The “cancel culture” era of the 2020s should’ve already taught us this lesson, but if any doubt remained about the need for due process and even-mindedness when litigating accusations of wrongdoing, the social media meltdown over the Cornell rape case should answer the question once and for all.
Ever since the news broke of an anonymous former Cornell student suing and accusing seven young men of sexual misconduct, online discourse has jumped the gun. Instantly, videos went viral on TikTok, spreading outright misinformation about the case, such as the untrue suggestion, now widely believed as fact, that the young men only had to “write essays” as their punishment for their alleged sexual assault. (In reality, two students were expelled, others were suspended, and the entire fraternity was shut down.)
In part fueled by these widespread misunderstandings, online commentators dubbed all seven men “gang rapists,” not even bothering to include the word “alleged,” and many called for the men to be executed or even castrated — all before a single criminal charge against them had even been filed, let alone proven.
Lost in this online rush to judgment were basic facts suggesting that the case was a lot more murky than Jane Doe’s lawsuit alone would suggest. For example, several allegations in her current lawsuit contradict previous sworn statements she made shortly after the incident. Moreover, texts she sent shortly after the alleged assault described the encounter as a “gangbang,” not a “gang rape,” and described it as consensual, with her even writing “our body our choice” and saying that “none of the sexual stuff was illegal.”
Now, these facts alone don’t tell the entire story, either. It’s possible that Jane Doe hadn’t yet fully realized the extent of the sexual encounter that happened that night or that she was in denial after experiencing an assault and trying to rationalize it all as consensual to herself, which is a way that real victims can sometimes process trauma. But, while a thorough and impartial investigation should still be welcomed, there’s more than enough evidence to call into question whether anything criminal happened here at all, making the leap to assume these men were all guilty gang rapists — destroying their lives, harassing them out of jobs, and targeting their families — all the more insane and indefensible.
Clearly, the online discourse surrounding this story is out of control. It’s little wonder, then, that innocent people are getting caught up in the crosshairs.
For example, as reported by the Free Press, Jane Doe’s lawsuit originally served the wrong Matthew Ingalls, mistakenly serving a man by that name who never attended Cornell. This led to a torrent of harassment toward this random innocent individual, with his family telling reporter Frannie Block that they have “been terrorized, threatened, and harassed.”
Similarly, online trolls have subjected a series of Asian people to unhinged harassment online after mistakenly identifying them as members of the group. For example, one Asian man who attended Cornell but graduated in 2020, before the alleged incident occurred, shares the same name as one of the accused men. As a result, he has been inundated with the most vile and unhinged messages and threats imaginable, cataloging them and showing them to the public in a viral TikTok video.
A TIMELINE OF JANE DOE’S ALLEGATIONS OF CORNELL GANG RAPE
The entire saga has devolved into an absolute mess that has ruined lives, misinformed millions, and enflamed a divisive culture war — all while accomplishing nothing, not even for Jane Doe, whose pursuit of what she sees as justice isn’t advanced by the online furor and instead is now facing unconscionable harassment in her own right. There’s only one small, tiny silver lining in the whole affair: that we never again have to argue about the importance of due process or whether it’s appropriate to litigate allegations of grievous wrongdoing via a social media mob.
After the last week, that question has been settled forever.
Brad Polumbo is an independent journalist and host of the Brad vs Everyone podcast.