The Satanic Panic strikes back! Or, the only thing we learn from history...
...is that people learn nothing from history.
Have just started reading a book by one Brian Pendergrast titled VICTIMS OF MEMORY. It's all about how the whole 'false memory' thing and the resulting accusations of incest have lead to an incredible amount of misery and torment.
I have to admit, the books is one sad, sorry list of shattered lives. I haven't read more than a chapter or two, but judging from what I've read in it, therapists are often crazier than their clients. Pendergrast has a chapter devoted to interviews with various therapists who specialize in "survivors" and "recovering memories". I never thought that people capable of so much evil could sound so genuinely compassionate when talking about their patients -- one is tempted to say "victims" -- and then turn around and start blathering about the maddest things imaginable. "God has given me spiritual sight that I may tell incest survivors with only a look." "Some people's memories of incest and abuse are actually from their past lives, but if we punish the perpetrators in this one, it will heal them."
These are some creepy, creepy people; many of them wind up sounding more like cult leaders than therapists. Though I was amused by those of them who derided the Christian belief in possessing demons, yet speak blithely of 'discarnate entities' creating 'alters' (alternate personalities) in incest survivors.
Really, the logic behind the "survivors" seems downright insane at times. Why don't victims remember they were abused, save after months of therapy that almost amounts to brainwashing? Why, that just shows how traumatic it is. Why don't the children show scarring or wounds when they claim they had knives, crowbars, or live animals forced into various orifices? Oh, that's because it was an illusion, or it happened to their 'spiritual bodies' rather than the flesh-and-blood one. Why do some "survivors" later recant? They're in denial, or maybe they joined the attackers and are now villains themselves, or maybe one of their 'alters' is lying for the rapists. Why don't the accused remember what they did? They're "diassociating" and it was one of their alters that actually did it and is hiding it from them.
Do we really still send people to jail in this country based on spectral evidence?
But what honestly frightens me about this is that so very many of these cases parallel witchcraft scares during the other "Satanic Panic", back in the years 1450-1750. And I mean almost exactly. Really, if I listed a case like this --
(1) Paranoid or disturbed or vengeful parents accuse someone in the community of hurting their children.
(2) An "expert" on "occult crimes" soon arrives, bringing along an assistant (a young woman) who was once a witch/Satanist before being 'saved' by the expert. The child now aids the expert by pointing out people who belonged to the cult and ate babies, raped children, and engaged in other generally uncivilized behavior.
(3) Said expert soon takes control of the mess, with local legal authorities giving them complete control over the situation. They gather the afflicted children together and, after badgering, starving, and threatening them, get them to admit that they were attacked by several locals, including some not accused before.
(4) Anyone who questions the accusations or the way the case is being handled gets denounced as a Satanist and shipped off to jail. Once there, those who confess get somewhat light treatment for the moment; those who deny the charges are handled very brutally indeed. Those who 'lawyer up', on the other hand, are not touched.
(5) After a few weeks or months of all this, the central government sends in a trained professional investigator with full authority over the case. He stops the arrests and sentencing, looks into the case, and finds out that everything is based on hearsay. He then announces that the whole case is nothing but a slander, frees all the accused, and deports the occult crime expert.
Okay, I cheated. It's actually a description of a real life, specific witch/Satanist scare. Can you guess which one?
Really, though, I sometimes wonder: does anyone read history books anymore?
Have just started reading a book by one Brian Pendergrast titled VICTIMS OF MEMORY. It's all about how the whole 'false memory' thing and the resulting accusations of incest have lead to an incredible amount of misery and torment.
I have to admit, the books is one sad, sorry list of shattered lives. I haven't read more than a chapter or two, but judging from what I've read in it, therapists are often crazier than their clients. Pendergrast has a chapter devoted to interviews with various therapists who specialize in "survivors" and "recovering memories". I never thought that people capable of so much evil could sound so genuinely compassionate when talking about their patients -- one is tempted to say "victims" -- and then turn around and start blathering about the maddest things imaginable. "God has given me spiritual sight that I may tell incest survivors with only a look." "Some people's memories of incest and abuse are actually from their past lives, but if we punish the perpetrators in this one, it will heal them."
These are some creepy, creepy people; many of them wind up sounding more like cult leaders than therapists. Though I was amused by those of them who derided the Christian belief in possessing demons, yet speak blithely of 'discarnate entities' creating 'alters' (alternate personalities) in incest survivors.
Really, the logic behind the "survivors" seems downright insane at times. Why don't victims remember they were abused, save after months of therapy that almost amounts to brainwashing? Why, that just shows how traumatic it is. Why don't the children show scarring or wounds when they claim they had knives, crowbars, or live animals forced into various orifices? Oh, that's because it was an illusion, or it happened to their 'spiritual bodies' rather than the flesh-and-blood one. Why do some "survivors" later recant? They're in denial, or maybe they joined the attackers and are now villains themselves, or maybe one of their 'alters' is lying for the rapists. Why don't the accused remember what they did? They're "diassociating" and it was one of their alters that actually did it and is hiding it from them.
Do we really still send people to jail in this country based on spectral evidence?
But what honestly frightens me about this is that so very many of these cases parallel witchcraft scares during the other "Satanic Panic", back in the years 1450-1750. And I mean almost exactly. Really, if I listed a case like this --
(1) Paranoid or disturbed or vengeful parents accuse someone in the community of hurting their children.
(2) An "expert" on "occult crimes" soon arrives, bringing along an assistant (a young woman) who was once a witch/Satanist before being 'saved' by the expert. The child now aids the expert by pointing out people who belonged to the cult and ate babies, raped children, and engaged in other generally uncivilized behavior.
(3) Said expert soon takes control of the mess, with local legal authorities giving them complete control over the situation. They gather the afflicted children together and, after badgering, starving, and threatening them, get them to admit that they were attacked by several locals, including some not accused before.
(4) Anyone who questions the accusations or the way the case is being handled gets denounced as a Satanist and shipped off to jail. Once there, those who confess get somewhat light treatment for the moment; those who deny the charges are handled very brutally indeed. Those who 'lawyer up', on the other hand, are not touched.
(5) After a few weeks or months of all this, the central government sends in a trained professional investigator with full authority over the case. He stops the arrests and sentencing, looks into the case, and finds out that everything is based on hearsay. He then announces that the whole case is nothing but a slander, frees all the accused, and deports the occult crime expert.
Okay, I cheated. It's actually a description of a real life, specific witch/Satanist scare. Can you guess which one?
Really, though, I sometimes wonder: does anyone read history books anymore?