Overnight Thoughts on a FUBAR Situation

There's a short message at the Center for a Stateless Society on this subject, and the Center will certainly elaborate on that message as the facts emerge. In this post, here at KN@PPSTER, I am not speaking for the Center in any way, shape, manner or form. I am the sole author of this post and am speaking on no one else's behalf. Just so we're clear.

So, the nutshell version: In a post on Facebook yesterday evening, my long-time friend and comrade Brad Spangler appeared to confess to having sexually molested a young relative a decade ago.


Further thoughts:

• I say "appeared" because I do not and cannot know, at this point, whether or not Brad actually authored that post. I certainly hope that his Facebook account was hacked and that this is all just one really bad, really sick joke.
• Since I've seen nothing since the post to corroborate its content -- for example, a media report of his surrender to police, which was mentioned in the post as being Brad's next step, or a response from anyone even claiming, let alone plausibly claiming, to have personal knowledge of the claims in the post -- I'm going to hold on to that hope for the moment.
• Naturally, my counsel/position of "wait and see, this may not be what it seems" as opposed to "throw the bastard under the bus, NOW!" elicited reactions from some quarters along the lines of "you rotten son of a bitch, I bet you're a pedophile yourself and I am going to give your name to the police." For the record, I have never molested a child, nor would I ever dream of defending such actions. I suspect the people making such threats are typical keyboard war heroes who are too lazy to actually research my name, location, etc. and make a phone call to file a false report, but if it happens, consider yourself forewarned that that is what is happening.
• Insofar as the confession itself is concerned, if it is real and true, then yes, of course I condemn his actions. That's wrong and evil. The victim necessarily enjoys first mortgage on my sympathy and assistance. Any sympathy I might muster up for the perpetrator, e.g. "mental illness" considerations or whatever, has to come in a distant second.

So, it's coming up on four in the morning. I've been tussling with this subject all night, both in conversation with others and in solitary thought. To those who "think" I should just abandon a friend the instant I see some words on a screen, without further investigation and without waiting to ensure that I have the whole story (or as much as possible, anyway), well, that thing you're doing isn't "thinking." It's emoting. Which is fine in its own way, but don't mistake the one for the other.

Addendum, approximately 12pm Eastern Time, January 23: I've known Brad for close to 20 years. I've talked with a number of people over the last 12 hours who also know him, some for longer, and some better. I started this process hoping that it was indeed some kind of malicious hack and slander thing. At this point I am past a tipping point and I sincerely believe that Brad authored the post and that the confession in it is true. I still hope I'm wrong -- and make no mistake, I strongly condemn the actions described in the post -- but that's my opinion.