Chapter 197 Battle Of Public Opinion
This claim got many to pause and hesitate because it seemed sensible. However, there were those who were not moved and knew that even if it was true or not, this was their only chance to topple the world's powers while everyone was incensed.
As such, they continued to make noise and galvanized others with the same logic. Along with them, mixed in like runts in a pack, were those who just wanted to riot and have fun, stealing things while the rest fought for what they considered to be a stupid cause.
They naturally did more damage than good in the long run, but it would be a luxury to expect them to have the foresight for something so complex.
While the world bickered, the elites began to fire out various distractions, having those who were called out during the video come out to denounce the video and Dante for making it.
They even claimed that there was no such invitation to Dante and he had made everything up from top to bottom.
Dante went silent and let them make the various rebuttals that seemed more and more reasonable as they built up momentum, even mobilizing the police forces of various countries as well as the armies to suppress the people.
While they were spraying spittle on television, podcasts, and radio stations about the falseness of these claims, Dante's android finally came out to ask a simple question.
"Who said I released it or recorded it?"
This naturally seemed kind of stupid. Who did he expect to be moved by such a simple maneuver?
Did Dante think we were all in kindergarten and this was some big own?
But then a problem cropped up in the form of… logic!
Because Dante had never actually physically or digitally attached himself to these videos. In fact, his name wasn't even mentioned in the video - coincidentally - and since it was recorded through the eyes of the android, one could not see Dante's face or presence.
Of course, the voices were a dead giveaway, but countering their point that it was AI-produced, could the voices not be so as well?
On paper, Dante 'claiming' that it was not him should rather give the elites more leeway and fuel to claim that it was all a fake, because 'see, the person himself has no idea' would be all they needed to say to absolve themselves.
But the problem was that they had made so much noise and revealed information that irrefutably made it seem like they were sure it was Dante in their attempts to damage control that they were in an awkward position.
It was the kind of self-own that made one facepalm.
Those who were vocal against them did not need a cue from Dante to point this out and a new round of debate ensued. Those who believed that this was true and those who believed that this proved nothing.
This gave the elites a headache, so they decided to use tried and true methods. Dante was gaining too much support so they needed to render his argument moot, and there was an easy way to do so.
Cue a week later, pretty much every girl Dante had been seen walking with throughout his life came out to claim that he either raped or sexually harassed them.
With numbers reaching more than 70, the entire world was speechless.
This had definitely set a record of some kind, and even those who knew it was just a ploy to discredit him wavered.
It was the same bullocks mentality that there was absolutely no way that so many different women from different walks of life would come together to lie about this for one guy right?
I mean, that was just crazy. Maybe one or two could be refuted, but 70+ women at the same time? There had to be smoke where there was fire.
Immediately, people completely forgot about the debate as well as the issue at hand and the new topic was whether or not the claims were true and if so, whether Dante should be arrested immediately then put on trial.
Naturally, some particularly vocal activists on social media even screamed for Dante to get the death penalty without a chance to defend himself, because he had sinned worse than Hitler.
Of course, there were many who weren't fools because even if they may have believed such things in the past, it was too damn coincidental, and really, did the elites think they were that gullible?
The answer was yes.
Because as long as the accusation was made, the women themselves didn't even need to provide evidence, the public - or one specific part of the public - would do all the heavy lifting for them.
So what was Dante's android's response to this common tactic that had been used hundreds of times since the global culture war began?
Naturally, there was a mass release of videos and screenshots of texts between himself and the 'victims' showing their 'suffering' under his hands. The dates and times they claimed they were assaulted were stated by them in the initial accusation, so to see almost weeks worth of texts that were normal and even suggesting for more left many tongue-tied.
The girls themselves were speechless. They had only just gotten their paychecks when it was quickly rescinded by those who convinced them to do this and promised no backlash would be suffered.
What made them panic was that Dante's android initiated a mass defamation lawsuit. Soon, almost all the women were put on trial where there was a lengthy battle that went back and forth, but one side had only word of mouth and the other had hard evidence.
With the world itself watching, even the judge could not easily play tricks and undermine the justice system. They had to at least keep a semblance of fairness to appease the commoners so that they wouldn't know that it was one of their most potent tools to deal with their enemies.
As such, the women were all made to pay hundreds of millions of dollars in damages collectively as damages for defamation were calculated based on the level of fame of the defamed and the level of harm done.
This was naturally something that made many of the girls who just saw a quick buck with no consequences break down and reveal the truth.
Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned, and those bastards who told them to come out and say this had disappeared after their claims seemed to be refuted.
Some sympathized with them while more were furious because they had not only been duped and used emotionally, but also because they were aware of the consequences Dante would have faced if he had not been prepared.
Those who were looking to make a move then reminded the world of the pressing issue of the previous tension, but the steam had already died down.
Even though people were 'aware', the simple and blunt fact was that the momentum had been lost due to the distraction, which was exactly what the elites wanted.
This made various rebel leaders feel helpless because once the steam died down, the elites would come and deal with them one by one for daring to cause trouble.
At that point, those insurgents realized that the world could not be saved as it was because humans seemed to have collectively become stupider the more the population worldwide grew.
They were so easily distracted like babies who were crying and after being cooed by their mother, suddenly forgot what they were doing before.
Dante's android also realized this issue and sent out a red alert to the base. After calculating for a bit a wicked plan was formulated.
Dante publicly announced that he would appear at a hearing to handle the various accusations as well as claims once and for all, as well as release his technology and his ideas to the world in order to spite the elites.
This excited the world because more than caring about Dante himself, they cared more about his discoveries which could change their lives being lost due to the influence of the elites. If he publicly released it, how could those blood-sucking lizards at the top suppress it anymore?
Naturally, the elites were furious. They never thought Dante would do this because every genius was proud and arrogant. How could he let the core of his hard work be swallowed up by the masses when he could personally profit from it as well as be recognized for it?
While the public anxiously awaited the day of the hearing for which the information would be released, while the elites were hurriedly thinking of countermeasures, a shocking event occurred that shook the world.
There was a huge firefight and explosion at Dante's residence, and the man was seemingly killed in the blast while his area was reduced to rubble.
Immediately, the already anxious and angry world exploded once more, this time looking like they were not going to settle down until rivers of blood flowed.
The elites were left totally speechless. They thought they were the ruthless ones, but it turned out that Dante was even more ruthless than them as they immediately saw through his scheme.
But just like a person who had been framed for a crime and did not have any evidence to prove his innocence, the elites also had to swallow this huge L and deal with the boiling public that would not be satisfied until they saw blood.
This 𝓬ontent is taken from f(r)eeweb(n)ovel.𝒄𝒐𝙢