HARRISBURG, Ill. - While checking up on the outrageous and allegedly libelous post one Wesley Cowsert put together on his Fecesbook page yesterday, I noticed that it was no longer there.
Sources tell me that a number of people actually began posting the link to our article about the matter - which we put up last Sunday night, February 24 - on Cowsert's post, and he apparently read it and got the sense of it.
The sense of it, of course, is that he made a big stink over nothing, and got a bunch of people to follow suit. When they did that, they did a pile-on at Harrisburg McDonald's Facebook page, which involved nasty and fraudulent "reviews."
Apparently, however, someone found out about our article, and in the last hours of Cowsert's post being live, several people were posting the link to it to his page under the thread, which was very active as many were falling for it. Within a few hours of those links back to our site, his original post was gone. That made it look kinda empty when people who fell for Cowsert's mistaken take on the matter linked it; after they'd shared it and opined on his story, when the original post was pulled, reference this:
The rest of the story, as provided by Harrisburg PD, is that the gentleman in question (in the photo) is a convicted criminal in Saline County Circuit Court. He was causing disruption at McDonald's before Cowsert came along, and even reportedly had uttered an extremely foul word to a McD's employee. His disruption had just about reached max density and he had reportedly already refused to leave when Cowsert came along and showed some bleeding-heartism for the scruffy guy who had been kicked out of McD's numerous times up to that point. Cowsert ordered some food for the guy (who is not homeless; he's mentally challenged and lives with his parents who are not known to supervise him very well, which is why he gets in trouble frequently) and that's about the time the cops came along. Because McD's complaint preceded Cowsert's actions, the cops, trying to be fair and equal, told the scruffy guy to take his food and go outside. And the rest is the pile-on you saw on Fecesbook.
Social media, as we've indicated repeatedly, has caused most common sense to go out the window. It's sad, and it gives the appearance of having dumbed-down society (along with a lot of other factors that really HAVE dumbed-down society.) This situation is a prime example of it. Bottom line: If you make open statements about a private individual or business on a forum like Facebook or other social networking, you're running quite a risk. In a tortious libel situation, the person or business libeled doesn't have to prove you are wrong; YOU have to prove you are RIGHT. If there are witnesses and video footage that contradict your story, you're not going to win. So the best bet is: Stop with the disparaging Facebook posts against private businesses and individuals. You never know who might reach deep into their pockets and call you on your BS.