David Aaronovitch of The Times traces the powerful intellectual influences behind what he sees as one of the most important cultural shifts of the past 40 years: from a society in which accusations of sexual abuse were wrongly ignored to one in which the falsely accused were crushed by a system where the mantra was "victims must be believed".
In the first of two programmes, Aaronovitch will examine the role played by unproven psychoanalytic theories which, from the 1980s, spread from the world of therapists in Canada and the USA to social work, medicine and then to law enforcement in Britain.
From the NSPCC to academia it was believed that children were being sexually abused in group Satanic rituals, which involved murder and animal sacrifice. The programme will explore how these bizarre ideas took hold, how they were related to mistaken psychotherapeutic practices, and how they resonate still.
The programme will look at the influences of four books which played a key role in influencing the intellectual and cultural climate. These are Sybil, Michelle Remembers, The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) and The Courage to Heal.
Producer: Hannah Barnes Contributors:
Rosie Waterhouse - Investigative Journalist; Head of MA in investigative journalism at City University
June 1st, 2015 Ritual Sexual Abuse: The Anatomy of a Panic, pt 2
"David Aaronovitch of The Times traces the powerful intellectual influences behind what he sees as one of the most important cultural shifts of the past 40 years: from a society in which accusations of sexual abuse were wrongly ignored to one in which the falsely accused were crushed by a system where the mantra was "victims must be believed".
In the second of two programmes, Aaronovitch re-examines the role played by unproven psychoanalytic theories which, from the 1980s, spread from the world of therapists in Canada and the USA to social work, medicine and then to law enforcement in Britain.
The programme explores the parallels between the belief in ritual abuse with some of the claims being made today about VIP paedophile rings and group murder.
Some of the mistakes of the past - such as the false accusations made against parents in the Orkneys and Rochdale of satanic abuse - have been acknowledged. But, Aaronovitch argues, without a profound understanding of how and why such moral panics arise we are unlikely to avoid similar mistakes in the future. And when such mistakes recur we risk an over-reaction and a return to a culture of denial."
The Satanic ritual abuse myth, false memories and weird beliefs: Anatomy of a 20-year investigation
"Abstract
Lurid tales of children being sexually abused, of animals being ritually slaughtered and babies being bred for sacrifice, in bizarre black magic ceremonies, by cults of devil worshipping Satanists first surfaced in America in the early 1980s. The allegations of what became known as Satanic ritual abuse soon spread to Britain, Australia and New Zealand in the late 1980s and early 1990s. At the same time, belief in this apparently new and especially depraved form of child abuse was reinforced and said to be corroborated by another new phenomenon, or fashion, in the field of adult psychotherapy, psychology and psychiatry – the recovered memory movement. On conference circuits and in literature, this movement, led by both medically qualified professionals and untrained therapists, promoted the theory that adults can be helped to recover long-buried “repressed” memories of childhood sexual abuse, in some cases Satanic ritual abuse, and that as a consequence of that abuse those patients suffer from Dissociative Identity Disorder, formerly known as Multiple Personality Disorder.
This talk explores the origins and spread of the myth of Satanic ritual abuse. As early as 1994 a UK government-funded investigation concluded there was no evidence Satanic ritual abuse existed. Yet despite the continuing absence of evidence, anywhere in the world, a minority of child care professionals, including police officers and social workers, and adult psychotherapists, psychologists and psychiatrists, persist in the belief that Satanic ritual abuse exists. Conferences are still being held around the world.
This talk will chart the progress of my ongoing investigation over 22 years which has examined allegations of the Satanic ritual abuse of children and asked ‘where’s the evidence’?
In the course of the investigation I explored the controversy over the extreme and polarised recovered-versus-false memory debate – still one of the most divisive issues in adult psychotherapy, psychology and psychiatry today. As an illustration of the damage caused by zealots who believed in Satanic ritual abuse and in their ability to “help” a patient recover the memories, I will relate the tragic story of the life and untimely death of Carol Felstead, alias Myers.
Finally, this talk will explore how the myth of Satanic ritual abuse can be considered in the context of the field of anomalistic psychology, the wonderful whacky world of weird beliefs, for example how people can come to believe they have been abducted by aliens. Some of these UFO “experiencers” also believe they were also victims of Satanic ritual abuse. Part of the purpose of my research, ultimately for a PhD by Prior Publication, is to try to understand how and why people can come to believe bizarre, appalling, weird things happened in the total absence of evidence."
When The News of the Worddied, a whole host of amateurs, zealots, wannabes and vested interests found the WWW ... grasping their sad, tiny, opportunities ...
