Monday, October 17, 2011

Presumption of innocence in the metro/subway

If you are a man, probably you've had this commonplace little experience in life. When you take the metro/subway and you're waiting for the train on a passenger platform, you absentmindedly or unawarely move a little too close to a woman and stand there. The woman subtly adjusts the position of her handbag on her shoulder and makes sure that it's safe from your possible fetching or something.

See, the woman can have Reasonable Doubt that you would possibly steal her purse or something, yet you have the presumed innocence as stated in the legal principle of Presumption of Innocence. So the train finally arrives, and you two step onto it and then you move away from the woman which possessed a pinch of Reasonable Doubt about your behavior a moment ago. And this episode of Presumption of Innocence finishes.

You see, this whole notion of Presumption of Innocence intrigues me. There's a catch though. If "the burden of proof rests on who asserts, not on who denies" (see the first paragraph of http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Presumption_of_innocence ), why do some defendants in some legal cases have to provide alibis to the courts which they are judged in?

The fall is drizzling and raining away.

There naturally exists a bubble of conceit for everyone.

It seems that only through interactions with the outside world, accompanied by introspection, one can shed that bubble of conceit.

It seems that in the English-speaking world, The Economist is the most laudable news magazine, be it in the U.K. or U.S.A.

Music video - Andre Rieu - La vie est belle




Whatever the criticism has been for André Rieu, a popular Dutch violinist (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andr%C3%A9_Rieu#Reception), it must be lauded that he performs his music with class.