Youre absolutely right.
I remember when the Cooper Union students were bullied into the library there was a New York Times article that was all about how innocent and good the perpetrators were. They put a beautiful pictures in descriptions of a number of the perps. Everybody saw on camera these folks in a big group banging on the windows and rattling the doors and probably scaring the bejesus out of these kids who had probably never experienced anything like that. And they were like oh it only happened over a few minutes (20+). If someone you don't know comes up and screams at you, Shakes You and messes with you and you don't know when it's going to start or end does it matter if it's a minute or two or 20 minutes or an hour? Or does it matter that they're doing something wrong to you? And if your technically unharmed on the other side does that mean that none of that moment mattered? I absolutely believe in what you're saying. People believe what they want to believe and say what they want to say based on who they've decided they like. And the more I see that sort of behavior the more it scares the heck out of me.