This shit is toxic, guys

Okay, let me begin this by saying I don't symphatise with Brock Turner in any capacity. I haven't followed the case, so I can't make accurate judgements, but if the things said in the post in this image alone are true, he's completely deserving of a harsher punishment for his actions.

That being said, publicly shaming him for what he did, although definitely a harsher punishment and something that would probably balance out the flaws in the judicial system in this particular case, is not fucking okay. It's not okay not because I think Brock is actually a nice guy, because I don't think that. It's not okay because it brings three negative effects in general.

First of all, sometimes people change. If Brock, and I'm only using him as an example here, should ever find in himself the capacity to truly regret what he did, then once he's done his time, he should be able to live a normal life from that point onwards. It's bad enough for him that he's in the Sex Offender Registry, which will inevitably fuck with him, but now the entire internet knows what he did? No punishment should last for an entire lifetime, if the person being punished has had a true change of heart. I'm obviously not saying that this is the case here, because I don't know that, but the main purpose of any punishment should be to rehabilitate, not to punish for punishment's sake. This is taking away the possibility of rehabilitation.

Secondly, if people see shit like this, some of them will start thinking it's okay to publicly shame other people who they think have done something wrong. No, it fucking isn't. Sometimes it's deserved, even if not the best way to handle things, but sometimes it isn't. A post like this on the internet will not go away once it's been posted, and if the person being shamed hasn't actually done anything wrong, or the post doesn't tell the full story, or something else is being fucked with to suit the victim's story better, the punishment will be undeserved, in which, congratulations, you have been a part of a person getting accused unfairly, getting his life fucked up unfairly and overall just promoting mob mentality, which will never bring any good.

And thirdly, you're not giving the guy a chance to defend himself. Again, in this particular case he might've already said everything he has to say on the matter and his defense was found wanting, I don't know, because I haven't followed that case as intently as some apparently have. What I do know, however, is that in general, the accused must always have a chance to defend themself, lest we risk an innocent man being harmed. And this kind of a mob court will never give the accused an adequate chance to defend themselves. If this is the way people deal with accusing people of very serious crimes, then there's something very wrong with people's perception of justice.

This is not a defense of Brock Turner, because if what I've read is true, he should be in prison far longer than he is/was/has been. What I'm saying is: public shaming, even if done for the right reasons, can never be right because of the effects it has are usually unproportional to the damage done and can, in some cases, completely ruin the life of someone who hasn't even done anything wrong. And most importantly, there's no way to take it back.