> more so than ever before

This is ahistorical. In many societies throughout history, an accusation of heresy was a mortal threat, or worse.

However, unlike today with social media, mass communication, and the internet, one could pick up and move to another city and essentially "start fresh" with their reputation.

Today, there is no hiding - forever - even if you've atoned your mistakes.

> one could pick up and move to another city and essentially "start fresh" with their reputation

From the wikipedia article on exile: "In Roman law, exsilium denoted both voluntary exile and banishment as a capital punishment alternative to death."

When something is an alternative to death, I think it's fair to say that it was not a trivial event. "Just" moving somewhere wasn't easy, historically.

Easy has nothing to do with it. It was possible to move cities/towns/state/country, start fresh and have people judge you by your current actions and things you say... not something you said 10 years ago late one night on twitter after a few beers.

Unless you were dead, which was a distinct possibility throughout most of history for one accused of heresy (political or religious).

> An accusation today can ruin a person, more so than ever before

It probably can, but unfortunately the people usually held up as examples of this generally haven't actually been ruined. I mean, what are some actual examples of people who have been ruined by accusation?

George Zimmerman, for instance. The guy still receives death threats and worse, even though he was found not guilty by a jury of his peers.

Social Media continues to perpetuate falsehoods about the case, trial and outcome. There is no safe place for Zimmerman in America today... and regardless of what you think of him as an individual, that's a problem.

I'm not sure if he's the best example. He wasn't ruined by accusation—whether or not he killed Trayvon Martin was never in question. The question was if it was justified.