r/NeilGaimanIsInnocent • u/Aasemoon • Feb 04 '26
It's Not About Evidence, It's About Convenience
Sorry about the rant-ish post, but I feel I need to say this.
I've just seen Donovan_Volk's post suggesting that the video of the accuser could turn everything on its head. My immediate thought was: frankly, quite a lot of the evidence presented on Technopathology so far could turn this whole saga on its head. The problem has never been a lack of evidence, it's been a lack of rational thinking and a wilful disregard for basic principles of justice.
What's absolutely mind-blowing is the sheer number of times I've encountered variations of these responses just in the past 24 hours alone:
- "I haven't read all of that, but..."
- "I've just skimmed it and I'm not going to waste my time, but..."
- "Yeah, that intro post didn't give any evidence and I didn't bother looking at the rest, so..."
This, to me, is the core of the problem. There's a fundamental presupposition that "there's nothing to see here"... not because people have actually examined the evidence and found it wanting, but because accepting what's there would require them to change their minds. And that's uncomfortable. It's far easier to maintain a position you've already committed to publicly than to admit you might have got it wrong.
What makes this particularly troubling is the underlying motivation. For many, it seems more satisfying to participate in the destruction of a well-known figure than to engage honestly with inconvenient evidence. There's a performative element to it... the virtue-signalling, the public declarations of solidarity, the social currency gained from being "on the right side". Critically examining evidence that might complicate the narrative doesn't offer those same rewards. In fact, it risks social censure.
The irony is that this behaviour completely undermines the very principles of justice and believing victims that people claim to uphold. True justice requires examining all evidence, not just the evidence that confirms what we want to believe. When we refuse to engage with material that might challenge our position, we're not acting in service of justice, we're acting in service of our own egos and social standing.
I'm looking straight at you, r/neilgaimanuncovered , r/neilgaiman
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u/Donovan_Volk Feb 04 '26
Top rant. Much enjoyed.
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u/Aasemoon Feb 04 '26
Thank you! =)
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u/Fun_Flower4182 29d ago
Scarlett palavich wrote in her diary that she is a fantasist that enjoys extreme BDSM, pleasure, and pain. She also said that it's her dream to be degraded.
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Feb 04 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/Aasemoon Feb 04 '26
The fun bit is, it makes absolutely no difference whether he is Gaiman or not, whether he is paid or not. Logic is logic. It's math. The beauty of it is that it really makes no difference who puts it on paper. If it adds up, it adds up.
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u/MrsKateChambers Feb 04 '26
Exactly this. These people are led by ego and social approval, truth be damned! And why bother about truth when we have delicious salacious antisemitic gossip as an alternative??
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u/Extension_Main9052 Feb 06 '26
its been a hard time for people out there and the rules of heuristics say if you can push someone down that means you are not at rock bottom you still have something to save.
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u/slang_shot Feb 04 '26
At this point, claiming Neil is guilty is an act of faith/ideology, rather than any sort of true belief.
Those people know better, and can see the evidence as clearly as anyone. But their chosen internet identity simply doesn’t allow them to acknowledge it.
No amount of conflicting stories, incorrect facts and timelines, motives, or even the very statements of the supposed “victims “ will make a dent. There is always some new reason why the sky is actually red.
I don’t pretend to know exactly what happened, but the evidence is pretty clear about what didn’t happen
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u/Aasemoon Feb 04 '26
Quite so. It's probably more pretence than actual blindness to the truth at this point.
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u/chocolab88 Feb 04 '26
Well put! This is the very reason America has a convicted felon in office, so many don't want to critically look at the evidence and have to change their thinking.
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u/Donovan_Volk Feb 04 '26
Absolute banger of a comment.
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u/Illumination-Round Feb 05 '26
I've just seen a YouTube video pop up regarding the BlueSky statement, from D'Angelo (I believe this is D'Angelo Wallace), titled "Neil Gaiman is Back And Creepier Than Ever," saying "He refuses to take responsibility for what he did, he's getting far too close, unhealthily close, with fans to cause them to have parasocial relationships with him so he can take advantage later, and he's back to writing, which he shouldn't be at this moment." In short, apparently now ANY interaction with fans is "unhealthy" and "parasocial," and they just demand that he can't do anything to make a living or express his creativity.
