From: ens@ccu.umanitoba.ca ()
Subject: Re: "Satanic Ritual Abuse" in the media
Organization: University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Canada
Date: Sat, 9 Jan 1993 23:18:43 GMT

In <C0LwJ6.4K7@cs.uiuc.edu> kadie@cs.uiuc.edu (Carl M. Kadie) writes:

>>Jean Riseman <agape@igc.apc.org> writes:

>> I am a ritual abuse survivor. I am 55 years old, and have been miserable  
>> all my life. I had these weird thoughts and reactions and no
>> explanations for them. No therapist put thoughts in my head in 
>> 1945, I can tell you. Of course, after all thewse years, I have no "proof"
>> that the atrocities were committed, exccept for my symptoms and memories.

>And that may be all the proof that ever is available, but it *is*
>enough to convince me.  We aren't talking about a court of law here,
>we're talking about validating a fellow survivor's pain.

>The article [PrimeTime] did *not* disprove the survivors' claims; nor did 
>it prove
>that the therapists were abusing the power of hypnosis.  There are
>*far* too many survivors who remember without hypnosis [...]

for there to be _no_ physical evidence.

>People are afraid to admit (1) that humans are capable of such
>atrocities and 

Nah. Far too many people lap up atrocious stories; it keeps many huge
newspapers in business.

>Those who are quick to disbelieve ritual abuse survivors are (a)
>sweeping aside the weight of psychological principles, and (b)
>filtering the evidence to support a version of reality that creates
>the least discomfort.

or (c) waiting for a shred of evidence.

>Ritual abusers are not clumsy, lower-class criminals -- many of them
>are the elite of society and fully capable of covering their tracks,
>especially if even a few of their number are part of the government
>and other bureaucracies.

Many? You must mean _all_, because none of them ever make a mistake.
How do they recruit members of the government? Put up a notice? Or how
does a government member, feeling satanic, connect up with these
groups? A newspaper ad? And if one member can connect, why couldn't
an undercover cop do it? It works with every other crime.

>I don't subscribe to conspiracy theories, but I *am* certainly jaded
>after having witnessed account after account from friends who had been
>raped by parents, other relatives, husbands, and dates.  

There are mountains of physical evidence for rape and abuse...

>Having seen
>that quantity and intensity of pain, I no longer am capable of
>disbelieving in ritual abuse and the like. 

... but no evidence for ritual abuse. See a difference?

> And I am keenly aware of
>the human need to deny the dark side of human nature.

The curiosity about the dark side is greater still. And your being
incapable of disbelieving in ritual abuse indicates a human need to
exaggerate the dark side.

>Infer motivations by observing behavior!  *Why* do people need to
>disbelieve in ritual abuse?  

There is no need to disbelieve. People don't believe ritual abuse
because there's no evidence. Same reason children stop believing
in Santa Claus, in spite of a need to the contrary.

But why do some people need to believe in ritual abuse? Why are
some incapable of disbelieving?

>And what purpose is served supposing that
>the survivors *did* concoct the stories?  Think!!

For therapists, $$$. For journalists, $$$. For the 'survivors', attention
and maybe $$$.

Werner