Showing posts with label Cloyne Report. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Cloyne Report. Show all posts

Child Abuse is a cultural marker across all known hierarchy or dominator cultures- Qanon is a political cultural weapon, and does nothing to protect children.

There are abusers - people who intentionally and deliberately exploit, abuse and cause harm to other people - in every political party, in every office, in every military unit, in every school, every temple.

Bullying is a standard behavioural dynamic in hierarchical situations.




Bullies in the office, predators in the Church or the Swim Club, manipulators among the family, domestic violence, abuse of power disparity, corruption and warfare are all part of the same behavioural dynamic.

And so, if we are honest then when it comes to child abuse we all know that there are abusers in many, many family homes, just as there are abusers in many institutional settings, be they left, right, centrist, secular, religious or apolitical.

So here's the honest evidence - The vast majority of child abuse is perpetrated against children by people they know, often trusted people within their family network or their community. 

Stranger attack is relatively rare by comparison, and, yes it is still a genuine threat, something to be aware of  - it does happen. Child Sexual Abuse most often involves the infiltration of a circle of trust, the grooming of target and bystanders alike a standard behaviour. That uncle you all trusted, the political conman who was trusted....

Using the issue of child abuse as a partisan political weapon does not help confront the truth of abuse in general and child abuse in particular as it stands within this culture.  That is problematic.

So I choose to name the culture - Hierarchical Industrialised Militarised Competing Powers  (HIMCOP) - and I see it as a series of behaviour patterns, behavioural dynamics that become institutionalised around the need to gain and maintain power over others. I do not see it as 'natural healthy human behaviour'.

I think using CSA as a political weapon inhibits a full confrontation with the social material situation.

I have found this to be the case, from decades of confronting the abuse I endured, turning abuse in to a partisan political weapon does nothing to reduce abuse, nothing to mitigate the harm or resolve the pain.

The system of power understands that when people stop arguing, and begin to listen to one another, in order to build bridges, to deepen understanding, to learn from each others experience, then the system of power is in trouble. So they do their level best to see that we ordinary folk are set o  arguing against each other.

“If we accept that there will always be sides, it’s a nontrivial to-do list item to always be on the side of angels. Distrust essentialism. 

Keep in mind that what seems like rationality is often just rationalization, playing catch-up with subterranean forces that we never suspect.

Focus on the larger, shared goals. Practice perspective taking. Individuate, individuate, individuate. Recall the historical lessons of how often the truly malignant Thems keep themselves hidden and make third parties the fall guy.

And in the meantime, give the right-of-way to people driving cars with the “Mean people suck” bumper sticker, and remind everyone that we’re all in it together against Lord Voldemort and the House Slytherin.


― Robert M. Sapolsky, Behave: The Biology of Humans at Our Best and Worst

So lets look at some of the data, the evidence to discern some of the truth here.

An Epidemiological Overview of Child Sexual Abuse - 2014


 "The WHO in 2002 estimated that 73 million boys and 150 million girls under the age of 18 years had experienced various forms of sexual violence.[1] 

The Center's for Disease Control and the US Department of Justice conducted a study in the US and reported prevalence of being forced to have sex at some point of time in their lives as 11% and 4% of the high-school girls and boys, respectively.[7] 

 A meta-analysis conducted in the year 2009 analyzed 65 studies in 22 countries and estimated an “overall international figure.” 

 The main findings of the study were:[7] An estimated 7.9% of males and 19.7% of females universally faced sexual abuse before the age of 18 years[7] 

The highest prevalence rate of CSA was seen in Africa (34.4%)[7,8] 

Europe, America, and Asia had prevalence rate of 9.2%, 10.1%, and 23.9%, respectively[7] 

With regards to females, seven countries reported prevalence rates as being more than one fifth i.e., 37.8% in Australia, 32.2% in Costa Rica, 31% in Tanzania, 30.7% in Israel, 28.1% in Sweden, 25.3% in the US, and 24.2% in Switzerland[7] 

The lowest rate observed for males may be imprecise to some extent because of under reporting.[7] 

The study concluded that CSA is an extensive problem and even the lowest prevalence includes a huge number of victims who still need to be considered.[7]" 

The reader can read the paper, and check each of the references for him or herself.

Egalitarian cultures do not abuse children. 

Hierarchy cultures do. 

Dominator cultures do.

Traumatised cultures do.






source : www.violence.de

It is that simple.

Only honesty and transparency can resolve this matter.

