In September of this year, Netflix released "Unbelievable," an eight-episode miniseries which tells a tragic case of a rape investigation gone wrong. The series, based on a true story, details how Washington police mishandled a rape case in 2008. Marie Adler, Marie being the middle name of the real victim, was raped in her apartment in August of 2008. The intruder broke in, bound, raped and photographed Marie. Two male detectives on the case were convinced that Marie had fabricated the entire event, and aggressively interrogated her about the facts of the assault. This resulted in Marie falsely admitting to filing a false report.
Years later, strikingly similar cases in Colorado are investigated by two female detectives. The rapist is eventually arrested and sentenced to 327 and one half years in prison. Photographic evidence of Marie is found in his apartment, proving that her rape did occur. Marie sues the city of Lynwood for $150,000, a small price for the years she lost and the pain she suffered.
The story of Marie Adler is undeniably tragic. The detectives on her case were grossly incompetent. Their failure to investigate thoroughly, as well as their incessant clinging to small inconsistencies in a recently traumatized victim's story led to Marie being branded as an attention-seeking liar. Combine that with Marie's life as a former foster child from an abusive home, and the picture becomes even more somber.
However, in woke 2019 fashion, Netflix couldn't help but make this more than a case of police misconduct. The political undertones of the series are not only undeniable, but dangerous.
The underlying message of the series is clear. Believe all women. No matter what.
In Marie's case, she should have been believed. The detectives on her case severely misjudged the situation. Perhaps they were not experienced enough with rape victims. Perhaps they were occupied with a different case, and saw Marie as wasting their time. All we know is that they made a mistake. One which turned out to have detrimental consequences.
One thing, however, is certain. People lie. People make stuff up for attention, for revenge. People regret having sex. These are mere facts of life.
False rape accusations ruin men's lives. Even if they are later exonerated in court, false accusations put innocent men through immense amounts of stress. Their images are tainted. Often they lose relationships, jobs, scholarships. Their family suffers. If they are wrongly convicted, they go to jail.
We cannot just "believe all women," because if we did, innocent lives would be ruined.
The counterargument posed is typically that rape ruins women's lives, and this type of violation is worse than being falsley accused of a Class B Felony. Therefore, the lesser evil is to believe women no matter what.
It's true, rape ruins women's lives. But false accustations of rape ruin men's. We cannot get into arguments over which "ruin" is worse. Our justice system is built to prevent either scenarios from happening and bring justice to victims. There's a reason it's "innocent until proven guilty," not "innocent until verbally accused."
The latter was best displayed during the Brett Kavanaugh trials in fall of last year. Christine Ford made accusations of sexual assault against Kavanaugh just after Trump nominated him to the Supreme Court. Ford's accusations were backed up by no evidence. She claimed she was pinned down and assaulted by Kavanaugh at a high school party. No members of Ford's friend group could attest to Ford's claim. Her close friend, Leland Keyser, swore under penalty of perjury that she did not recall any party, nor that she ever met Kavanaugh. Keyser was allegedly pressured by Ford's advisors to change her story to fit Ford's narrative.
As a result, an innocent man was put through hell. Kavanugh had to prove he had not been a rapist in his high school years. His job, reputation, and family depended on the ruling of a bogus, entirely partisan hearing. This is the danger of false accusations.
The story behind Unbelievable is irrefutably devastating. It's political message however, is disturbing. To live in a world where any verbal accusation is taken as truth would be the complete abolition of justice.
Ironically, one of the most truthful political messages of the show came from a rape suspect, Scott Parrish. The audience was clearly supposed to dislike him. Parrish was painted as a date-rape frat boy with a rich Daddy who could always pull him out of trouble. A previous accusation of sexual assault on his record made him even less endearing. However, while being interrogated by police, Parrish expressed the only counterargument to "believe all women" in the entire series; "There's status to being a victim. Which is bullsh*t. Because there are real victims out there, and when you go around saying you've been victimized but you haven't, it just makes it harder for those people who really do need help."
