Here is the best article I have seen on what I see as an alarming obsessive right-wing trend, the child sex trafficking conspiracies. Do you remember the conspiracy about Hillary and Bill Clinton running with other Democrats a child sex trafficking operation in the Comet Ping Pong pizza restaurant in Washington, D.C., otherwise known as Pizzagate? I am not really sure why the United States is so vulnerable to this craziness. Partly, I think, it is the weaponization of misinformation on the internet; partly it is the fact that 54% of Americans can’t read past the 6th-grade level, and 43% can’t get past the 5th-grade level, which means half the American population can’t read and properly comprehend a story in The New York Times, or The Guardian, or The Atlantic Magazine. Partly, I think, it is a manifestation of the sexual insecurity and confusion of christofascism, and partly it is the decline in the quality of American journalism. It is a trend doing real damage to our democracy and social wellbeing.
Sex workers and their supporters protest a police raid on Oct. 25, 2016, in Minneapolis saying shutting down sites like Backpage.com exposes them to more risk. Credit: Fibonacci Blue
Americans adore a moral panic.
During the Red Scare, we believed that Soviet agents were everywhere, having secretly infiltrated all levels of society. In the 1950s, the U.S. government banned switchblades over unfounded fears that we were in the throes of “West Side Story”-style knife violence. The Satanic Panic convinced Americans of the 1980s that absurd claims of ritual abuse and sacrifice were somehow credible. Around the same time, there was “stranger danger” — which was debunked like other moral panics, but never went away entirely.
At any given time, America is moving in and out of some moral panic or another. Harm to children is a persistent theme. In recent years, however, our national obsession with these moral panics has consumed our politics. We’ve come to believe that sex trafficking rings are all around us. The driving force may come as a surprise: a […]
Patricia Quinn
on Monday, April 29, 2024 at 4:56 am
Ritual abuse and satanic cults are real and more widespread than people realize. The False Memory Syndrome that was proposed in the 1990’s never became a diagnosis. It was a legal ruse, to protect perpetrators and set back the treatment of people with dissociative identity disorder whose therapists were sued for planting these notions. The extreme organized abuse (OEA) is hard for people to fathom, understandably, but many, many therapists worldwide are helping people whose minds have been severely damaged by these sadistic, misguided cults. Please review the website https://endritualabuse.org/ which has many articles to clarify this very real and growing threat. There are many other resources at the International Society for Trauma and Dissociation about this issue. Thank you, Patricia Quinn, MS
Albus Eddie
on Monday, April 29, 2024 at 5:37 am
A healthy alternative would have been a full transparent investigation of Jeffrey Epstein and his network of wealthy patrons who were actually committing child abuse. This would have horrified many, and focused attention on the rich and powerful sociopaths who view other human beings as instruments of play. Sadly, this transparency was not to be as the wealthy hold too much power. Expose the truth, and there will be little need for internet fantasies.
Ritual abuse and satanic cults are real and more widespread than people realize. The False Memory Syndrome that was proposed in the 1990’s never became a diagnosis. It was a legal ruse, to protect perpetrators and set back the treatment of people with dissociative identity disorder whose therapists were sued for planting these notions. The extreme organized abuse (OEA) is hard for people to fathom, understandably, but many, many therapists worldwide are helping people whose minds have been severely damaged by these sadistic, misguided cults. Please review the website https://endritualabuse.org/ which has many articles to clarify this very real and growing threat. There are many other resources at the International Society for Trauma and Dissociation about this issue. Thank you, Patricia Quinn, MS
A healthy alternative would have been a full transparent investigation of Jeffrey Epstein and his network of wealthy patrons who were actually committing child abuse. This would have horrified many, and focused attention on the rich and powerful sociopaths who view other human beings as instruments of play. Sadly, this transparency was not to be as the wealthy hold too much power. Expose the truth, and there will be little need for internet fantasies.