Honesty is evidence led, transparency is evidence available in the open, without bias. Everyone can see it all.

I think that using child abuse as a partisan political weapon is being dishonest - political weaponisation of CSA/CSE  is small minded and abusive - small minded in that it does not look to the whole society level situation, and abusive in that it is exploiting suffering to make a point. - Without really thinking it through, those who fall for that false gambit end up dumping all over the work of survivors and their advocates, the people who go to court, who pursue justice diligently.

Those who use CSE/CSA as a political weapon are also dumping all over the people who work with survivors to help them 'recover' and regain some semblance of safety and balance, and and dumping over the many health professionals and care workers, trainers, mid wives and others who work to prevent child abuse. 

Those who use CSA/CSE as a political weapon are exploiting the survivors, the harm caused becomes a weapon and they are inhibiting accurate and honest discourse on this subject.

Dealing with proven abusers.

Everyone who is proven be an abuser needs to be sentenced, and imprisoned, just as everyone who makes and spreads images of child abuse needs to be incarcerated, not as punishment, but as a fundamental societal  health and safety protocol.

Punishment does not prevent abuse. It's already too late by the stage of courts and convictions. It is true that incarcerated abusers are no longer able to abuse children freely. That is a  useful gain in the overall picture. But it is not grass roots prevention. It is important to consider what is needed to prevent child abuse.

 People who abuse children and exploit them are not safe for society. Period. 

 So too with War Criminals.  They are not safe for society.

Tony Blair and George Bush are personally responsible for the murder of at least 250,000 children in Iraq in 2003 -2006, and they are personally responsible for the orphaning of 4 million Iraqi children. 

How does that harm compare with the quantity of harms caused by Epstein or Savile, or any other case of celebrity abusers?   It is certain that in each case of abuse or harm, each harmed child sees little difference, the lived experience of that and it's impacts are utterly, utterly awful.

However at the societal level there is a vast difference. This is not to suggest the Saviles and Epsteins get a free pass by comparison. Comparison is needless when we remove punishment and install humane lonfg term incarceration for social safety.

If, as the allegations suggest, Epstein's operation was about entrapment and exploitation of powerful people as a political weapon, as a political whip, then it is ironic that Qanon et al use the abuse of small, defenceless children, as a political weapon. Both would be doing the same thing. 

Where is Child Sexual Abuse more common? How many more ordinary, non celebrity people rape children, most often their own, or their relatives or friends children, and are never exposed?

Neither of these questions are posed to afford celebrity abusers any excuse or mitigation. Again it's not a comparison. Those who are famous who are also proven abusers must always be exposed and safety restored by their removal and incarceration. Just as any one else.

Left/Right makes no difference: the abuse can and does happen in any political grouping or affiliation, any religious group or affiliation. 

Honesty and transparency do make a difference. 

 Accurate data and verifiable evidence do make a difference. 

Understanding the issues, the context and the evidence as a whole does make a difference.

Using the issue of abuse as a partisan political weapon does not help confront the truth of abuse as it stands within THIS culture. 

Here's a few resources on this subject.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3485398/The relationship between egalitarianism, dominance, and violence in intimate relationships

https://sweden.se/society/smacking-banned-since-1979/ - Sweden Bans smacking children

https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/gender-egalitarianism-made-us-human-patriarchy-was-too-little-too-late/ - a study of  our egalitarian past

https://www.alice-miller.com/en/sexual-abuse-and-memory/- A letter to Alice Miller from a Survivor. Alice Miller studied child abuse from a cultural historical perspective.

https://www.globalcitizen.org/en/connect/crypower/episode8/
Colm O'Gorman — the Executive Director of Amnesty International Ireland — about his own experiences of sexual assault, the world-changing power of individual action, and the extraordinary story of how he sued the Pope.

https://www.oneinfour.org.uk/about-oneinfour/ - 
One in Four specializes in supporting survivors of sexual violence and abuse, and particularly survivors of child sexual abuse and trauma.

https://www.goodreads.com/work/quotes/26542319-the-body-keeps-the-score-brain-mind-and-body-in-the-healing-of-trauma - The Body Keeps The Score - A pioneering researcher and one of the world’s foremost experts on traumatic stress offers a bold new paradigm for healing.

www.violence.de - The origins of peace and violence, this site looks at the work of James W Prescott, who with John Bowlby developed the first Attachment Theory back in teh 1960s.

https://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/44171.Judith_Lewis_HermanTrauma and Recovery: The Aftermath of Violence-From Domestic Abuse to Political Terror

https://www.d2l.org/the-issue/statistics/The statistics and facts below can help you understand what child sexual abuse is, the risk factors and consequences for survivors, and how to identify and report suspected abuse


 Kindest regards 

 Corneilius 

 "Do what you love, it is your gift to universe."

