I’m going to tell two stories. Both are true. I’ll try to make it brief.
A guy starts dating a girl. He’s 18 and she’s 17. The parents find out. They don’t like the guy, so they have him arrested for statutory rape. He is convicted, does time and is registered as a convicted rapist.
That guy ends up marrying that girl, they have 2 kids together and are still happily married. Holidays are awkward for sure but even her parents and anyone reasonable wouldn’t call this guy a rapist based on these circumstances.
A guy hunts 26 weeks (26 individual hunts) a year for 14 years all over the world. Hunts can be for 1 or multiple animals. Over this entire time and all these hunts, there is 1 paperwork mix up that finds them on a planned hunt for 2 animals but with only 1 tag.
The moment the guy realizes the mistake he turns himself in to the local warden and accepts whatever outcome is a result because he admits he made a mistake. The officials clear up the matter with no fanfare since there was no intent to do harm.
Some time passes and a reporter combing the records finds something he can spin into a juicy story to sell advertisement. He reports the headline “TV Host is a Poacher!”.
The guy immediately calls all the sponsors of the TV show (one of which was me) and tells them exactly what happened with all back up evidence and facts. His sponsors reviewed the situation, considered the facts and regarding what happened as a non-issue. He didn’t lose a single sponsor due to the facts of the situation.
Is this guy a convicted poacher? Technically yes. Does it mean that he acted with the malicious intent of a true poacher? Anyone reasonable including all the people who supported Bob’s TV show knows that he’s not.
To be a true rapist or poacher you must be a specific type of person with genuine intent to do harm knowingly. To put that label on someone who is clearly not that person, does them and their reputation a serious disservice that is unwarranted.
People can hold any opinion they want. I don’t see the world as simply black and white. My opinions change as the world changes and new facts emerge. I let people’s character and behavior tell me who they truly are, not the labels that others who don’t know the whole story thrust upon them.