The Principle of Slander and Innocence
Examining Taboos and Consequences Across Societies
The dignity, honor, family, past, and future of the slanderer are for sale, and the promissory note is in the hands of the person slandered.
There was a woman with a bent body at a 90-degree angle from her waist, partly due to old age, she said during a conversation. I didn’t ask, though, about her age or why she was bent in such a way. They say ‘a bit of it is due to troubles.’ ‘Troubles’ refers to the unbearable things they can’t voice, the annoying things they’ve come to accept. Those who call it fate have a hint of rebellion in them; she slipped this note in between, saying she hadn’t rebelled against so many things.
Being 98 years old isn’t terrifying, she said; her thin lip lines had disappeared into the wrinkles between her skin and lip tissue, her smile somewhat terrifying as a result. She could barely see with her eyes. She didn’t want treatment because she knew she would die eventually. ‘But would I like to see 100 years? I would,’ she said, with the same smileless lips, revealing her dentures.
But;
‘Having a big stomach,’ she said, ‘if you don’t eat, you don’t feel satisfied, your eyes don’t get their fill.
Our little story started and ended like this, triggered by the sudden bending of this woman’s body, laden with meanings about hair turning white, realizing one’s age, and understanding that one has grown…
It happened when she was in her 30s, a mother of three young children. A substantial amount of money went missing from home. When they couldn’t find anything else, they accused her of taking it. The river near the house flowed vigorously in springtime. Big tears rolled down from her tiny eyes lost in wrinkled skin folds. She left her children at home and went to the water’s edge, wanting to throw herself into the river. She came back; she couldn’t do it.
Some time later, the money reappeared. However, no one apologized when the money surfaced. Life went on as usual. But it immediately bent her waist. It really did. She became bent over in a short time.
‘I didn’t look at his face after that accusation,’ her husband said. She had other children too. Spending years with a man whose face she couldn’t look at is indescribable, unbearable. She left the account to the other side. Her face wrinkled more as she talked about her father and her husband. Only in heaven, she said, while clasping her long, aged fingers together, ‘will I look at their faces when I get my justice.’ Sometimes, when narrating or writing about certain things, people don’t need tragic words. You’re already searching for words to lightly touch upon something immensely painful. This is such a story, painfully real and bent over.
Shall we talk about the content of the slander a bit?
“The presumption of innocence, which is expressed as ‘No one shall be considered guilty until their guilt is established by a final judgment,’ is an absolute fundamental right that cannot be restricted even during war, mobilization, or states of emergency.” This is generally how it’s outlined in the constitutions of many countries. However, instead of perceiving it this way, society has adopted a principle like ‘One is guilty until proven innocent.’
Unfortunately, slander can be easily produced and thrown around as a threat even without witnesses around. Some people have ready-made general slanders, mentally prepared and convinced of them, ready to blurt them out reflexively. This leaves the other person stunned, and the initial reaction of the accused often appears as withdrawal, creating an image as if they were guilty. It urgently needs to be stated that slander is a crime to begin coping with it; however, fear and anger make this difficult.
The dignity, honor, family, past, and future of the slanderer are for sale, and the promissory note is in the hands of the person slandered. When you throw the most incredible slander at someone, they will never be able to defend themselves. That’s the logic. Taking the thing a person is most proud of, turning it upside down, filling it with malice, and feeding it to others in this way is necessary. It’s so hard to express that you can only understand when it happens to you. How unresolvable it is. Imagine the most unimaginable, the most despicable situation, the most terrifying act attributed to you. How can you prove otherwise?
If every lie a person told was written on their forehead, maybe then they would be ashamed of lying. Isn’t it strange? People act as if there’s no end to their shame, how comfortably they slander, especially spreading false information about others. It’s astonishing how ambitious they are. They can play with a person’s life so easily. What would we do if we didn’t leave the bad times to God? Leaving it to God is the best; God is the noblest avenger.