Defending the Indefensible : the Confessional Secrecy

http://examiner.ie/opinion/letters/seal-of-confession-must-not-be-broken-161323.html

A letter published in the Examiner, an Irish broadsheet, on 18th July, the weekend after the publishing of the Cloyne Report, which detailed the devious, manipulative and malign behaviour of  Irish Clerical Hierarchy in their 'response' to the 'abuse scandal', detailing the most appalling behaviour at the highest levels, from 1996 to 2008, in which the writer wrote :

"AS the father of a family and as a normal human being I am as appalled as anybody else at the abuse of minors by those in positions of authority, which includes (but is by no means most prevalent among) members of the Catholic clergy.

But by what insanity does the Fine Gael/Labour coalition think it can legislate to prosecute priests who do keep inviolate the unbreakable seal of the confessional?

No doctor or lawyer or other person in a position of confidence can ever be compelled to do this.

It is a very painful thing for them when they hear certain things in their professional capacity, but only a tiny dose of maturity is needed to realise that confidentiality must be respected in these special cases for the greater good of society.

And a priest especially has vowed to protect the confessional seal with his life blood — as so many have testified down the ages.

In the case of a guilty party confessing, the normal procedure would be to withhold absolution until the culprit has given himself up to the secular authorities — just as with certain other very serious sins. Shame on the perpetrators of this disgraceful opportunistic suggestion.


Yours etc....

This is my response to that letter :

Micheál Ó Fearghail, Glanmire in a letter to the Examiner 18th July 2011 wrote, defending the sacred nature of the confessional, that :

"In the case of a guilty party confessing, the normal procedure would be to withhold absolution until the culprit has given himself up to the secular authorities — just as with certain other very serious sins."

Can he, or anyone else for that matter, furnish substantiated evidence that this is the normal procedure of a priest hearing the confession of another priest, nun, bishop or any other clergy confessing to serious crimes?

Can he say that a priest, upon hearing such a confession, would urge such action, that is for the perpetrator to hand him or herself over to the civil authorities, given that the Pope and others in authority have prohibited such disclosures without their consent, with the sanction of ex-communication for any priest who might break that prohibition, in a fit of ill advised decency?

If a priest, or any person, who has sexually assaulted a child, wishes to confess, ought that person themselves, if they feel true remorse for what they have done, not be the one's to approach the civil authorities, and then seek a confession under Christian 'ethics'?

Has this ever happened?

Shame on Micheál Ó Fearghail, for writing "Shame on the perpetrators of this disgraceful opportunistic suggestion."

Shame on the writer for making assumptions such as he does, when we know that worldwide, the numbers of children grievously harmed, whether it be in Aboriginal Boarding Schools (Canada, USA, Australia, Africa) or European 'care' Institutions, Magdalene Laundries, Orphanages etc... can be counted in their hundreds of thousands...

When we know, even still, that the hierarchy of the Catholic Church is protecting known abusers, obstructing justice and more, merely to protect it's 'image'?

Shame! A shame that tarnishes the name of Christ, which it would appear is of less importance than the Power and Status of the Institutional Church, and certainly of less value than the lives of so many children, and the lives of so many survivors. 



-------------------


Kindest regards

Corneilius

Do what you love, it's Your Gift to Universe







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Sinead, The Vatican and Power.

Sinead O'Connor blasted away with all guns blazing in the Irish Independent this week, in an opinion piece titled "We must destroy this nest of Devils in the Vatican, for Christs sake" where she writes "Our situation as Catholics now is that we can plainly see our church has been hijacked by liars."

The truth has always been there for those with open eyes to see. It has always been there for those who fell under the control of those damaged, socio-pathological power mongers, be they wee children or adults, be they Irish or Aboriginal. Our experience told us everything.

The history of with-hunting, king-making, land grabbing, of crusades and conquistadors, of colonisers and Inquisitors cannot be erased, nor can it be forgiven, at least not by those who did not survive, not by those who survived and have been so dreadfully 'responded' to, time and time again.

