Free Speech is a Social and personal Responsibility, it is not a propaganda truism.

Free speech is a responsibility, and the primary responsibility inherent in free speech is to speak truthfully.

A healthy family, community or Society treasures honesty and fairness in all matters.

We have a personal and collective responsibility be honest and fair because we do live together and our action or inaction affects each other,and feeds into the future to affect lives of people as yet unborn.

This responsibility is a constant. It is a fundamental standard. It's the very essence of adult maturity.

Free Speech is a social and personal responsibility, a response ability; we must not let it be sullied by those who are turning it into a propaganda truism, with an ideological agenda.

The men who took their guns into the offices of a French satirical magazine and murdered those people showed nothing other than their own deep and ugly dysfunction. Their actions cannot be defended or qualified or 'explained away'. They are utterly wrong. They are extreme bullies. It was not an attack on free speech. It was an attack on humanity, on humane values and on innocent people. It was and is terrorism.

Yet one has to challenge the manner in which the idea of free speech being undermined by these attacks is being used as a tool to drive deeper divisions amongst the grass roots of Society and to mask the realities of State terrorism. It's not that simple.

When the mainstream media and Government can prove to me that they are speaking truthfully, then the concept of free speech might have some real material meaning and value.

When mainstream media and Government actively support Survivors of many kinds of abuse in their desire for justice and resolution, by releasing all the files they have on various matters, ranging from colonisation to pedophile rings operating within Institutions, corporate lobbying that finances political parties and influences their decision making for commercial purposes, through to covert military operations, torture programs initiated and maintained by Governments and much else besides, then free speech might have some meaning.

As it is, people's emotions are being intentionally manipulated into supporting a false meme, into portraying free speech as an active process that defines this so called ' Western Democracy' as practiced by Power, which is, if we are honest enough to admit it, the deliberate propaganda of a power structure that is willing to exercise extreme violence to retain, enhance and expand it's power over people and land.

It is blatantly obvious that 'Free Speech' in this context is of the same calibre as 'Bringing Freedom and Democracy' on the backs of a Military invasion, when it comes to how Power actually operates.

Ask the Survivors of the Parliamentary pedophile ring, of Jimmy Savile where their free speech was, when they reported crimes committed upon their minds, bodies and souls, to UK Police forces, and were dismissed, ignored or intimidated.

Ask the young women of Rotherham where their free speech was when they reported crimes committed against them?

Ask the Iraqi relatives of the 350,000 children under the age of 15 who died extremely violently in Iraq between 2003 and 2006 how their free speech was nurtured by the 'bringers of Democracy' and the Western media.

350,000 Children who died in 'counter insurgency' initiated by the occupying powers, after they had annulled local elections held successfully all over Iraq in late 2003 and early 2004, once Saddam and his power structure was deposed, a counter insurgency which was aimed at destroying Indigenous multi-cultural Iraqi Nationalism, which produced the successful elections that undermined the occupying powers unspoken intent. A counter insurgency that traumatised an entire country, and from which the likes of IS have emerged.

Ask the aboriginal peoples around the world where their free speech or their cultures and land tenures that pre-date the creation of State systems are being respected.

It must also be said that deliberately goading someone, in order to stimulate their anger is not free speech, it is antagonism; just as the antagonised violently attacking someone who has goaded them is not free speech.

Both are equally irresponsible and avoidable actions. Neither is driven by a real need, in human terms.

Those who antagonise others with an ideological agenda behind it do not deserve violence served against them. They need help. They need to be confronted with the negativity of their behaviour through rational and honest discourse intended to nurture understanding.

The appropriate human response to any abuse of free speech must be honesty, clarity and fair mindedness, not violence.

Those who would stoop to violence to get their way, to serve their agenda need to be exposed and stopped from being bale to act out their violence. I doubt that there is much that can be done to help those who are truly predatory, mercenary or professionally violent.

Such violence is psychologically immature.

The intentional manipulation of peoples emotions is predatory.

Do not fall for it.

Think For Yourself, Question Authority.

Don't make it up. Be honest and fair, above all else.

Kindest regards

Corneilius

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

Pedophlia, Hierarchically Violent Societies and Political Attack memes.

Pedophilia is a part of a set of behaviours associated with dysfunctional Power Relationships within Hierarchically Violent Societies.

20th Century Indian Residential School in Canada - hierarchical, and violent 'child care'

 Child Abuse cannot be examined in isolation from the culture within which it takes place, or on it's own as some separate human flaw, with any degree of accuracy.

Paedophilia  should never, ever be used  as a meme or leverage point to attack the current status quo of power, as a political lever.

Instead we must work to understand it as a dynamic trait, as expressing the essence of intentional abuse of a power disparity, expressed through sexualised violence.

To use CSA as a political attack meme targeting one group among many, as we see deployed with online conspiracy narratives. undermines the work of Survivors, their advocates and their communities  everywhere.

Demand accountability, everywhere, equally. Demand prevention, at it's very roots.

Pedophilia cannot be understood without examining the psycho-social context within which it happens.

The problem of abuse of Power pollutes human relationships across all sectors and levels of any and every Hierarchically Violent Society.

From the organised rape of children to local extortion, from War as a tool of State Policy to Pimping, from FGM and MGM to Guantanamo Bay Detention, from Bhopal to Fracking, from Domestic Abuse to Ad Hominem attacks within discourse, the central issue is the same..

A psychology of Power that ignores the costs born by those who are most adversely affected by the exercise of Power over others. A psychology of Power that uses distraction to avoid the truth. A psychology of Power that claims an exclusive right to use violence. A psychology of Power that determines that indoctrination is an essential component of maintaining that power.

The issue is coming forwards in part because there is a growing understanding of this situation, not least as an outcome of Survivors testimony, brought before the public domain with great courage and determination from Survivors of organised sexual exploitation of children, to Survivors of State torture, from Survivors of colonisation and invasion to survivors of domestic abuse,  and many more besides.

And also because the best research in Anthropology, Neuro-biology, Neuro-Chemistry, Child Development, Optimal Human Biological Health, Permaculture, Psychology, Endocrinology, Honest History and Survivors insights all point in this direction.

When the natural bio-logically mandated processes of nurture are disrupted, pathology ensues.

This applies equally to the individual and to the society within which the individual lives.

It cannot be used to excuse or mitigate abusive behaviour, rather it must be integrated into the understanding of the situation as part of the process of an accurate recognition and description of the problem and in time, the resolution of that problem.

This is, in effect, the unspoken central plank of all single issue activism. The one understanding that must underpin all activism that seeks to be both effective and meaningful. Without this, healthy activism is lost in the rough and stormy seas of ideology and 'debate' with people taking sides and 'arguing' for their side rather than attempting to openly and honestly get to the truth of the matter in order to plan approaches that prevent further abuses, that mediate the harms caused, and that lead directly to much more healthy, functional and nurturing social organisation.

___________

A chart of social behavioural characteristics of different kinds of aboriginal cultures...

https://www.violence.de/prescott/letters/Profiles_Peaceful_v_Violent.pdf

This chart outlines some of the results of a survey of 49 different societies carried out by James Prescott, Phd in the 1970s and notes a correlation between Hierarchical Violence as a social 'norm' and incidents of abuse and the degrees to which child-mother bonding and other empathy learning experientials mandated by our biology are disrupted. The greater the disruption, the more violence and abuse is seen in any given society.

