Aggressive war metal band Deiphago are rumored to be violent in other ways, too: Curt Johnson’s (Iron Force, Mutant Supremacy) girlfriend Natalia alleges that Sidalpa of Deiphago punched her in the face when she went backstage to get a beer from the beers left there for the bands.

Johnson relates:

I wasn’t present at the time but I guess Natalia was backstage and went for a beer from one of the bins and sidalpa from deiphago punched her in the face and knocked her out. I was watching inquisition and came out right before they finished and saw her face, apparently they left right after the shit happened.

Some observers have noted that Natalia was not approved to go backstage, and the beers there may have been for the bands only and not girlfriends. The full story has yet to emerge, and apparently there is no police report.

The problem with situations like this — as we saw with the Duke Lacrosse case, the Columbia rape case, and other false accusations — is that jumping to conclusions and forming a lynch mob to destroy someone based solely on one person’s accusation is a terrible idea that will lead to misery. There is a reason we have police, courts and law and use those to objectively (as much as possible) determine guilt and innocence, instead of taking one person’s word as fact and using it to ruin the life of another.

As you can see, the usual forces are ready to jump to conclusions and are getting excited for a righteous justification for destroying someone else. The revenge-instinct of the herd is strong in them. Sadly, others who should know better are making the same mistake (I was unfriended by this person shortly after the exchange you see here):

This statement shows the mentality of the mob:

they are going to the police to try to press charges. if you’re the type who is going to defend a guy who punched a gal in the face for grabbing a beer, then fled the club…you need to unfriend me now

The technique used above is to attempt to say that demanding a fair trial before kicking off the lynch mob and defending the accused are the same thing, when in fact nothing in his defense was said. All that was said was: we should figure out the actual facts before firing up the lynch mob.

No proof has been established yet other than (1) a photo of a woman who could have received those injuries in any number of ways and (2) a story from Mr. Johnson. Those are not by themselves proof, and the lack of a police report is puzzling, since at least around here, the cops are pretty excited to investigate assaults. Pattison wants you to believe that anyone who demands a fair trial is in fact defending this guy against unproven accusations. By all means bring him to trial, if you have the evidence, but do not accuse me of “defending” him when what I am asking for is actual facts and not gossip, rumors and hearsay.

While apparently this kind of anti-factual commentary is the normal on the internet, it is also the norm among people who burn witches, lynch black people, stone heretics and bully non-conformists. It is the logic of the herd and the angry, defensive, spiteful and resentful animal inside of every human being. It is the low point of our species, not its moral height as these over-excited and angry people want you to believe.

We’ll post more as the story develops, including the crucial questions: (1) are the facts true as reported by Natalia and those who claim to be witnesses? (2) are the injuries from the assault, or from impact with the floor or another object, and were they self-inflicted? (3) was a police report filed, since people with a strong case tend to file police reports, while people with weak cases tend to go to the internet for revenge as a means of hitting back at the other guy, not establishing justice?

Tags: assault, brian pattison, curt johnson, deiphago, Kim Kelly, natalia