That dysfunctional, manipulative pattern of behaviour is revealed in some detail in the Cloyne Report, as it has been by the many, many other reports from around the Earth. What is perhaps 'new' is that finally one Government has recognised and accepted the truth, and is now committed to a course of action that ought to have been taken a long time ago.

I accept a persons 'faith' in as much as it is their personal choice. If an adult makes a rational choice to adopt the teachings of one or other sages, be it via writings or having heard the word, so be it. That's a personal matter.

None can, however, accept 'faith' as a mask, behind which the urge to power is hidden.

None can accept faith, if it seeks to impose itself on others, especially if it seeks to 'save' the world by that imposition - a position of ruthless arrogance.

None can claim faith if it has been indoctrinated into them as a defenceless child, for that is not faith but the result of adverse conditioning designed to instumentalise the child's body and mind as an adjunct to the imposers designs.

Ireland has a sad history, like many other lands, of the imposition of rule by force.

It is time to recognise the true nature of all entities which enable such use of force, whatever their provenance, and to cast them out, to reject them outright as disinheritors of the natural, the empathic and the nurturant.


This requires prison sentences, civil litigation, and a permanent severing of all ties between the Governance of People by the people's will, and all Religious Structures.

Kindest regards

Corneilius

Do what you love, it's Your Gift to Universe





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On recent developments re: The Irish Residential Schools Abuse story

On recent developments re: The Irish Residential Schools Abuse story, Statuary Funds, Cover-ups and a few words to the incoming Irish Government

To whom it may concern.

There are many problems that we as Survivors face, problems are individual and collective.

This means that there are individual solutions and collective solutions. It's not an either/or situation.

These problems are the after effects of the abuse we suffered, which are physical and psychological trauma.

The effects of not having been able to tell others, be they family, friends or support services about our experiences. Loneliness, isolation, fear.

The effects of denial or mitigation or dismissive-ness of our community when we do speak out. Anger, fear, isolation, paranoia.

The effects of holding our wounded-ness for so long, that we develop secondary psychological problems.

The effects of being unable to hold long term relationships, jobs and careers.

The effects of not being able to trust others.

The effects of knowing that the abuse was and is being covered up, the story and history being 'managed' to protect both Church and State and other bodies who held and hold responsibility.

The effects of knowing that abuse is still common, that others are being abused, even to this day, and that the roots of the abuse are not being addressed, and in spite of evidence and plenty of very good scientific understanding (out of which healthful practices have emerged to prevent further abuse) the media and State and Church still avoid promoting these learning’s.

None of these will be resolved by money alone.

They will be resolved by providing adequate support for:

Telling the truth : open forums to tell our stories, open forums to examine who abused, who cover-ed up and why they covered up; criminal prosecutions for all abusers, and detailed inquiries into the actions of all those who covered up, for whatever reason, so that the dynamics of cover-up are understood, so that 'good' people who cover-up understand the impacts of their actions and understand that they must not cover-up.

Providing for our health : by providing best possible health care, best possible community interaction and understanding of the issues and dynamics of abuse.

Providing for our sustenance : Pensions separate from all other benefits are a useful idea.

Prevention: This is REALLY important. Apart from child protection legislation with real teeth, there needs to be a wider understanding of the dynamics of abuse, within families, and within all situations where adults have responsibility and power over children. Schools, care systems, sports training, etc etc.....

There also needs to be a wider understanding of the dynamics of intergenerational trauma patterning, which is how adverse behaviour patterns are passed from generation to generation in spite of peoples best efforts as they 'cope' with the effects (above) of abuse without proper support or understanding.

For all of this there needs to be State Funding of appropriate organisations (led by Survivors, informed by Survivors) PLUS awards to individual Survivors, not as compensation or reparation, but as offers of genuine support, to nurture Survivors for what remains of our lives.

These are my thoughts on this at this time.

Finally let me say this : we have seen how two prominent Survivors, from different perspectives, have in the very recent past, engaged in public disputes that have revealed unresolved behaviour patterns : That one of these Survivors should label and judge other Survivors in adverse ways (from a position of being one who offers 'care' ) speaks of the profound misunderstandings that still dominate the discourse, speaks of the ways in which wounded people can re-wound others, and can be manipulated or 'triggered' by those who perceicve that they have the 'most to lose' in all of this - The State and The Church.

That ANYONE sees it thus - that they have something to lose - speaks volumes of the psychology of the inadequate responses to the abuse story.

