There have been a lot of posts in this sub about the prospects of a backlash to the #MeToo movement. I admit that concerns me too because I think we're dangerously close to an old fashioned moral panic.

Then, earlier this week, I saw an old episode of South Park that seemed oddly relevant. It came out all the way back in 2000 during Season 4 and is entitled "The Wacky Molestation Adventure." In that episode, all the kids in South Park manage to make every adult disappear by accusing them of molestation. As a result, the entire town becomes this dystopian wasteland.

I think if that episode aired today, it would've been a lot more relevant. It basically takes all these accusations to the utter extreme, pushing it to the point where everybody gets accused and everybody gets arrested. But there's one part the episode that I find most disturbing.

At the end, even though the parents were falsely accused, they carry themselves as though they were guilty. The actually apologize to their kids for something they didn't do. They were so shamed by the accusation that the only way to resolve the issue was to basically admit their guilt and forget they were innocent in the first place.

That's not just inane, even by South Park standards, it's downright scary in how real it might get. We're getting to a point where a simple accusations is all it takes and even if the person accused is innocent, they basically have to carry themselves as though their guilty.

The episode is still funny in its own way, but it's a lot more disturbing now than it was when it aired in 2000.