So how do people end up letting something like this happen?
There are two different routes by which people can allow this to happen.
The first is that people believe that the charges against someone,
even a friend, or a family member, or a fellow party member,
who they were closely in line with before,
must be guilty,
because to believe that the charges against them are false
would mean believing that all the witnesses
against the accused
were coerced.
That would mean believing in a wild conspiracy theory
or believing that your entire country is under the thumb of a dictator
and is totalitarian already.
People don't want to believe this and don't think it's rational.
People believe that the accused is guilty,
because that's less of a conspiracy theory.
And then, on the other side, you have sort of the opposite.
You have people who realize
that if they speak out against the party line,
if they say that the person is not guilty,
that they will be in trouble.
They're afraid.
Either people believe it,
because they don't want to believe the conspiracy theory
or they don't believe that everyone is being coerced,
or they know that everyone is being coerced,
and so they're afraid to speak out.
Transcriber: Michel Smits Reviewer: Maurício Kakuei Tanaka