Thegoodbadtruth's Blog

The Amanda Knox trial. Guilty or not? December 6, 2009

Italian press article on Amanda Knox (courtesy of redbanshee on Flick'r)

No, the question doesn’t mean “Is Amanda Knox guilty?” It means “Are WE guilty?” “Guilty of what? you may ask.

Now that the verdict is in there are many people who have never met her and are pointing to a “fix,” a “stitch-up” and a “media massacre ” in an effort to explain it. They also point out the alleged shortcomings (read differences) of the Italian justice system compared to that of the USA/Canada/the UK etcetera.

Knox is described by many people-who-don’t-know-her as being hard-working, conscientious and a good old American girl.

All that is fine of course, and we all want to protect “our own” against what we consider to be injust treatment in other countries. That’s only natural and normal. Not only that, but there are a lot of grey areas in this issue, as well as an unduly hard press campaign against Knox.

Many of those people also claim that she is, or must, be innocent. That she “couldn’t” have done it.

Based on the facts at hand, no-one can go so far as to say that she “can’t” have done it.

There is not a single shred of evidence to prove that she is not guilty, just as there is too much circumstantial and inconclusive evidence which says she is.

There are hundreds of articles and documents on this trial and the evidence or lack thereof, and the plain fact is that there is nothing conclusive, one way or the other. We just do not know if she is guilty or innocent.

Amanda Knox deserves a retrial. She deserves justice. But she does not deserve a public opinion on her side which can think of nothing better or more constructive to do than blithely claim her innocence in all ignorance whilst at the same time shooting the Italian judicial system down in flames, as if our systems were perfect.

Because if what people say about a media lynching for Amanda Knox is true, the day is surely coming where there’s going to be another media lynching. That of what will inevitably be seen as our condescending and arrogantly superior attitudes.

She needs good lawyers and American Embassy support.

She does not need anti-Italian hysteria support. That will rub the Italians up the wrong way, sure as eggs is eggs.

What she needs is to plan her defence for a retrial as calmly and dispassionately as possible.

Do her a favour and turn the noise and anger down a little.

Because in the passion and noisy anger game, the Italian press always wins.

And you don’t want to be guilty of playing into their hands, now do you?