Further research in Anthropology and in a number of other scientific disciplines as mentioned above, and referenced throughout this blog (and there is so much more than the limited amount that I have referenced) corroborates Prescott's insights.

The way in which Power Institutions have sought to 'manage' the revelations of Survivors of child abuse within areas under direct control of those Institutions demonstrates both a lack of caring empathy and a wilful mendaciousness that most people at the grass roots of Society, and many activists, find difficult to grasp or truly understand.

In very simple terms, if one grows up in an environment where low level bullying is seen as being within normal ranges of behaviour, it's that much more difficult to see the behaviour for what it really is - a dysfunctional pathology that has a root cause that, even as it is socially masked, is tractable, that is to say it is an problem that can be resolved.

There is a lot of anger as a reaction and response to inequity, to abuse and violence, of course there is, and most of it is understandable and justifiable, yet we need much more than anger to address the issues we are faced with; we need an accurate understanding of how such behaviour emerges, what kinds of social conditions underpin such behaviour, how it can be stopped where it is discovered and what kinds of social relations will serve to break the cycles of this kind of behaviour, which has to be the ultimate aim of all activism : prevention of further abuses, nurturing healthy human relations in all areas of concern.
 
We also need to understand how Power, by triggering anger and rage in the grass roots, through media reporting, conspiracy theories, the 'blame game' and suppression of Survivors who come forwards to testify as to their experience,  is deliberately influencing what we are attempting to do as activists in order to co-opt and undermine the emergence of solidarity across the grass roots of Society.

Kindest regards

Corneilius

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

Activism : keeping it human and humane.

Keeping it Human and humane.

The questions before us all as we move into 2015, unexplored time as yet, a future we have some plans for, a future that is certain to contain challenges, set-backs, discoveries, new experiential learning’s, insight and much else besides that is the stuff of life, will remain questions that are largely concerned with optimal human biological health.

Be it ‘the Economy’, ‘The War Against Terror’, ‘Austerity’, The Environment, or any number of other serious problems current in today’s world, there are two generalised approaches open as we seek the answers to the problems facing ‘ordinary’ human well being.

The first approach, which currently dominates the way Governments and other power Institutions behave, which is associated with adversarial political alliances and far right/religious based political action and mainstream media is largely ideological – that is to say it is coming at the problems with a sense of ‘destiny’ that seeks to impose a certain value system upon the people, irrespective of the adverse outcomes for many people, and as such is void of the concept of optimal human biological health, which is quite willful.  

It is the systems ‘health’ that dominates this discourse. And by this I mean to say that it is the status, power and ability of the system of power to project itself into every area of our lives that is considered the ‘health’ of the system. If a majority appear to do ok, and a minority are oppressed, that’s the ‘price’ that power deems acceptable.

In as much as this approach reflects systemic thinking and tends to ignore, deny, dismiss, misinterpret or obfuscate on any area that exposes the ideological values as being hypocritical whereas the lived experience tells the truth, this approach tends to compound pre-existing problems, thus making matters worse. Lacking empathy it tends to make things worse as it shores up the failings of Power as a modality for human relationships and a caring community.

The second approach, which is emergent from peoples lived experience and it’s meanings, is empathic – in that we seek to understand a problem at it’s true roots, from inside the lived experience, taking into consideration what it is like to be that person or community going through that experience and clearly identify that which is truly unacceptable and to confront Society with that as the basis of it’s challenge.

“Enough! This (whatever experience is being described) must cease because the pain in the lived experience is unacceptable. It cannot be called a ‘price’ for some which then assumes a ‘gain’ that has value for others.

When the peoples trauma, pain and distress is so intense,  that in and of itself ought to be enough reason to cease whatever it is that is causing that trauma and pain, immediately. No ifs or buts.

The second approach takes optimal biological human health as its base, because that speaks to the lived experience, the ‘real’ real world.

The second approach allows that resolution of that confrontation will be a matter that develops, once the abuse of power has been stopped in it’s tracks, that cannot be imposed or predicated by ideology, because it is a response to an immediate situation that will also clear a learning ground that comes from each of us, as individuals and as communities as we tell our stories in all honesty and gain insight.

The material answers will emerge from honesty, and nothing else, because it is through acknowledging the truth we will set ourselves free to act as humane beings in a difficult situation, and this process will be all the more creative in the sense that the drivers of the solutions will be the people ourselves, and our own emergent sense of who we are, what we share, as we acknowledge an awakened sense of each other as people.

Whilst recognising who we are as people in experience will be a commonality, I expect to see a natural diversity that fine tunes solutions to local conditions.

That way the differences of Religion, language, currency, typography become irrelevant because they are not the problem.

The problem is abuse of Power: within that the co-opting of natural differences, natural cultural variations and so on by power in order to generate oppositional, adversarial behaviours at the grass roots, and the horrific outcomes for those people who are most adversely affected by such division and other abuses of power that are amongst the symptoms.

Charity aimed at symptoms is no longer a valid response on its own.

This must be articulated, again and again, in clear terms.

Irrespective of creed, ideology, skin colour, language we all bleed red. We all hurt in pretty much the same manner. And the solutions to the problems we face must reflect that understanding above all else. That must be at the very core of our activism.

Kindest regards

Corneilius

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

Politics, Arguments, Debates and Institutionalised Emotional Blindness

Politics, arguments, debates and the abdication of responsibility.

The Power Inquiry Report 2006.

If you have not heard of it, then I suggest that you need to know more about it. We all need to read the report and understand it's full implications, not least because it emerged from the grass roots, rather than a think-tank. And it challenges a number of assumptions about the ability of grass roots folk to engage with shared responsibility, robust governance and detailed policy deliberation.

The Power inquiry, an independent investigation into the condition of democracy in Britain, was set up in 2004. The members of its commission (chaired by Helena Kennedy) hosted meetings around Britain and heard submissions from a wide variety of interest groups, professionals, and concerned citizens. The commission published its report on 27 February 2006.

"After eighteen months of investigation, the final report of Power is a devastating critique of the state of formal democracy in Britain. Many of us actively support campaigns such as Greenpeace or the Countryside Alliance. And millions more take part in charity or community work. But political parties and elections have been a growing turn-off for years.

The cause is not apathy. The problem is that we don't feel we have real influence over the decisions made in our name. The need for a solution is urgent. And that solution is radical. Nothing less than a major programme of reform to give power back to the people of Britain..."

Examine it.

D. Cameron, E. Milliband and Menzies Campbell paid lip service to the report and initiative at the time. Cameron said, in public, and it's on video, that The Power Inquiry was the 'most important initiative in Democracy in the UK' in a long, long time.

I was there. I heard them speak and mouth hearty support for the report, as they stood and spoke before the assembled crowd of more than 500 people. 

Less than a week after attending the launch of the report, at a conference in Queen Elizabeth Hall, Parliament Square, after praising it during that weekend conference, after saying how important it was, after speaking about it in glowing terms to the attendees, they dismissed it as 'impractical.'

'Impractical'? Well, yes. Ceding power to people is always 'impractical' to the Ruling Class.

