Editorial: Patrick Kane and our prurient rush to judgment

We don't mind telling you, we don't know what the truth is in the investigation of a sexual assault complaint against Chicago Blackhawks' superstar Patrick Kane.

We wish other people would tell you the same thing, but gossip always has been a central part of the human experience and the freewheeling age of social media often amplifies the exchange of conjecture, opinion and self-righteous indignation.

The reality is, almost no one at this point knows what happened about two months ago in Kane's house in Hamburg, New York, on the outskirts of Buffalo. Kane presumably does. And his accuser presumably does. And perhaps no one else does with certainty, or at least only a very few.

But listen to the chatter, and it certainly doesn't sound that way.

We are fans of sports talk radio. Well, fans may not be the right word. Let's just say we listen to it.

But to listen to it here in the weeks since early August is to be inundated with predisposition. The talkers are predominantly anti-Kane. Not all of them, but many. They start with the premise that Kane leads a reckless personal life, with an implication that therefore there ought to be a presumption of guilt, not innocence. And the conversation is even more unbridled on Facebook, Twitter and other social media sites.

There is, we recognize, a valid concern that the woman's allegation be taken seriously, that any suggestion that she be tried in the court of public opinion not only would be unfair, but could discourage rape victims in general from coming forward. But some people take this to the extreme, to the point where anyone who suggests waiting until the evidence is gathered is castigated unfairly as a fan who's worried about the success of the Blackhawks rather than justice.

We see justice differently. We see justice as being fair to accused and accuser alike.

We don't know whether Kane is guilty of anything. If he is, he should be punished. We don't know if he is innocent. If he is, he should be exonerated. That is what justice is. It is not speculating on whether he is or isn't. It is not assuming that he brought this on himself. It is not assuming that the accuser had ulterior motives. It is not rooting for one party over the other. If anything is to be rooted for, it is, simply, justice, keeping both sides whole until the evidence plays out.

This is not just a matter of a Patrick Kane investigation that seems to grow more bizarre by the day. It is a matter of a pack mentality that seems to afflict so much of our public discourse, a shameful mentality that dates back to the juvenile days of the schoolyard where the group decides who to single out to be picked on.

As a society, let us remind ourselves to grow up. Let us resolve to use our intellect, not just our emotion.

As a society, let us bare our humanity.