Nothing's Happy in Happy Valley

[Audible Nectar]

also, it's funny how having your wife 20 weeks pregnant with your first child/daughter cranks up the give-a-***-o-meter

It's events like this that make me glad I didn't have kids, because this is one more slice of proof to the following:

The "institution" - be it bank, university, government, religious, or other corporation is more important than you or your kid - and protecting the institution over the interests of you or your kid is paramount. In reality, all of these categories are "corporations", and in the current zeitgeist it's "corporations above all", and will be defended and protected at any and all costs.

But one thing makes this crime (buggery) unique: Unlike the bankers or gov (who wash thier crimes in complexity), they can never make this crime legal.

[TheEvan]

Give it time, Nectar, they'll try to legalize it somehow.

This has all been of great interest to me since I was abused as a child, including a violent rape. Reading the grand jury report was like reading the MO of nearly every pedophile out there. I'll just say this: Any adult that involves himself (and I suppose herself) in activities with children, be it athletics, Sunday School, charities, and so on needs to fully vetted AND needs eyes looking on. NO unsupervised time witha child, period. As mentioned above, this stuff is pervasive and the perpetrators are predators of the worst kind. They have an uncanny sense for the weak, vulnerable & suceptible. It has yet to be shown that they can be rehabbed. I doubt it can ever be shown to be possible. Until then I advocate immediate castration upon conviction and then incarceration in a general prison population.

[jheis]

The "institution" - be it bank, university, government, religious, or other corporation is more important than you or your kid - and protecting the institution over the interests of you or your kid is paramount. In reality, all of these categories are "corporations", and in the current zeitgeist it's "corporations above all", and will be defended and protected at any and all costs.

As someone smarter than me recently said, "I'll agree that a corporation is a 'person' when Texas executes one."

James

[djk]

"Until then I advocate immediate castration upon conviction and then incarceration in a general prison population."

Rape is more about power, control and violence, than it is about sex.

40% of all male children are abused, 70% of all female children are abused.

Your solution would thin out the gene pool for sure, but it might not stop the problem.

Most children are abused by someone known to them, yet removing them from the home and placed elsewhere can increase the danger to the child by a factor of 5x.

"incarceration in a general prison population."

California already spends 11% of its budget on prisons, the top five $$ paid public employees all work for the prison system. Is this solution working for all of us?

Social condemnation does seem to be having an effect, where knowledge flows freely. I doubt that any of the exposed abusers will ever be able to find a job again (at least around young people). I am however, disturbed by the police, university, and other coaching staff covering things up. Social condemnation cannot work without knowledge.

The above also applies to the ongoing church scandal, somehow it seems worse when people claiming absolute moral authority violate the trust we have placed in them.

[garyrc]

"Until then I advocate immediate castration upon conviction and then incarceration in a general prison population."

Rape is more about power, control and violence, than it is about sex.

40% of all male children are abused, 70% of all female children are abused.

Not only is it more about power, but castration in an older
individual doesn't seem to work to eliminate twisted desire , and,
unfortunately, there are many ways to rape that don't require the
criminal to be sexually capable.

When some behavior seems to occur
over and over again, across many individuals (see figures above), we're
not doing something right. The environment needs to be changed,
particularly the early childhood environment, if you believe that abusers
are made, not born (or some of both). There are times when I think
that the old idea of requiring a license involving passing a test to
become a parent -- just as a license is required to drive a motor
vehicle -- is a good idea. Just to make it fly, the pamphlet the
potential parent would have to read could be shorter than the DMV
booklet. I once asked a psychologist friend of mine what motivates
punks to attack (in various ways) children or the elderly. He said that
a good number of them can't stand to see fear, or worse yet,
helplessness, because they have seen themselves as vulnerable as
children. They then molest or attack the weak or fearful to make
themselves seem strong, to get catharsis, and to dispel the thought of
their own helplessness from their mind -- temporarily.

[JL Sargent]

I believe it's 1 in 4 girls and 1 in 6 boys for the record. That is bad enough for goodness sakes.

70 percent girls is false!

[djk]

The figures I used included physical abuse as well, and are thus higher.

Due to the nature of the subject, I doubt any number is really accurate.

Be that as it may, any number above zero seems unacceptable.

[oldtimer]

The whole thing is abhorrent.

[garyrc]

... any number above zero seems unacceptable.

Yes, and we need to take preventative action, rather than merely punishing the abusers who get caught.