegitimate. Very similar to all those in Germany who said, "I was just following orders. The orders were legal under the law."

To be honest, I hate pointing out similarities between the law in Victoria and the Nazis. Evoking images of Nazis and the USSR to illustrate how wrong something is is not pleasant. I don't do it lightly.
But I lived through this stuff. (My ex) was as confident as any German officer when she first threatened me. And the Intervention Order process -- and the supporting agencies and bureaucracy -- proved to be everything she threatened, and more.