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God Forbid guitarist Doc Coyle has posted the following regardinghis thoughts on his friend Tim Lambesis of As I Lay Dying being in jail.
"Things just got real for many of us in the metal/hardcore musiccommunity. To be more accurate, things have actually become dramaticallysurreal due to the recent arrest of As I Lay Dying founder and frontman, TimLambesis, who has been accused of hiring someone to murder his wife.
"I'm sure it is no surprise to many who know me, that Tim is a friend ofmine. I have countless acquaintances from my years in the music business, but Ionly have maybe a dozen very close friends that I stay in touch with regularly,make sure to visit when they are in town, confide in, perhaps seek council. Timis one of those people. I saw him less than two months ago and interviewed himfor a forthcoming podcast. I went out of my way to interview him first for thepodcast because of the interesting philosophical conversations we have had. Ialso recorded a guitar solo for the new Austrian Death Machine album, anddiscussed having him do guest vocals for a possible solo album I may do.
"I have yet to say anything publicly about these events because I’vereally had to think about this hard. Emotions didn't hit me quickly, because itdidn't feel real. It doesn't feel real. I've witnessed two distinct reactions.
"1.) The presumption of guilt based on fairly damning accusations, and thevisceral backlash and somewhat justifiable judgement that comes with thoseemotions.
"2.) The immediate defense of a guy we know and love. This is the faith inour instincts, that we can judge someone’s character.
"For some reason, both of these knee jerk reactions feel wrong. At thismoment, I am choosing to let the facts come out before making any moral edicts.Ultimately, I do believe in the “innocent until proven guilty” virtue of ourjustice system. This pillar is often forgotten in modern media culture. Beingaccused comes with an often assumption of guilt in the public eye. The court ofpublic opinion is where the accused go to be crucified. I am aware that the USjustice system is quite flawed and will sometimes bury the innocent or liberatekillers. But that doesn’t mean presumed innocence isn’t the righteous path.
"In a world where one’s credibility and reputation is everything, all ittakes in just one single accusation to destroy someone’s credibility forever. Iam not a proponent of conspiracy theories, but is it just a coincidence thatWikiLeaks founder, Julian Assange, was accused of rape in the not too distantaftermath of consistently releasing explosive government secrets? Or what aboutwhat about ex New York State Governor, Eliot Spitzer, being exposed for aprostitution scandal in the midst of a career in which he was known as being atough crusader against the abuses and powers that be in Wall Street? I’m notsaying these men are innocent or guilty, but all it takes is for them to beaccused for their careers to be destroyed overnight. Look at the West Memphis3. Look at the Central Park 5. In both cases, these people were convicted, andlater proven innocent. As a society, we convicted OJ, Michael Jackson, CaseyAnthony, Kobe Bryant even if the justice system didn’t. Even if those peoplewere guilty, this is not a good development because it lets conspirators knowthat people can be destroyed in the public eye by virtue of taking away theircredibility and ruining their reputation. All with accusation.
"The other side of that coin is even scarier to comprehend though. Assomeone’s friend, you want to have their back, especially in difficultcircumstances. Isn’t that what makes someone a true friend? Sticking it outthrough the thick and thin. This is where I feel like a coward. Unfortunately,I am not a man of faith. I am not pointing specifically to Tim. I justgenerally don’t believe in things I can’t back up with evidence. Be it God orghosts, Bigfoot, whatever. How well can we really know anyone? It seems awholly selfish exercise to think about how the potential support of a friend ina crisis reflects on your judgement and ability to read people and gauge theirintentions. If Tim is found guilty, are all of his supporters bad people byproxy? Are we all accessories to attempted murder, fucking hypocrites?
"I have an old buddy from the New Jersey hardcore scene who I choose tonot name. I wasn't close with him, but he would be at every show. He lived andbreathed the scene. A lifer. He supported God Forbid from the get go. Goingback over a decade, he was convicted twice of statutory rape, and is backin prison for the 2nd time right now. Recently, he got in touch with me throughone of his family members and started sending me letters from prison. They arelong, handwritten letters. Very much rambled, stuck in the past, lamentationsof guilt, self loathing, and regret. There seems to be some type ofquasi-psychotic mental break. It’s not the same guy I knew.
"I haven't written him back after 3 letters. I don’t know what to say. Idon’t know if it’s even right to accept the letters. But I can’t help but feelbad for the guy even if he admittedly deserves to be where he is at. Again, Ifeel like a fucking coward. Stuck in the middle. This situation is differentbecause I actually am close with Tim, and he hasn’t been convicted, but thereis some moral overlap. What do we do with people that break our code ofcivility? I know we lock them up, but how should we treat them in our hearts?Do we forgive, forget? Do we punish for a lifetime even after said “debt” hasbeen payed?
"Do I support a friend in the face of monstrous actions? I don’t know theanswers to these questions. I just pray that Tim is innocent. That it’s giantset up. That it’s just a nightmare that we’ll all wake up from. But I also haveto prepare myself for the possibility that it’s all true. I’m confused,and dumbfounded. The only thing that makes sense to me is to wait for theevidence to come out, and figure out how to deal with it all when I know whatI'm looking at. I don't own a "jump to conclusions mat". Anythingelse is just getting ahead of ourselves." |
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发表于 2013-5-17 09:54:39