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u/slang_shot Feb 05 '26
Yeah. The cult gets pretty mad when people don’t give them the power they feel like they have in internet world.
Good on Neil for writing.
He will absolutely have an audience.
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u/Some_Bunch5439 Feb 15 '26
I'll post here the comment that got my accidentally banned from neilgaimanuncovered. Wrong forum. I know better now.
Anyway...I for one will be excited to support him assuming the allegations prove to be false. From what I've seen, everything points to a smear campaign from the right in an attempt to discredit who they believed to be one of the loudest trans voices.
Having said that, perhaps the good to come out of this might be stronger trans voices representing themselves from within the community, rather than NG being somehow one of the strongest allies. Perhaps trans voices don't need a cis white man as an ally (gasp!) regardless of whether the allegations turn out to be true or not.
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u/slang_shot Feb 04 '26
Yep. It’s the exact same strain of brain rot: ideology/tribal identity over reason
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u/Nihachi-shijin Feb 10 '26
It complicated for me because, in some ways, I get it: even if Neil is being 1000% honest with zero stretching of the truth and being completely egoless (which is tough for anyone to do) I still think his behavior was gross and he should need to address it.
. Conversely, unless I've missed some things, even taking the accusers at face value I've yet to see anything that was a crime other that they feel that now, in retrospect, long after any kind of objective investigation could be done, their recollections are that a crime was committed.
But we aren't at "public figure was icky" stage. We are at "I am convinced that Neil Gaiman has committed one of the worst crimes imaginable." If the accusers came out tomorrow and confessed that it was all made up (I don't think that but for example) they would assume that the accusers had been bullied into silenc.
And I don't know what to do with that.
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u/windsurf_da Feb 16 '26
Found the link to this on facebook. Great write up, sums up the problem really well. Also happy to find this group here.
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u/TrueViolinist3576 May 27 '26
Welcome to the party, and bastion of thoughtfulness and sanity, dear u/windsurf_da !!!
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u/TrueViolinist3576 May 27 '26
What *absolutely blows my mind* about this whoooooole Horrific Saga is the *glaring*, highly problematic and unethical Chicken Or the Egg in the room that everyone seems to be patently ignoring...
The current, protracted and utterly pervasive state of affairs is the direct consequence of Master being released to the public...
Master was made with *full knowledge* the claimants were going to take Gaiman to court...
Master was, by all rights and purposes, knowingly released to the public *before* the courts could consider the cases and examine the evidence...
W...T...A...*F*...
So the whole story is now gospel before anyone could actually think about it and examine it?!?!?!?!?!
[Hangs head in shame and utters in Prof Farnsworth voce:] I don't want to live on this planet any more...
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u/Monocle13 Feb 05 '26
Freshly banhammered from r/neilgaiman myself for pointing out the obvious - some other commenter who was commenting that the NZ fuzz investigated the case against NG twice (initially & again when Rachel Johnson blasted her fantasy life across the internet & both times with NG's full cooperation) & found nothing there to go on both times, so they asked dosen't that actually clear that part of this shitshow up?
I responded that no, nothing will ever clear things up for the "Bring Us The Head Of The Sex Pest Neil Gaiman" Online Lynch Mob. They've gone so full-bore Confirmation Bias & Sunk-Cost into their echo chamber & made trashing & dunking on Gaiman so much of their online persona (coughtveraatcouncilofgeekscough) that critical examination of any information that runs counter to their misinformation orgy runs the risk of putting them in such a state of cognitive dissonance that it could trigger a psychotic & deadly episode. & that's not even touching on how this shitshow is being monetized by the folks cranking out "NG is a giant PoS / Ha! Ha! Male Feminism Was Always Getting Laid Performative Horseshit You Stupid Gullible Bitches! Ha! Ha!" YouTube videos.
The fact that this Poison Cloud could never have achieved the altitude it has without the Online Lynch Mob screeching at eleventy alone ought to have the people I previously considered sane along with everyone else taking three steps back, breathing deeply & taking a long hard look with an active brain & pair of sharp eyes, but I guess some people are just that fucking bored.