A writer I know — a man of some prominence in the comic book field — was recently arrested and charged with some heinous crimes involving child pornography and perhaps sexual contact with minors…pretty creepy, serious accusations. Those who know him are shocked because, at least running into him at conventions, he seemed like a pretty smart, decent fellow and we saw nothing to suggest this kind of thing. He is pleading Not Guilty and perhaps that is exactly what he is. I would certainly be pleased to hear that…about him or about anyone. One does not like the idea that any human beings commit such deeds.
On the 'net, a lot of folks who know him or know of him are expressing shock, which is a natural reaction. A lot are reminding each other about "innocent until proven guilty" which is fine, but I'd take it one notch farther. I would remind you that we do not have to decide whether we think he's innocent or guilty at all. We're not a jury and we haven't heard the details or seen any evidence. We will probably never see or hear all of whatever there may be.
More and more these days, I find myself telling people, "You don't have to have an opinion about everything." Sometimes, I tell myself that and don't listen to me. I was unable to not have an opinion about Bill Cosby or O.J. Simpson or Phil Spector. Then again, all three of those men had some history that made the criminal charges seem very possible and a lot of evidence was out in public for all to see.
Still, when I can manage it, I find it valuable to not form some opinions. It can free up a lot of my mind for more useful purposes to not form opinions of matters when nobody's asked me. And even when I am asked, "I don't know" is often a very good, accurate answer. Often, the "I don't know" is accompanied by an "I don't care." The other day, someone asked me if I thought the passing of Carrie Fisher would affect the Star Wars franchise. In this case, "I don't know and I don't care" was the best, most accurate answer I could give.
The "I don't know" part is perfectly valid here and it's worth noting that my hunches or suspicions if I had any would be based on just about nothing and would therefore be pretty worthless. They'd also be irrelevant to a legal process that has already begun. It will come to its conclusions regardless of whatever you or I may think about the matter…so why even think about it?
So my answer is "I don't know" and I might append a couple of "I hopes" like "I hope he has a fair hearing" and "I hope it turns out not to be true." But basically, my answer is "I don't know." If you don't know, you might like to try it.