In hindsight…
How it was all reported in the media, commented on… was pretty fucking gross. Especially since the kid who made the allegations admitted to lying.
Nothing was held back on for the court of public opinion. Police statements amounted to “We found creepy dolls that only can be used for grooming…” “He had [this] because [he’s definitely that]…” Later on the same police were caught giving adult magazines from the raid to one of the kids they claimed Michael molested… several months AFTER the raid… and then bagged the magazine for fingerprints. The way everything was handled, even if generously… we could admit that Michael was a bit of a kooky freak… the way the raid, reporting on evidence gathering (and apparent manufacturing of it) and prosecution was handled, that part of it seemed straight up corrupt.
There was always a tinge of ick about it all.
At best, Michael was a deeply damaged person who did whatever he could to cope with the loss of his childhood and… we’ll never know what truly happened at the Ranch.
Sadly, the brainwashing has been so effective that those who buy it never noticed that those gaslighting people into believing that no government system (eg, single payer) could ever work are the ones (Republicans) doing their best to ensure that government remains as broken as possible.
More people believe that our system is fucked than those who think this kind of system is normal.
We’re just faced with so many hurdles, gerrymandering, red states that exist only because of minority representation have more power over larger population areas (districts by size and not population, electoral college) … The majority of the country is merely surviving and the apathy sets in. I remind people that voting fascists out is the only way things are going to change and often the response is “Well, I tried that once and it didn’t work.” So they stop showing up to vote. Or they buy into the ‘both sides’ BS and post lame memes on Facebook and Reddit.
A lot of us really are painfully aware of how fucked it is.