by David P. Greisman - It started with whispers, with baseless su****ions and inflammatory accusations, with unproven charges and controversial comments.
It has carried on for a year-and-a-half, these insinuations and implications that Manny Pacquiao has used performance-enhancing drugs to aid his rise, a run through heavier divisions and accomplished opponents, a route that has taken him from future Hall of Fame inductee to contemporary all-time great.
The idea of being presumed innocent before being proven guilty does not apply in the court of public opinion. Conspiracy theories only ever spread. The deeper into the rabbit hole believers get, the more impassioned their beliefs become. Nothing will sway them. Nothing will stop them.
The rumors have long since become ruckus. It takes the lightest of tinder to add fuel to the fire.
That tinder came in the form of what was called an article but was no more than a posting by an anonymous person – not a boxing writer and not a journalist, but the pseudonym of “The Shadow,” or the username of “mikejohnson313.”
The posting ran on an unheard-of website – not a boxing website, not a news website, but on places such as “FreePressReleaseList.com” and “ArticleDesire.com” The article advertised for something called “ValueSport****ks.com.”
The most isolated of fires spread, via message boards and Twitter, with some questioning the source of the story, but many more only exclaiming about what was said in the story itself. [Click Here To Read More]
It has carried on for a year-and-a-half, these insinuations and implications that Manny Pacquiao has used performance-enhancing drugs to aid his rise, a run through heavier divisions and accomplished opponents, a route that has taken him from future Hall of Fame inductee to contemporary all-time great.
The idea of being presumed innocent before being proven guilty does not apply in the court of public opinion. Conspiracy theories only ever spread. The deeper into the rabbit hole believers get, the more impassioned their beliefs become. Nothing will sway them. Nothing will stop them.
The rumors have long since become ruckus. It takes the lightest of tinder to add fuel to the fire.
That tinder came in the form of what was called an article but was no more than a posting by an anonymous person – not a boxing writer and not a journalist, but the pseudonym of “The Shadow,” or the username of “mikejohnson313.”
The posting ran on an unheard-of website – not a boxing website, not a news website, but on places such as “FreePressReleaseList.com” and “ArticleDesire.com” The article advertised for something called “ValueSport****ks.com.”
The most isolated of fires spread, via message boards and Twitter, with some questioning the source of the story, but many more only exclaiming about what was said in the story itself. [Click Here To Read More]
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