12-09-2008, 12:48 PM
800,000 substantiated abuse cases last year. 2500 of those were fatal. A 9/11 every year, and no one gives a damn. There is simply no way this level of abuse can occur without society or at least large segments of of the society simply ignoring the issue--if not outright condoning it. Spare the rod and spoil the child, eh?
Our response as responsible citizens should be to ferret out these behaviors and eliminate them. Clearly, at the very least, Church activities have been at least in some measure to blame for providing environments where abuse can occur with relative immunity. I have provided several hundred examples today, and I could easily provide hundreds more. I have other things to do. I would think among sensible adults one example would be satisfactory. Not so. The response, sensibly, and certainly from any moral perspective I can imagine, isn't to become defensive or evasive, but rather we should join in lock-step in pronouncing the most unified condemnation we can. Clearly, this isn't going to occur.
Again, I don't see that this conversation will have a constructive resolution. Many of the pertinent issues are simply too close to home for many to think about the issue in a fair, informed, and sensible manner. I think that it will be most instructive to simply read between the lines and understand that petty un-informed factionalism and self interest is vastly more important than the welfare of children, at least at this stage of social development we collectively manifest in this nation.
Our response as responsible citizens should be to ferret out these behaviors and eliminate them. Clearly, at the very least, Church activities have been at least in some measure to blame for providing environments where abuse can occur with relative immunity. I have provided several hundred examples today, and I could easily provide hundreds more. I have other things to do. I would think among sensible adults one example would be satisfactory. Not so. The response, sensibly, and certainly from any moral perspective I can imagine, isn't to become defensive or evasive, but rather we should join in lock-step in pronouncing the most unified condemnation we can. Clearly, this isn't going to occur.
Again, I don't see that this conversation will have a constructive resolution. Many of the pertinent issues are simply too close to home for many to think about the issue in a fair, informed, and sensible manner. I think that it will be most instructive to simply read between the lines and understand that petty un-informed factionalism and self interest is vastly more important than the welfare of children, at least at this stage of social development we collectively manifest in this nation.