It is not wise to judge too quickly after allegations that have not yet been investigated. This has become clear again now that the German judiciary has decided not to prosecute the singer of Rammstein.
The German public prosecutor’s office has found no evidence for the allegations of sexual misconduct by singer Till Lindeman of rock band Rammstein. The protests prior to the band’s two well-attended concerts in the Stadspark in Groningen at the beginning of this summer are therefore seen in a different light. Good thing the concerts went ahead anyway.
Apparently it is not wise to judge too quickly before complaints or allegations have been investigated. We have known this for a long time, of course, but a dubious habit had developed of tackling public figures without investigation anyway.
The complicated part is that sexual misconduct is often difficult to prove, especially for allegations such as ‘abuse of power’. As a result, victims sometimes feel that reporting the crime is pointless or that a police investigation will lead to nothing. At least that seems to be the reason for the bad practice of publicly pillorying, excluding or even punishing people without investigation.
The MeToo movement that has blown over from the US has ensured that sexual misconduct and abuse of power have received more attention again. That was also necessary. At the same time, it has since become increasingly common for people to be punished even before serious investigations have been carried out. While in the past there have also been enough examples of accusations that later turned out to be fabricated.
Commercially, the case does not appear to have been so disastrous for Rammstein. The concerts were almost sold out and the band received a lot of extra publicity. There was even a strange dynamic during the concerts; fans who walked around with T-shirts against ‘woke’ and lyrics with which they supported Lindeman, women who showed their breasts on large TV screens. The latter also happened in previous years, but it suddenly had something demonstrative. It all seemed like some sort of protest against MeToo’s new frumpiness.
For both camps, it should be a bit more modest.