I’m not sure if I felt anything different when, for the first time, I was careful to put the expression “allegedly” before any oral or written statement about a certain fact about which I was reasonably certain. It is possible that it was after a series of episodes in which I was forced to make a statement about something I wrote, because someone thought it would be appropriate to file a complaint, considering they were offended and claiming that I had written falsehoods. What always turned out to be unfounded, as my statements were verifiable.
I know that, at a certain point, “supposedly” became a very common term in some of my texts, as a kind of fragile defense against potential annoyances. But I noticed that it wasn’t just me using this feature. The media, not just the written ones, were sprinkled with “alleged” whenever it was news with a more controversial substance.
Making a quick query about the term, any digital tool answers us that “means that something is said, stated or reported by someone, but lacks definitive proof, official confirmation or concrete proof”, being “often used to indicate assumptions, rumors or unverified versions”. The problem was when it became necessary to use “allegedly” even when there is something that was observed or heard firsthand, sometimes by more than one person, but which dictates the etiquette of the times that it is considered to lack “definitive proof” or “official confirmation”.
Consider a recent example, relating to an episode of violence at a school in the interior of the country: the media outlet that reported the incident in some detail chose to mention that three teachers “filed a complaint with the GNR after allegedly being attacked by two primary school students”. The attackers are summarily characterized, the “black spots, bruises and other injuries” are described and other news reports provide details about the attacks, previous victims and the entire surrounding context.
But… it was thought better to add “allegedly” so as not to discover that what was seen, heard or suffered did not happen or was just a matter of perception on the part of those who thought it best to victimize themselves.
If this type of linguistic fog has become very common, I admit that in other circumstances in a more malicious way (when “allegedly” is used to serve as an escape for voluntary falsehoods), in the case of Education and disciplinary problems and violence in schools it has become a kind of protocol rule, imported from the legal-political world in which something can only be considered proven if it has not managed to escape thanks to a technical or rhetorical artifice.
Until official confirmation of concrete evidence, the presumption of innocence is taken to the extreme of having to doubt what was known clearly and objectively, in a spiral of relativization presented as a “guarantee” for the accused. Which, in plain English, is nothing more than a big fallacy. Allegedly, of course.
Write without applying the new Spelling Agreement
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