Here's an outline of the recommendations:

http://www.lgcplus.com/give-citizens-power-to-make-laws-urges-inquiry/513437.article

Here's the full document, PDF download, very much worth a reading.

http://www.jrrt.org.uk/publications/power-people-independent-inquiry-britains-democracy-full-report

Power without accountability or shared responsibility is always going to be a serious problem, and open to abuse.

Quite a lot of the comments flying around about Russel Brand, UKIP, and politics in general are antagonistic 'debating' style, rather than mature deliberation or critical analysis. Trying to win or batter the other side down as opposed to learning enough to develop a win-win solution.

What's that phrase they use about the Court system?

Adversarial.

I find that appalling. An abdication of responsibility. Politically immature. Psychologically immature. An adversarial Parliament is immature, and unworthy, easily corrupted - a collegiate parliament would be mature and worthy and would repel corruption.

Because the issue of power and legislation is really about us, we, the people who form the community and how we work together (or not) to create a society that nurtures, that cares for the vulnerable.

The issue is about relationships based on kindness, rather than power.

Healthy discourse is about sharing, exploring and growing together.

Debate is about power, it's about who wins.

The Power Inquiry emerged out of the Community Voluntary Sector, which has decades of providing services at the local community level, dealing with amongst other things : finances, governance, research, best practices, transparency, service provision, understanding their 'clients' needs, overcoming institutional obstacles, overcoming Institutionalised Emotional Blindness, campaigning, fund raising, discourse on policy formulation and much else besides. These are real life skills.

It was these people that David Cameron's BIG SOCIETY was aimed at, as a direct institutional assault. And it was their clients, the vulnerable who suffer doubly as a result.

And it's working.

Speak to any disabled people currently being denied benefits on the false basis of 'austerity'?

Use your voice to nurture the active grass roots, as well as to chastise the powerful.

In another comment, elsewhere, I pointed out how appalled I was at the sniping that is so common.

Instituionalised Emotional Blindness. There's something here for everyone to consider.

The immaturity of the debating style of the discourse, as opposed to an effort to share, learn and grow in order to create a more nurturant society.

An abdication of responsibility. It's really quite ugly.

Kindest regards

Corneilius

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

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Optimal Human Health and Power's disruption of same.

In biology, in the ‘natural world’, all organisms are mandated towards optimal health for the individual as part of optimal health for the species, in the habitat that they inhabit.

This mandate is fundamental to all biology, and has both intrinsic and extrinsic qualities.

This applies to human beings as individuals, as localised communities and as a species.

This mandate towards optimal human health has persisted throughout the entire existence of the species.

The long term existence and thriving of human beings as a species is founded on this mandate towards optimal human health being met.

In terms of that long term existence, that long term thrivival of human societies, certain qualities are associated with optimal human health.

Self empathy as part of a healthy sense of self, empathy for others, robust physical health and well being, responsive intelligence, autonomy and the desire and ability to effectively co-operate with others to meet both individual and collective needs.

These are all markers of optimal human health, in as much as collectively and individually they lend themselves to long term sustained living cultures capable of meeting the challenges and the constant changes in habitat and environment, through learning and growing by experience and by reflection.

Sense of self is an emergent quality. It is based on inner experience meeting external recognition.

The externalisations of the baby, the infant, the child that is to say the inner experience which is articulated by movement, facial expression and sound, when recognised and understood by caring adults, and therefore responded to accurately, helps the infant or child to develop a healthy sense of self - the recognition by the caring adult allows the infant to become more secure that his or her inner experience and articulation of same as being valid.

“I am in discomfort, I need winding” articulated by cries and face squirming is met by “You are in discomfort and need winding.” followed by action by the caring adult to adjust the babies position, rub his or her back etc… leading to ease for the child…  this tells the child that his or her self perception is accurate. There is a mutual feedback loop between baby and carer, which both inform each other, and verify each other...

This experience leads towards healthy self empathy, self understanding, which is the basis for empathy for others.  This process can also be disrupted. If it is disrupted over lengthy periods, then the emergence of healthy self empathy will likewise be disrupted, and may lead towards a pathology, a dysfunctional 'persona'.

Infants will also internalise aspects of the external world as part of their healthy growth – so they will  internalise the love and care with which they are treated, they internalise aspects of the habitat they grow into which allows them to navigate it’s complexities, they internalise aspects of the various age groups they experience within their community so that they have an accurate life time picture from cradle to grave so to speak, and these deepen their capabilities in terms of sustained health, as parents to be and as members of a diverse community.

This internalisation is biologically as well as socially mandated, the child needs to internalise aspects of the world into which she or he is growing as well as develop a healthy sense of self through experience… so that he or she is capable of operating in a concrete reality with accuracy and healthy affect, and all these are essential qualities in terms of long term survival and thriving.

All of these are markers of optimal human health.

There is a problem, though.

All of these markers are now under chronic stress in the modern Dominant Society, and in the UK, where I live..

The State, an artifice of Power,  demands that children internalise and thus identify with the externals of Nationalism, The Flag, The Motherland, "British Values".

Organised and centralised religions demand a similar internalisation of their values.

Football clubs set up players as role models.

Media portrays men and women in an idealised fashion and most often the dysfunctional is portrayed as normal. No one I know could live with the ‘heroic’ people in movies as their roles are played, or actors, footballers, models, politicians … let alone the ‘ordinary’ people, the b-listers, as portrayed in movies…

Thus healthy self empathy is undermined, because it is constantly being challenged, put under pressure and ultimately replaced corrosively with another external identity, which serves Power rather than the individual or the community, and from that much else flows that is damaging to optimal human health.

One can also speak of massive trauma such as occasional natural events or disasters, and the more frequent trauma of intentional war prosecuted by States and other actors, the ubiquity of inter-generational trauma as a result of unresolved inter state conflict, commercially driven social conditioning, social dysfunction etc all of which remaining unresolved will affect the development of optimal human health in individuals and communities, for successive generations, across diverse populations.

For most people it is relatively easy to understand some few aspects of these dynamics in terms of an abusive family dynamic – we all know of families whose lives are blighted by addiction, bullying, child abuse, domestic violence and so on.

However there is a distinct lack of initiative to resolve these dynamics that is all too common, and yet it need not be that way.

And when it comes to the culture as a whole, and to power and politics in particular, there is in most people's perspective a dreamscape, an illusion, is what persists in the 'mainstream' rather than a well articulated and accurate description of concrete reality as it is and as it affects peoples lives.

It is absolutely critical to the future generations that we, in this information age, do all that we can to address this disruption of self empathy that leads to such inaccurate and dysfunctional perceptions upon which Power now sits enthroned.

Reading yourself

Read yourself with self empathy and you will discover more of value..

The 'ego' theory in psychology is derived from Freud's drive theories (which were his way of avoiding certain truths about how adults behaved towards children in his day)... It is also a copy or repetition of the Christian concept of the 'devil within'. Both are massive errors and very damaging, because they lead adults to over control children, often by threats, intimidation and withdrawal of love. They perpetuate chronic stress on children.

We are biologically mandated towards optimal human health, and that includes a healthy sense of self, and if that mandate is disrupted, with regard to how we develop our healthy sense of self, and there is no way to address the situation while we are growing up, then we may develop a wounded sense of self, or an unrealistic sense of self, or a damaged sense of self.