There is still so much to do in all of this.

Kindest regards


Corneilius Crowley
London



Do what you love, it's Your Gift to Universe






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My Single Issue Obsession - The Facts.

Here are the facts. It's NOT all doom and gloom. Some seriously good work is being done in understandtng the dynamics of abuse relationships, the intergenerational and cyclical effects of PTSD, with an eye to prevention, (founded upon proven practice, biology and science) as many are concerned that thus far, the vast maority of abuse remains, in relative terms, a largely misunderstood by the general populace, and is still very much a hidden, denied and masked reality.

However...... truth beckons.

One out of every four people in Ireland  will have experienced a serious sexual assault or serious abuse during their childhoods.

This pattern is replicated across the entire developed world. No Child Left Behind rings hollow and echoes down through History.

Informal networks of organised, self protecting abusers exist in EVERY area concerning children – sport, drama, education, scouting, state care, psychiatry, psychology, health, religion.

Governments and Churches have created, funded and operated  well documented systems, that purported to ’care’ for children, and other vulnerable people, yet have seriously abused the majority in their care. These are called Residential School Systems. Social Services Care Homes. Juvenile Offender Prisons. Schools. Care Homes for the Elderly. Psychiatric Units. Orphanages.

The history of childhood ‘rearing’ texts is littered proffering ‘good advice’ that is on the face of it abusive. This literature is known as Poisonous Pedagogy.

Rather than empathy, manipulative techniques of control are espoused as best practice for parents, teachers, and others responsible for the care of children. Behaviour Modification techniques. Ritalin. Seroxat. The DSM.

These same organisations, Religious and Secular, launch wars, trade in arms, people and in drugs, send mercenaries to do their bidding, employ manipulative strategies against all their perceived enemies, in particular the whistle blowers, and are corrupt to the hilt.

The adverse effects of Industry on the habitat are also part of this abuse picture. To deny the ‘external costs’ of Industry to both people and the habitat is abusive.

Green-washing is an example of the manipulative means by which those who abuse the environment portray themselves as saviours. The best paid lawyers in the world are those who defend the Corporations who pollute, who bribe officials whose role is defined by a duty of care to those they purport to serve.

Foot-washing in Churches follows this same pattern.

Meaningless gestures, empty words.

Any Survivor who dares to speak the truth is a whistle blower. Bradley Manning.  Colm O’Gorman. Paddy Doyle. Noam Chomsky. Martin Luther King. Rosa Parks. David Shayler. Julian Assange. Kevin Annett. Ward Churchill. Russel Means. Howard Zinn.

All Survivors are treated as potential enemies, as a potential threat to the status quo. Why is it thus?

Not only by those who abused them, but by others in positions of responsibility and power, who feel threatened by the disclosures.

The Philadelphia Grand Jury Report. The Ryan Report. The Ferns Report. The Murphy Report. The as yet unpublished Cloyne Report.  The Forde Inquiry.

The many documentaries on the Residential School systems designed by Governments and run by clergy for Indigenous or Aboriginal Children. The Forgotten Australians. Hidden From History.


The Murphy Inquiry into Irish Swimming and similar reports into UK Sports. 

I have omitted more than I have excluded here.

This list is only the tip of the iceberg. 4 Dioceses reports exist in Ireland’s investigations into criminal child abuses in 26 Dioceses.

There are reports due from Australia, Canada, Germany, Italy, Spain, Ireland, the UK. Work has started on similar investigations in Africa, South America and Asia.

The Chilcott Inquiry. The 5 Inquiries into UK Government decision making regarding Iraq and Afghanistan. These all follow the same pattern of half truths, denials and white washing.

How many scandals in various arena’s have blown up in the past 40 years where people who were abused went public and those who had official responsibility, who were often colleagues in work of the accused, refused to accept the truth of these public statements, who hid the facts of specific accusations, allegations and actual reported crimes, investigations and trials from the people and constituencies they served?

How many more will it take before the pattern now absolutely clear to anyone who reviews the data is made clear to the general public, and is tackled by those good people within Governance, Policing, Health Care, Education and Religion in areas concerned with the well-fare and care of children, in meaningful and effective manner, leading not only to the prosecution of abusers and those who covered up, but also and importantly to educational campaigns, founded on solid scientific understanding and proven practice, to prevent more abuse, to break the intergenerational cycles of abuse?


Kindest regards

Corneilius

Do what you love, it's Your Gift to Universe










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