What is it called when a highly respected person commits an immoral act but people don't believe that he committed the act?

Question

I was wondering. It just came up. It has no real world relevancy. An example:

A highly respected businessman commits child abuse and one day his wife finds out about it. She shares what she had found out about with the circles of the businessman. But they don't think he's guilty or that he would commit such an act. Similarly the man easily slips, without getting dirt on his coat and with pride.

Is the situation I stated has a definitive word for it? Is there a word for the attitude of the man and/or his circle?

Answer 1

This is an instance of the Halo effect:

Halo effect is a cognitive bias in which an observer's overall impression of a person, company, brand, or product influences the observer's feelings and thoughts about that entity's character

The businessman is respected in his profession, so everyone thinks his character, including his conduct towards children, must be respectable.

Answer 2

The attributive noun Teflon (semi-genericised) is often used:

Teflon

1. Trademark. a fluorocarbon polymer with slippery, nonsticking properties: used in the manufacture of electrical insulation, cookware coatings, etc. ...
2. characterized by imperviousness to blame or criticism: a Teflon politician.

{RHK Webster's}

It would make of Gorbachev's stewardship a truly Teflon chairmanship, demonstrating that no Soviet actions, regardless of how egregious, will cling to him

(New Republic; same link).

'Teflon Don' cleared of three killings will have his £2m home seized as High Court judge brands him a drug dealer

{Mail Online}

The phrase above the law is also relevant:

above the law [Prepositional phrase]

(idiomatic) Exempt from the laws that apply to everyone else.

The emperor is above the law.

{Wiktionary}

He thinks he's above the law BECAUSE people treat him as if he's above the law.[of G W Bush]

{Perspectives}

Answer 3

Such a person can do no wrong

used for saying that someone is considered by other people to be perfect, although you may not agree with this opinion
His parents think he can do no wrong.

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He might also be called above the law

in a position where one can avoid being bound by the laws that govern ordinary people.
"the army was above the law and enjoyed complete impunity"

Or untouchable

not able or allowed to be touched or affected.
"drug barons who were legally untouchable"

The cause of these latter two could be that everyone believes him innocent; however it could also because people believe him too powerful and dangerous to be stopped.

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And, to some extent (i.e. literally), the person is a hypocrite

a person who pretends to have virtues, moral or religious beliefs, principles, etc., that he or she does not actually possess, especially a person whose actions belie stated beliefs.

Answer 4

Perhaps this is an example of an "abuse of trust."

Abuse of Trust

References in periodicals archive

IPCC Commissioner for Wales Tom Davies said: "This was an appalling abuse of trust by a police officer dealing with three vulnerable women who expected the police to protect them. Two officers are suspended over sex cop claims; Policemen face ... by South Wales Echo (Cardiff, Wales)

Health and Care Professions Council panel chairman Claire Bonnet said: "This was an abuse of trust. Paramedic struck off for sex act by Sunday Mirror (London, England)

(The Free Dictionary)

A word for the peoples reaction might be incredulous, i.e., the people are incredulous, or express incredulity, that a person held in such high regard could ever have committed such outrageous acts.

Possibly, the people are incredulous because they have invested their trust in this respected businessman, so that even contemplating such an affront to morality threatens to undermine their faith in the status quo, after all, if this man is capable of such a shocking act, how many others might conceivably also be as corrupt? Another possible barrier to acceptance is that those who express such disbelief are themselves corrupt and would rather avoid the whole subject matter.

incredulous adjective

1: unwilling to admit or accept what is offered as true : not credulous : skeptical

2: incredible

3: expressing incredulity

incredulity noun: a feeling that you do not or cannot believe or accept that something is true or real

(Merriam-Webster online)

In this age of Kali Yuga, where each new day brings a myriad of fresh scandal - perpetrated by our elected representatives, healers & holy men, business leaders and law enforcement officers - what can possibly account for this incredulity? Does it really stem from the attributes of the perpetrators? Are they truly Teflon-coated, untouchable, above the law and beyond reproach?

Me thinks not! Only a form of collective denial - a willing (but unconscious) blindness - could possibly account for the phenomena attested to in this OP. What 's the name for that? See Dan Dascalescu's spot-on answer.

Answer 5

I think that the key point is not that this person will not only not be prosecuted or punished (as expressed by being above the law), but not even be suspected or criticized as expressed by:

• unimpeachable: not able to be doubted, questioned, or criticized; entirely trustworthy

Answer 6

Such a person is usually called a sacred cow.

Definition: Free Dictionary

• One that is immune from criticism, often unreasonably so

Example:

• Peer review is often thought of as ancient and unchanging, but it is neither – and it shouldn’t be treated as a sacred cow (Times)

Answer 7

They're giving him the benefit of the doubt

Regard someone as innocent until proven otherwise; lean toward a favorable view of someone. For example, Let's give her the benefit of the doubt and assume that she's right. [Mid-1800s]

Specifically, the second definition of this idiom in reference to giving the benefit of the doubt to someone:

to believe something good about someone, rather than something bad, when you have the possibility of doing either After hearing his explanation, I was prepared to give him the benefit of the doubt.

Answer 8

I'm not sure if it really applies here, but in the described situation you could say there is a kind of reality distortion field in effect. This is the term that was used to describe the charismatic properties of the appearances of Steve Jobs. But this is ofcourse not related to a-moral behaviour of any kind.

Another term that springs to mind is groupthink.

Groupthink is a psychological phenomenon that occurs within a group of people, in which the desire for harmony or conformity in the group results in an irrational or dysfunctional decision-making outcome. Group members try to minimize conflict and reach a consensus decision without critical evaluation of alternative viewpoints, by actively suppressing dissenting viewpoints, and by isolating themselves from outside influences.

(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Groupthink)

Answer 9

I think the word you are looking for is Privilege

The usual definition is:

A special right, advantage, or immunity granted or available only to a particular person or group of people.

Many people also use the word to describe how different people in a society are judged by different rules, depending what groups they belong to. The businessman in your example is assumed to be innocent by the people in his circle (in part) because they assume financial success somehow correlates with being a good person.

See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Privilege_(social_inequality) for more details.

Answer 10

An uncommon but very fitting expression is "citizen above suspicion", from the movie Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion (Indagine su un cittadino al di sopra di ogni sospetto) which revolves around a respected member of the society getting away for his wrongdoings, even despite all his attempts to get the punishment he deserves.

Answer 11

The highly respected businessman is "sitting in the catbird seat" from a short story called The Catbird Seat by James Thurber.