Healing that is a matter of developing self empathy, and empathy for the child we were in the situation we were in, and not a matter of controlling the 'ego' or regarding the wounded ego in a negative light.

Religion?
All Religions are equal in this analysis, yet not all parents are - there ARE parents within those traditions who do not bully, intimidate etc or indoctrinate their children. Just as there are parents who are 'secular' and at the same time cruel towards their children. One has to bear this in mind at all times. One has to be careful with generalisations and be prepared to always drill into each particular case, as required.

That said, the statistical significance and social outcomes of institutionally approved controlling behaviours, be they stimulated, permitted or inspired by Ideology, Religiosity, or as a result of trauma and other disruptions are such that we cannot afford to ignore them, and the Religions and States that permit them must be challenged on all indoctrination processes, and on all threat/intimidation based pedagogies.

I refuse to allow my work to be bent to one agenda or another

It's vital for my work to remain clear, unambiguous and focused -the issue is how we adults relate to THE NATURAL CHILD and how we adults NURTURE the natural child within the context of a Nurturant Society.,as an expression of optimal human biological health.

Meeting the mandate of optimal biological health.

This means for me, at least, the ending of war and of all hierarchical violence, and being in the best possible position to deal with the impacts of poverty, climate changes,  habitat changes etc etc.

This unites all issues without becoming an ideology - it is designed to resist being co-opted, and as such it ought to stand as a direct challenge and alternative pathway to all Hierarchically Violent Power Structures and dysfunctional Social Systems.

Kindest regards

Corneilius

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

Palestine and Israel : a glib psycho analysis.

Gaza : a psycho analysis.

Please bear in mind this is a sketch, and lacks in detail and nuance.

1. The situation is akin to an abusive family dynamic.

2. The Powerful and Wrathful Parent (Israel) dominates the lives of 2 children (Palestinians in Gaza and West Bank).

3. One child (Gaza) resists and complains more than the other, and the complaints are ignored. When the children complains too loudly, the parent beats the child. With a stick. And sometimes sends the more resistant child to bed without any food.

4. When the Gaza child gets really, really frustrated, and somehow gets an opportunity, the Gaza slaps the parent on the knee. (Militants launching rockets)

5. The parent then hits the child full force with a fist to the face. (IDF Militarized Air, Sea and Land Attack on Gaza, Jets dropping massive precision strike munitions from unassailable positions)

The Gazan Child flies across the room. Bloody nose. Broken wrist.

  "Look at what YOU made me do!" The Dad screams at the child, as the mother (USA/UK) enters the room.

6. Mother (USA/UK) shouts at child "Stop annoying your Dad! it' s your own fault he beats you! Obey him! He means well! Let's try at least to be a happier family, OK? (Israel is a 'Democracy'). Mother tends to child's wounds (Charity) whilst cooking meals for the Dad (Military Aid).

7. This situation is also a mirror of what is we call Western Democracy, ie; the Power Relationships of Governance, and the relative position of Rulers to the ruled, and to be fair, it is a mirror of most State Power Dynamics. It is at it's very core, the basis of all Empire logic. The current system is still rooted in Hierarchies of Power and Violence.

8. The other children (West Bank) in the family try their best to adapt to the situation, sometimes they need to scapegoat the abused child to continue to get favours, they try to pretend their family is healthy, and they keep their heads down, trying to run the family business.

One or two of the other children or cousins, living next door (Refugees living in the neighbouring Arab nations) accuse the Dad of brutality, behind his back, when talking to the abused children but do not confront the Israeli Dad. That would be too scary.

9. In other families the children have learned how to placate the abusive parent. They conform. (the western electorate) They send sweets and cards to the abused child. (Charity) to ease their conscience.

This is what is happening, at an Institutional level. Sort of.

Kindest regards

Corneilius

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

Gaza, and the truth about the world-wide culture of Power.

Empathy is a strength. It requires a unique human strength  to maintain empathy. It's also an expression of optimal human health.

It is true that in this Society, if one is not fairly robust, if one is in any way vulnerable, marginalised or discriminated against, for what ever reason one is exposed to being manipulated, exploited mistreated and abused. 

That has more to do with the kind of Society we live in, the kind of society we were born into than it has to do with human nature. This is a Bully Cult. The  outcomes of chronic stress induced by this cult lead to adverse behaviour patterns.

Our society is predicated on Power, and Power maintains itself by stressing each lower ranking, in effect trickle down of  structured abuse that alters peoples endocrine, autonomous, emotional, neurological, psychological and behavioural systems over time leading to chronic adverse behaviours - all 'adjustments' to fit in, to survive.

It's a trauma survival technique, very well understood. They call it the stress position. Childhood resilience often masks the painful reality.

Children playing in the ruins of their homes is Gaza 2014

And as to strength, moral strength, that comes in the first instance from a sense of self empathy, coupled with empathy for others, and is reflected in a sense of autonomy and responsive connection,  in a holistic expression, with one's community, family, land and language. Solidarity. Clean food. Loving, vibrant extended families. Libertarian Education. Trusting children and giving them space.

 "Our children do not need us to shape them; they need us to respond to who they are." Naomi Aldort

Question :

"What about the actions of Israeli Politicians who are now famous, who once engaged in 'terrorism' and are known to have murdered 'enemies' in overt and covert combat?"

or

"Is the cost, 500,000 children have died, of the embargo and no fly zone over Iraq, worth it?!"  to Madelaine Albright,who replies "Yes, I think the cost, the cost is worth it." and proceeds to rationalise that sentence. A professional denial. All our leading Politcians are trained in the art. They all, the front men, receive this training as a critical component of their work. Staying on message. Keep it Professional.

The Israeli State's answer is typical of an abusers rationalisation of the abuse within an abuse family dynamic. In fact this probably applies to the majority, if not all, of those who take to violence in pursuit of ideological or political power objectives - so include the UK, USA, China, Russia, France, etc etc etc in this world wide culture.

Here's the News!

A Palestinian family amidst the destruction wrought by Israeli War Planes, 2014

The 51-day offensive in 2014 left more than 2,000 Palestinians dead, including at least 1,462 civilians, a third of whom were children, according to the United Nations. Human rights groups reported that numerous Palestinians went missing during the war. Some were later found, either alive or dead, although the fate of 19 others has remained unknown.

Spokesperson for the ICRC in Gaza Suhair Zakkout said in a statement that the ICRC had made efforts since 2014 to try and find the location of the missing Palestinians; however, the organization has not received any responses from Israel.

from : https://palestineupdates.com/icrc-still-no-news-on-palestinians-missing-since-2014-gaza-war/

Here's the Prime Minister....!

The Foreign Minister.....!

Here's  Bob, with The Weather!

Here are the techniques :

Explain it away with false arguments. Outright Denial. Switching the goal posts.

Avoiding answering direct questions, by redefining the context, asking another question.

Manipulate peoples conditioning with populisms.

Blame the victimised. They made me do it!

Assert that what we see is nit what we see but merely what we perceive due to bias - gaslighting.

False claims to a moral higher ground based on ideology, ignoring the actual behaviour and outcomes.

Religion vs Democracy right?

Dehumanising dissenters.

Attacking whistle-blowers.

Creating favourites who support the abuser because they get 'benefits'.

Benefits and Sanctions.

The similarity between the abuse family dynamic (which is well known, understood and defined) and the Abusive Hierarchical Power system and behaviour set we call 'politics' is obvious.

