So... Not really the sort of thing I'd hoped my first blog post would be on. · 2:56am Jan 1st, 2018
https://www.fimfiction.net/blog/788985/the-elephant-in-the-equine-room
I debated posting this for a while, but ultimately my only reason against it seemed to be the one in the title; yes, I only have nineteen followers, but an expectation of not having much of an impact isn't a downside, and nineteen is still greater than zero. So the only thing stopping me was not wanting to get that involved, which struck me as exactly the sort of reason these things go unreported, and once I realized that I pretty much had to do this.
The closest thing I've had to experience with that sort of thing is someone telling me about it long after the fact, and I had no idea about this particular incident until I read the blog post. I'll also admit, while I'm vaulting over timidity on this subject, that I have concern about false positives for this sort of thing, innocent people being accused and convicted by public opinion. A false negative is lucky if it's only just as terrible, rather than a lot more, though; bad as it may be to be accused of an awful crime one did not commit, it's far worse to keep having the awful crime committed against one happen with no one believing you. Absent perfect information, there's not really any good way to err, and the best I can think to do in general is urge careful consideration with an eye towards minimizing suffering and try to offer what support I can.
But that's in general and, so far, mostly theoretical as far as my personal experience goes; in this particular case, no one's yet been accused. It's not impossible, and it's a seductive thought, that maybe, somehow, this was an accident; from the sound of it, though, that doesn't seem likely here, and I really hope that it was only three people and not four, one of whom was successfully targeted. I don't think any of us who attend cons want to be looking around in fear, wondering how much we can trust the people around us. I know I don't, and that at this very Bronycon, I took the presence of a badge as a sort of automatic "You're with me" sign. But the unfortunate fact of the matter is that anyone can walk in and buy one, and the even more unfortunate fact is that we can't assume that there's no overlap between "people who like ponies" and "people who like using rape drugs". The world is not a very nice place sometimes. So... be aware, please. If you're at a con, or other gathering, don't start from a place of thinking the people around you are enemies, but if they start acting like they are, don't ignore it. There's a lot of good in pony, and I don't want it drowned out by silence on things like this.
Wow, I did not even think that this could happen at such event. Thank you for sharing your thoughts on this matter.
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You're welcome.