Innocent Until Proven Guilty

ninjaI woke up with a strange thought in my head. I’m sure it’s not original, but it was weird to just wake up thinking this. The phrase says innocent until… but there is no “innocent” verdict. It’s either “guilty” or “not guilty.” Not guilty is not the same as innocent. Simply that you weren’t proven to be guilty, whether you are or not.

I already have a large distaste for our judicial system. We’re told we have rights… when in all actuality, we’re just unimportant and left alone. These rights don’t really exist until they’re violated or threatened to be. How does that make it a “right” if it can be violated and then have to prove that? If it were a right, that burden wouldn’t be on me.

Anyway…

There’s an interesting occurrence that seems to be growing. People thinking they “know their rights” and have something to prove. They don’t worry about law enforcement. They don’t worry about getting arrested. They’ll get a lawyer and the charges will be dropped or a slap on the wrist. There are loopholes. Always loopholes.

Except one. That arrest record.

That arrest record never goes away. Ever. Even if you are never charged. Think about that. There are careers that can be ruined by simply being arrested, no matter the final outcome. Once the paperwork hits, that’s there forever. No amount of sealing or expungement will get rid of the record that you were arrested for something. And nowadays with that thing they call the internet, you don’t stand a chance.

You want to know how you move up in your career as a police officer? You bank charges, and felonies are the goldmine. Doesn’t matter whether it’s dropped. The arrest is enough. That cop that sits on a median isn’t looking for just any speeding vehicle… They’re looking for some red flag, that says from experience, you’ll hopefully be more than a routine traffic violation. Even good cops want to move up, so don’t test getting a bad one.

Unless you need real help, you don’t want to ever catch the attention of the police. Pull up your damn pants, drive a boring car (fix that tail light,) keep your mouth shut, and get the hell away from them. Your rights don’t mean a damn thing until after they’ve got you… and at that point, it’s up to you to prove it. Don’t be stupid and try to prove something to a cop. That’s not their department. That part comes after the paperwork. That part is expensive and time consuming. And if you can’t prove your rights were violated, you’re SOL.

Now back to those loopholes. Technicalities put in place to protect. But we all know they don’t always work out that way. Guilty people set free. Innocent people convicted. A lot of time wasted trying to do A, B, and C because you’re not allowed to do X, Y, or Z. Our justice system is seriously flawed. If we’re not perfect, it can’t be either.

The only time you’re innocent, is when you don’t exist in the scenario. Don’t buy into that ‘if you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to worry about’ bullshit. There are plenty of innocent people that have been killed or are spending their lives in prison. You always have to worry. Once you’re noticed, you’re apart of it. At that point it’s about what is found. Can they find you guilty or can’t they? That’s the job.

The only steady truth, is that they can’t find you guilty if they can’t find you. It’s another loophole. It gets abused by guilty people, so our government tries to tell us that they need to be able to find these guilty people. For justice. Sounds patriotic… Innocent people have nothing to fear unless you don’t let us find the guilty people! No… wait… once again, you’re only innocent if you’re not someone they can find. If they can find you, you either become guilty or not guilty. Not the same thing as innocent, stay with me folks.

This is where I start going on about the NSA (hello!!) and TPP and CISPA and all those other acronyms that basically mean big brother and the people that give him money want to see what you’re up to and probably control it. There’s no point in getting into those details. This is about loopholes. This is about innocent people being innocent instead of not guilty. This is about not being stupid.

So, yeah. Don’t be stupid. Surveillance does not equal protection. Not being seen is protection. It’s not a matter of sorting out who’s the bad guy or good guy when you’re innocent… if neither can find you, it doesn’t matter who’s who.

I feel like I’ve gone off topic… So I’ll wrap it up.. The point of this entire blog post… just so you know… is that ninjas are awesome. Be a ninja.

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