In Israel, all children - teens are children - are coerced to enlist for a minimum of 3 year. Then there are various social rewards for serving as reservists. On call. Those who reject that call due to moral or conscience are chastised for dissent. Refusal to participate in the violence of the State practically ruins each Israeli child's future life in Israel.

The Israeli State teaches that military service is a good thing, refusal is treason. The British state celebrates the 'sacrifice' of 'our brave boys', mourns the loss of 'blood and treasure'.

The Abuse family dynamic. Coercion to conform. Manipulation and indoctrination.

These dynamics feed into each other. A vicious cycle is created, that runs from generation to generation - who will break the cycle that is funded by the State?

Yet, in spite of this, the fundamental human spirit of decency is the norm between people at the grass roots

Human Kind.

When we are not under chronic stressors, in a situation of relative powerlessness, we get along, across cultural and religious differences because, at the end of the day, we are families like each other. Babies, infants, nappies, disrupted sleep patterns, dirty dishes, birthday celebrations, marriages and funerals..

The Israeli childhood, leading inevitably to combat 'duty' disrupts this perception - it has to. The 'enemy' must be identified and made into a bogey man.

The Gaza childhood, leading to mere survival in a war zone at best. No jobs. No University. No prospects.

And yet people in both communities, a majority in all Societies many, many people emerge from this with their basic kindness and empathy intact, qualities that are crucial elements of optimal human health.

Essential for Gross National Happiness.

And it must be recognised that we at the grass roots of Society have relatively little power by comparison, as individuals, when it comes to confronting Political Power that is enforced by arms.

Some people mistake this for weakness. They side with the abusers when they they blame these  ordinary people by claiming their individual inaction is equivalent to complicity with what the State does. This is more bullying, and does little to foster freedom or liberty. Gaslighting afflicts all of us, on all sides, It becomes a normal behaviour pattern.

The reason  the abuser objectifies (dehumanises) the people he or she targets, is because that isolates the abuser from any connection, empathy, concern or constraint when faced with another person. One can do anything to an object. It has no value other than it's use.

Sheeple

Palestinian lives have no intrinsic value to the Institution of the Israeli Military other than as objects to be abused.  Iraqi lives had no  intrinsic value to the Institution of the Invading USUK Military or the Occupation Government, other than as objects to be subdued and controlled.

Israeli lives have no intrinsic value to the Israeli State Apparatus, other than as tools to be utilised - there is a massive bureaucracy the State funds and maintains in the operation of it's civil oppression of Palestinians, and that's a good earner for a bureaucracy of Israeli officials and clerks.  Many mortgages depend on that work.

That kind of side effect is rarely mentioned in 'the news'.

State or Public or Civil Service Employment programs enrols many, many people in the day to day banality of oppression.

An object can be bought and sold. It can be 'secured'. An object can be discarded. The State objectifies it's own officials. Kissinger's 'dumb animals', the front line police and troops who are often traumatized, and discarded.

And for the front men (Politicians, pundits, etc) a carefully crafted persona, an act, a script, a mask... a toxic mime of character, a toxic mime of intimacy (it LOOKS like......) is a professional requirement. Mark Negev.

This is a world wide culture and Gaza is revealing in real-time on Social Media, the real human cost at the darker edge of the spectrum is being captured in moving image and sound like never before. It's right outside your door, it's seeping in through the official media and is made more obvious by the denials of scores of insane officials. 

To turn away now, or to maintain the illusion of 'sides' and 'justifications' is to betray oneself, to betray one's family, one's children, one's ancestors, the future.

We must look, we must be honest, vulnerable and we must understand what we are faced with and we must act on that.

I trust this more than anything else, that the natural biological drive towards optimal human health cannot be extinguished. Once that is stimulated, once that plant receives enough light, space, nutrient, IT WILL GROW. And if the situation is conducive, it WILL THRIVE.

I feel a little uncomfortable to be articulating these hopes at a time when others are enduring horrors in real time, whilst we witness from a distance, powerless to STOP IT NOW, which our hearts cry out, all day, every minute....

It's the very least we expect 

Grass roots people to Power :

JUST STOP IT!

It is that easy? One order. Job done.

I hold this dread, this fear and disgust and and I the hope, the trust  in my heart. Together.

The beautiful people living in Gaza, in Israel, Ukraine, Congo who are there by accident of birth and are being so brutalised by Political Power struggles they have no part in - all those lives, birthdays, births, marriages, joys, sadnesses, laughter, warmth - I hold you in my heart, I stand with you, I tell myself. At a safe distance. My standing with you is not much use, is it?

The damaged, the hurt and the abusers - these are my family too, and my response ability is to stop the abuse, by stopping the abusers. That is why our votes in lands distant to the happening now trauma and abuse matter. The abusers are getting support from our Government, they are buying weapons from our firms. 

We all share a responsibility to help nurture back to health the hurt, the damaged and to see, if we truly understand the roots of it, how such behaviour can be prevented or reduced across our entire Society. 

Those without remorse, who are a constant danger, must be isolated, made safe, humanely but without question placed where they cannot cause more harm This is an essential. A necessity. I must participate in this as well as all the rest. We all must. 

There will be practical material elements, and psycho-cultural elements to the prevention.

In the long term, this is where we are headed. We have to.

And it hurts, to acknowledge this. There is no freedom from this wound. No anaesthetic. 

I must bear that pain, and do the work. To get there. To make peace inevitable.




Kindest regards

Corneilius

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

WHY we hear so few Survivors voices in the Public Domain.

There is a term for this coercive behaviour  towards children, which is typical within 'traditional education systems' : Poisonous Pedagogy:

"Poisonous pedagogy", is described by these theorists as what happens when a parent (or teacher, nurse, or other caregiver) believes that a young child's behavior demonstrates that the child is infected with the "seeds of evil", and therefore attempts to weed out the evil, either by emotional manipulation or by brute force. Simple examples include the beating of children as punishment for lying, or mothers who refuse to feed their newborn until a set time, in order to "teach him patience, which will be useful for him in later life".

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poisonous_pedagogy

And on top of that is a Hierachically Violent social power system, which requires pathologically dysfunctional people to maintain, defend and expand that power system. Hence the coercive education. 

It's a form of deep conditioning to ensure a constant supply of willing participants, though they do understand that it's not the perfect system, and some children escape, some breakthrough and others are utterly broken, whilst the majority just conform and internalise the values of the system.

And then there's the few that will become the one's most suited for power. With the least empathy, a thread of intentional brutality and the greatest ability to manipulate others. They are 'spotted' and groomed for power.

Distal Power has a great influence on ALL our lives, and the further removed from it one is, the greater the vulnerability. the greater the adverse affect, with little ability to protect oneself.

ALL Institutions of Power will seek to protect themselves from 'scandal' - the problem for them being the exposure of the truth, rather than the outcomes for those who have been victimised : The Vatican (Ireland, America Sexual predation of children within Catholic Institutions), The Canadian Protestant Churches,(Indian Residential Schools) The Australian State and the Australian Churches (Stealing Aboriginal Children by force and placing them in Boarding Schools).

