In any case, if he is not convicted and walks free then the people will know that the actual shooter was never caught and that there were no consequences for his action. The only thing they can truly do is prolong this case for as long as is necessary so that the people can never be 100% sure that they didn’t catch the actual shooter, or so they forget this all ever happened at all.

That would make it existentialism

Always conform, self must be denied in favor of the manufactured self

Those that choose to deny themselves want you to choose to deny yourself, otherwise they would have to acknowledge that they had been wasting all their time being too ashamed of being themselves over nothing, just like we all do when we remember the truth that they deny. It’s a matter of sunken-cost fallacy and it spreads because it is easier than leaving this manufactured cycle.