This list must also include the people's of Iraq, Afghanistan, South America, South Africa : all the 'inquiries' that have been National Political events controlled the voices of the Survivors, filtering them so only those approved spoke in the public domain, and these Inquiries focussed on reconciliation and settlement over prosecution. They carried out massive, expensive, well advertised campaigns to say 'Sorry'. In order to protect their power. They paid out billions in civil damages. In order to protect their Power.

It is a common pattern, a constant thread through the entire historical record covering the past 5000 years in Hierarchically Violent Societies that grew through conquest. Through violence. Extreme violence.

Here's a psycho-dynamic theoretical outline of how such cultures emerge from the human story. What I wrote.

http://dwylcorneilius.blogspot.co.uk/2010/10/two-poles-of-society-everything-in.html

The REAL story is the Survivors story - they were there, they have the most pertinent insights in all of this. And they are still not being heard, not being listened to, not being understood.

Be they Survivors of child abuse, war, police brutality, bullying in schools, offices etc etc etc... be they aboriginal peoples, the environment, the elderly in 'care homes', teens in 'secure care homes', people who have been sectioned...

They all know more about this than anyone one else.
Which WHY we hear so few Survivors voices...... in the public domain, in the 'News' etc etc ..

Kindest regards

Corneilius

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

Inside the Mind of Jimmy Savile : a response

In an article in the Guardian, Oliver James asks that we try to see into the mind of Jimmy Savile as part of our effort to prevent more predatroy behaviour emerging across Society as a whole.

There is of course the usual range of comments, including those that treat the emergence of someone like Jimmy Savile as a genetic disorder, as an inhumane  monster or another reason to 'lock them up' or execute them.... as well as a few well reasoned comments, and stories from survivors of childhood mistreatment, abuse about their minds and experiences.

I quote from one reasoned commentator, rogergdavidson as the starting point for this article:

"If all the people at the BBC who saw what Savile was doing had been able to discern that he was a sociopath and compulsive sex abuser - that he clearly had serious personality problems - they might have realized the potential scale of what he was doing, and also the harm it would cause, and someone would hopefully have been more likely to take action."

What this means in reality is that in a societal culture that tends to avoid examining and understanding the nature of emergent and predatory pathologies, such as Savile, Blair, Bush, Henry the 8th, Nillsen, Bundy, the banksters, gansters, terrorists, et al, demonstrate, is in part because these people are part of a wider pathology of Power (and the issue of childhood trauma, abuse and deprivation or mistreatment is fundamentally linked to the issue of WHY some people seek power over others, both in terms of it's genesis and outcomes) and in part because there is a cultural revulsion and an emotional response (both anger and fear) which avoids looking atrocities in the face.

"THE ORDINARY RESPONSE TO ATROCITIES is to banish them from consciousness. Certain violations of the social compact are too terrible to utter aloud: this is the meaning of the word unspeakable."

Quoted from : The opening lines of Trauma and Recovery : the aftermath of violence - from domestic abuse to political terror, by Judith Herman

1. The BBC is an hierarchical power structure in itself, and it is part of a larger hierarchical power structure - the establishment.

People within the BBC are subject to two distinct and connected threads of Power.

The immediate thread is observed when employees expose adverse behaviour in someone higher up, in that it will often have an impact on their careers, and their lives, that the higher up has allies and power he or she can bring to bear on the whistleblowers.

The wider thread is the BBC's place in the UK Power structure, which it has occupied since it's inception, as an arm of State propaganda.

This can be seen, for example, in the manner that the BBC refused to present the case against Pope Benedict in any substantial detail, in spite of massive evidence, and calls from thousands of Survivors, and from Geoffery Robinson no less, during his State Visit in 2010. It enables Tony Blair to articulate his insane perspective without any decent challenge. These are but two examples, and there are many, many more...

2. This speaks of a societal culture of Power that has a profound impact on the lives of all those who live within it's influence. The emergence of such hierarchically violent societies is directly related to childhood mistreatment (which is often seen as 'normal' ), and to post traumatic inter-generational patterns

In the anthropological research there is a constant and reliable predictor of hierarchical violence in any Society : the degree to which the biologically mandated child-mother bonding process is disrupted , The two are profoundly connected. They feed into each other.

Over the past 40 years, this initial research has been consistently corroborated and confirmed by newer research and understandings about child development and trauma (we now consider trauma to be any event or sequence of events that have an affect on a child's development from 'in utero' through birth, infancy, toddlership, childhood)... some of this understanding comes from Survivors, some form the detailed research into endocrinology, neuro-biology, neuro-chemistry, pre-natal and ante-natal studies, how children learn, indergenerational trauma patterning and much else besides.

To put it in simple terms:

When a person is traumatised, and cannot resolve the issues related to the trauma, they adapt a 'coping mechanism' to survive: the coping mechanism is often a necessary attempt to maintain some form of control over events and people in order to feel safe.

When a community, a family or indeed a Society, is traumatised, and cannot resolve the issues related to the trauma, they may each in turn adapt a 'coping mechanism' to survive: the coping mechanism is often a necessary attempt to maintain some form of control over events and people in order to feel safe. It may be driven by the unconscious, and it may well have conscious elements.

In either case, if that group of people, or Society build Institutions, or social structures, those entities will have within them the psychology of the unresolved trauma issues. And in their attempt to create safety, they may well cause harm to those the perceive as a threat.

None of this is to suggest an 'excuse' for any adult who perpetrates, predates, causes harm, abuses or manipulates other people to meet perceived needs.

Adults are volitional, we do choose our actions, and we are ALL accountable for those actions....

However, in order to PREVENT more repeating cycles of trauma and abuse we have to understand them, and we have to be 100% honest about what has happened, Survivors must be listened to and understood, and perpetrators must be put in positions where they cannot cause any more harm.

Punishment as 'revenge' is futile: it has NEVER prevented further abuse in meaningful and societal terms.

Nuremberg was an utter failure. Bullying is rife in our schools. Ridding Iraq of Saddam has blatantly made life for most Iraqis worse. The war or Drugs has increased the trafficking, and the incarceration rates of recreational and addict 'users' is growing year on year.

I understand the reactive responses of people, and institutions, who refuse to engage with this most important subject matter. Power and trauma. For some it's a matter of their own conditioning, for Institutions it's a question of their desire to maintain and expand their power, for others the sheer horror of what we are seeing across the world is beyond words, and terrifying.

However, that said, unless we - the adults - get to grips with what Savile is telling us, with that trauma and power is telling us, then we are in for a bumpy ride, and worse than that, far worse, we are committing all our children, and their children to come, to even more turbulence.

That is unconscionable.

That, in my opinion, would be the most egregious failure of responsibility of all.

______________

A note of clarification:

"In a child's life (as in any other) there are things that ought to happen, that don't, and things that ought not happen, that do"  Gabor Mate

These can range from, for example, a pregnancy where the mother is under chronic stress from external or personal effectors (where the mothers endocrine flows impact the development of the foetus) to a birth trauma (where damage to healthy tissue goes unresolved), to emotional coldness and to a sense of abandonment (leaving the child to cry it out..), to the loss of one or both parents or living an inadequate caring environment, to outright abuse by parents, siblings, in school, amongst peers.... to intense religious or ideological indoctrination....

Some predispositions emerge from stress in the in utero situation. Some may well be genetic. yet the child is not born to be the monster.

All of these, and more, can happen in a child's life, and the signs of distress can be missed, or diagnosed as 'problems' : and not all children will react or respond in the same way.

Statistically, we can say with some degree of certainty, that there will emerge from a population of children who are mistreated, abused, traumatised those who become part of the continuing pattern of predation, and that if their distress symptoms are missed, or the children are treated as 'problems' : bad, shamed, loathed, and punished, then more damaged and predatory adults will emerge, It doesn't take many to cause havoc in a community.

We can also say with a degree of certainty that many who do not become predators will show signs of that stress in terms of health outcomes in later life. The Adverse Childhood Study by the CDC in the USA, amongst many others, shows this to be the case for addiction, obesity, heart disease, diabetes etc.

If the signs, the symptoms of distress, are understood and the adult worlds response is empathic, concerned, caring and well informed, that the patterns can be broken before they become too ingrained.

We can prevent much of the repeated abuse cycles, and we can prevent the emergence of serious health issuers if we understand their roots, and act responsibly and responsively ....

This is a cultural response ability we desperately need to create.

Kindest regards

Corneilius

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

The question of Power is also a question of biological immaturity

It's a question of biological maturity, biological in the sense of expressing optimal health of an organism.

Those who are attracted to Power over others are biologically immature. They are insecure, they have not 'grown up' or matured into wholesome nurturant adults and tend to exert Power over others to assuage their insecurities. The more they use that Power to assuage their insecurities, the more pathologically addicted to Power they become.

Those who are unwilling to move beyond religion, ideology, this side, that side, those who turn away from the natural responsibilities of being an adult human being which lay fundamentally with nurturing the future for all who will follow, and I mean ALL, no exceptions, are functionally and biologically immature.

I am concerned with Tony Blair and all of those people who are 'in Power'. because their immaturity has been part of massive trauma causation, not because I hate them, or despise them (which I don't - I detest what they have done, and what they are doing, and I am appalled at the harm he and others like him have been allowed to inflict on so many innocent, beautiful men, women and children)  and I do loathe what they stand for - the use of Power over other people to meet their narcissistic needs, because it is SO immature and harmful. It is totally unnecessary.

I am concerned with world cup football and any other form of 'mass' entertainment only because they are SO blatantly infantile in biological terms. They are not about nurturing the world, they are about competition, winning and taking sides. The corruption in the world cup, the Olympics and other mass entertainment sports now obvious to everyone. It is a mirror of Power Politics.

I am not bothered if this annoys anyone or if people feel it is a dig or some form of superiority ego complex that I have. Other than if you refuse to face your own maturity, then you are part of the problem. And at the very least you might as well deal with that little part BECAUSE you can.

Because.

It IS a question of maturity. Bio-logical maturity.

And.

Because we live in an Power society that infantilises all of us through the processes of Power, indoctrination, bullying, war, economics and entertainment, I do UNDERSTAND that feeling of powerlessness that goes with a certain kind of immaturity and the desire to avoid that feeling.

I do understand the difficulties inherent in breaking free, in true liberation, the fear and the confusion, the insecurity.

So talk about it, explore it through your own mind, your social media, your friendships, your families.

Work it.

Kindest regards

Corneilius

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

The Vatican, The UN Torture Committee and Reward/Sanction Methods of behaviour modification.

On Friday 9^th May, a report on the questioning of The Vatican before the United Nations Torture Committee was released into the public domain at the same time that calls from within other Christian denominations emerged, from within The Protestant Churches and Evangelical Churches, to address their known issues with reporting and prevention of pedophilia and other acts of mistreatment, cruelty and serious abuse of children occurring in all settings they were and are responsible for.

The call was to not do as the Vatican has done, and seek to attempt to manage or control the ‘crisis’ so as to protect their ‘image’ and ‘status’ which inevitably causes even more trauma for all survivors.

With regard to the torture matter, it is really crystal clear to me that every form of indoctrination to which children are subjected that comes with with sanction, punishment, chastisement and reward is a form of psychological torture.

"If you are driven by the threat of eternal torture to be a good person, you're a frightened person.

 

To instil, indoctrinate, inculcate or impose upon a small child's body, mind or psyche the feeling or sensation or thought frame associated with fear of existential punishment, as a psycho-social structure or some 'moral code', as coercive and violent as it is, is torture.”

This means that the person using such a coercive process upon a child is frightening the child and a frightened child, quite obviously,  will not see sense in the instruction and the matter will thus require coercion, to ensure compliance. All for 'the child’s own good', of course. And for the good of Society.

Of course.

This is based on a dreadful misperception of the child, which has been a foundational meme of Christian European culture and indeed Abrahamic cultures for a long, long time, (the fear of Satan/The Wild in the child that must be tamed at all costs) and it mirrors all sorts of adverse power relationships that are institutionalised into our mainstream Societal structures even to this day.

This dynamic mirrors the relationship between Power, Law, the State, and the Citizen. The power issue is the core of the problem, from the personal to the Institutional. It is because this Christian-post Christian social thought map strikes at the heart of one’s sense of self as a vulnerable child that it has so much power over the adult, especially if the adult has ‘adapted to fit in’ and is less than fully aware……  with generation after generation ‘adapting to fit in’ it is easy to see how over time those PTSD patterns become ‘normal behaviour’.

I will address this aspect a bit further down this piece.

Last week, Democracy Now reported on these issues, and there was a specific report on the Evangelical Churches in the USA which I found very interesting.

http://www.democracynow.org/2014/5/8/protestant_church_faces_new_sex_abuse

The news team interviewed Kathryn Joyce, a reported and researcher, who had some really interesting comments to make, one of which I wish to point out, whilst at the same time I recommend listening to the whole Democracy Now report on this link.

JUAN GONZÁLEZ (newsteam): We turn now to a new exposé that asks if the Protestant world is teetering on the edge of a sex-abuse scandal similar to the one that has rocked the Catholic Church. The person trying to address the problem may surprise you. As sex-abuse allegations multiply, it is Reverend Billy Graham’s grandson who is on a mission to persuade Protestant churches to come clean. Kathryn Joyce’s cover story in The American Prospect profiles Boz Tchividjian, a law professor at Liberty University, a school founded by Reverend Jerry Falwell, and former prosecutor who has worked on many sex-abuse cases. He used his experience to found an organization called GRACE: Godly Response to Abuse in the Christian Environment.

AMY GOODMAN (newsteam): GRACE made headlines in February when the famous evangelical school, Bob Jones University, hired it to interview faculty and students about their experiences with sexual assault, then fired it before it had a chance to report the results, only to hire it back after a public outcry. Well, reporter Kathryn Joyce joins us now to discuss this major exposé, "By Grace Alone: As Sex-Abuse Allegations Multiply, Billy Graham’s Grandson is on a Mission to Persuade Protestant Churches to Come Clean." Kathryn Joyce is also the author of The Child Catchers: Rescue, Trafficking, and the New Gospel of Adoption and Quiverfull: Inside the Christian Patriarchy Movement.

and then the interview starts: 

Joyce outlines the Grace case with regard to the Bob Jones University and other details she has researched. This part is at 43 minutes on the play timer. She makes a very point about Authoritarian settings and predatory behaviour.

AMY GOODMAN: And the missionary kids?

KATHRYN JOYCE: And for the missionary kids, these were the subject of GRACE’s two first investigation, two different very large international missionary groups, where the children of the missionaries being stationed in foreign countries, known in Christian culture as MKs, missionary kids, they were enduring just kind of epidemic levels of sexual abuse in a number of different countries. GRACE’s reports focused on two in particular, on the New Tribes Mission and their boarding school in Fanda, Senegal, and also ABWE, another missionary organization, and what happened on the mission field they had in the 1980s in Bangladesh. And two different situations, but a lot of similarities, in some ways, in that these were both kind of very authoritarian atmospheres where children were expected to do what any adult kind of in their world was telling them to do, and this made them, sadly, kind of very vulnerable to abusers who came by.

AMY GOODMAN: And you’re talking about the missionary kids. What about the people in the communities they come to, for example, in Senegal or in Bangladesh? What happens to them?

KATHRYN JOYCE: I’m sure that there are stories there, as well. GRACE’s two reports in these situations focused on what happened to the children of missionaries, but I’m sure there are even more untold stories in terms of the children already living there who were, in many ways, much more vulnerable

.

JUAN GONZÁLEZ: In some of your writings, you’ve dealt with the issue of patriarchy and its relationship to religious thinking. Any sense on your part whether there are structural or philosophical directions in the churches that allow this kind of stuff to be covered up?

KATHRYN JOYCE: Well, I think, absolutely. And obviously, not all very conservative Christians or all members of the self-described patriarchy movement are going to be abusive. But reading all of these reports and looking at all of this and speaking to dozens of people, it kind of does become clear—and GRACE’s assertion—that a main factor contributing to abuse and the silencing of abuse, of victims, is authoritarian structures that focus much more on rigid rule following, on hierarchies within a church or within a community, on the subordinate role of women and children. And when you have all of these things coming together alongside a culture that sees it as imperative to cover up mistakes so that you can still promote the cause of Christ, that you are being a good evangelical witness, a lot of these things conspire to make abuse not just more common, but much more invisible.

AMY GOODMAN: Finally, what most surprised you, Kathryn Joyce, in your investigation?

KATHRYN JOYCE: Well, I think what surprised me the most was watching in real time this pattern happen of GRACE going and starting and doing this investigation, getting a year into it, having spoken to dozens, a hundred of people, and then having the institution back out. This had happened once before with the mission group ABWE, and then it happened again with Bob Jones. And it was very interesting to see that. And it raised this interesting question about whether or not there is a catch-22 at the heart of GRACE’s incredibly admirable mission, that they are being hired by the groups that they’re investigating. And I think that that’s a really interesting question to ponder, but I think we also have to look at their work and say that this is very well—very much needed.

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

“a main factor contributing to abuse and the silencing of abuse, of victims, is authoritarian structures that focus much more on rigid rule following, on hierarchies within a church or within a community, on the subordinate role of women and children.”

What she says speaks for itself. It also mirrors James Prescott's findings and insights from his 1975 Paper : Body Pleasure and the Origins of Violence.

Here’s a two page outline showing his findings in a .pdf form. 

Comparison of Social Behavioural Characteristics of Low and High Nurturant Societies 

It provides a peer reviewed anthropological narrative that accurately describes a variety of emergent social or cultural structures over time and distance, ranging from Egalitarian Nurturing Communities to Hierarchically Violent Controlling Communities. 

And the same pattern persists as Kathryn Joyce describes :  that within this range of cultures the predictor of violence as an emerging trait, or sustained pattern of behaviour of any given culture was always the degree of disruption to the child mother bond, and or the degree of control or inhibition imposed on emergent adolescent sexuality and the presence and enforcement of rigid gender power roles. 

These are resonant with post trauma behavioural patterns, where the trauma remains unresolved, where the pain remains, coping with internal pressure or conflict drives much behaviour. From the individual to the collective, aspects of the coping mechanism or strategies are internalised as within the range of ‘normal’ or expected behaviour. 'Boys don't cry'. 'Women are more empathetic'. 'Boys will be boys'. 'Girls seek out powerful men'.

The reality is of course that everyone caught up in trauma related social structures is to some degree affected by the situation, and most will have internalised aspects of it, it’s negative values and prejudices as part of that affect, and this makes for some confusion when boundaries are broken what ought to remain explicit.  The roles played out in that dynamic are hardly markers of optimally healthy human behaviour.

Kathryn Joyce's last point, about what can happen when Survivors groups get too close to the Institutions whose intent to remain and retain their power, and is less than honourable, is also very interesting, because there is a fairly well documented history of Institutions who are liable for harms caused offering an apparent ‘olive branch’ to survivors, where it becomes clear that the intended primary beneficiaries of that ‘olive branch’ is those proffering it. 

That there is a pattern of powerful institutions manipulating Survivors groups, individual survivors and NGOs through offering forms of ‘support’ favoured by the Hierarchy of that Institution. 

I think that Survivors groups need and deserve more support - and respect!- from the wider Society in confronting this situation, a necessary confrontation which has been in full flow in the public domain for nearly 30 years of public reporting of allegations, on matters than have been harmfully adverse for many hundreds of  thousands of children …  it’s narrative of Power and abuse matters for all of us, and how we deal with it will be part of the estate we pass on through inheritance. We intend to give this the focus, energy and commitment it demands.

Kathryn Joyce (And Democracy Now as ever) also bringing a much needed clarity and calm, a de-hyping of the story, a humanisation of the narrative, which is maturing the discourse and is therefore  incredibly valuable.

The main element I wish my readers to take up in why I wrote this piece, is to look at the Kathryn Joyce’s description of how an Authoritarian situation is that much more vulnerable because it has within it many of those compliance behaviour dynamics that suit predatory activity, where there is fear of The Hierarchy as much as there is respect. That fear permeates the entire issue. And it is all too often a fear and respect of distal power, a power one cannot touch or see or even influence, a power that holds life or death power over all.

That fear, that the power of life and death might be exercised upon The Vatican, drives the irrational behaviour of The Vatican, and for them that fear is so intense that it makes it rational in their mind-set to do what they are doing. 

That fear is the largest part of what really drives the ‘support’ The Vatican et al receive from their adherents, the Faithful. Who would want to lose that careful illusory safety net that blind faith, in any are of life, creates? Let alone walk right up to it and say “No! I will not stand for this!”

And it would be so easy to criticise those people for their compliance with the Institution, yet the Survivor in me has to go beyond that distaste and anger, and not to lose either sense, but to integrate them into a larger narrative, of my own life, and that of the Society into which I was born and into which I brought my own child, and it is for her and all her contemporaries and their children and grand children that I must address my actions.

The psychology, behaviour and outcomes of the activity of the Institutionalised Authoritarian Culture of Power and how these affect the majority of people alive to day have to be recognised, observed and understood. 

This psychology and behaviour needs to be observed where it occurs in all hierarchical behavioural structures, from the personal to the largest collectives. Transparency must exist in order to prevent such abuse occurring in the future, starting now. This is the ultimate precondition.

Transparency.

Authoritarianism breeds the fear that drives secrecy. 

Transparency removes it.

Privacy is not to be conflated with secrecy. 

Healthy boundaries are essential attributes in all living organisms. 

Transparency is not arrived at in an invasive environment of surveillance; it is a choice that permeates relationships, interactions and outcomes.

Kindest regards

Corneilius

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