For all MPs & their fellow travellers smearing Leon Brittain, where is your evidence that will stand up in a court of law? #LeonBrittan
— David B Frank (@dbf78) January 23, 2015
(Embedded Tweets - click date)
*****
Children for the Devil: Ritual Abuse and Satanic Crime
Published: 14:00, 21 October 2014 | Updated: 23:51, 21 October 2014
Chair of historic child abuse inquiry urged to quit over revelations she is 'close friend' of top Tory accused of failing to act on paedophile [sic] allegations
">Fiona Woolf lives on the same street as the ex Cabinet Minister Leon Brittan,
>She invited former Home Secretary and his wife for dinner three times,
>Brittan rejects claims he failed to act on dossier of abuse allegations in 1980s,
>Theresa May appointed Mrs Woolf last month after her original choice quit,
>Lady Butler-Sloss stepped down because her brother was attorney general,
>Labour's Simon Danczuk said he had 'serious concerns' about Fiona Woolf."
"Former Law Society president Fiona Woolf today came under renewed pressure to stand down as chair of the inquiry into historical child sex abuse, as a solicitor-advocate began a legal challenge to her appointment.
Family lawyer David Burrows launched a judicial review application on behalf of an abuse victim, questioning’s Woolf’s independence and expertise in family law."
@barbara_hewson@uktopbrief If not going to "establishment dinner parties" is now a criterion I reckon I would score highly.
— Matthew Scott (@Barristerblog) October 21, 2014
"No Greater Evil was filmed in the U.K. in 1992 and showcased the 'evidence' which Geoffrey Dickens and Dianne Core had compiled in a four year campaign to prove that Satanic Ritual Child Abuse existed. These extracts are of interviews with Dickens (who was the parliamentary agent of Childwatch) , Dianne Core (the head of Childwatch), Jim Phillips, the doctor who created a tranche of SRA victim imposters in his private clinic (shown in these clips) but who then had a nervous breakdown and tried to kill himself and was subsequently struck of the medical register."
GEOFFREY DICKENS MP ON SATANIC RITUAL ABUSE,BABIES MURDERED
"IMPORTANT DOCUMENTARY FILM CLIP-the clips are from the Swedish made film "no greater evil",made in 1992,and sadly is not the best quality,but is essential listening.Child abuse campaigner Geoffrey Dickens MP,who handed his dossiers on child abuse within the establishment to Leon Brittan,and others,(dossiers which all subsequently went conveniently missing-or did they?)died in 1995. Footnote-does any one have the rest of this documentary?"
"Geoffrey Dickens, ley preacher and MP for Saddleworth near Oldham misused his position in parliament to gang-up with fundamnetalist agitators to begin a sectarian crusade against paganism in order to suppress it."
Posted on July 2, 2014
Geoffrey Dickens: Child Abuse Claims and Satanic Panic
"AUGUST 24 1988: Hull Daily Mail reports that Dickens’ claims his life is being threatened by vengeful satanists but that he pledges to carry on the fight against black magic rituals and is building up yet another file to present to the Home Secretary. “Evidence is growing of witchcraft & crimes against children” Dickens says but has in 13 months NEVER presented any evidence."
"SRA is considered a moral panic and compared to the blood libel and witch-hunts of historical Europe, and McCarthyism in the United States during the 20th century.
Stanley Cohen, who originated the term "moral panic," called the episode "one of the purest cases of moral panic."
The initial investigations of SRA were performed by anthropologists and sociologists, who failed to find evidence of SRA actually occurring; instead they concluded that SRA was a result of rumors and folk legends that were spread by "media hype, Christian fundamentalism, mental health and law enforcement professionals and child abuse advocates."
Sociologists and journalists noted the vigorous nature with which some evangelical activists and groups were using claims of SRA to further their religious and political goals.
Other commentators suggested that the entire phenomenon may be evidence of a moral panic over Satanism and child abuse.
Skeptical explanations for allegations of SRA have included an attempt by "radical feminists" to undermine the nuclear family, a backlash against working women, homophobic attacks on gay childcare workers, a universal need to believe in evil, fear of alternative spiritualities, "end of the millennium" anxieties, or a transient form of temporal lobe epilepsy."
National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC)
"During the late 1980s and early 1990s, a moral panic emerged over alleged ritual satanic abuse. The NSPCC provided a publication known as 'Satanic Indicators' to social services around the country that has been blamed for some social workers panicking and making false accusations. The most prominent of these cases was in Rochdale in 1990 when up to 20 children were taken from their homes and parents after social services believed them to be involved in satanic or occult ritual abuse.
The allegations were later found out to be false. The case was the subject of a BBC documentary which featured recordings of the interviews made by NSPCC social workers, revealing that flawed techniques and leading questions were used to gain evidence of abuse from the children. The documentary claimed that the social services were wrongly convinced, by organisations such as the NSPCC, that abuse was occurring and so rife that they made allegations before any evidence was considered."
@SimonDanczuk whatever happens in ge2015 you have to be elected to continue your crusade against child abuse. Amazing work , total respect.
— roy (@teignroy) October 30, 2014
“@teignroy:whatever happens in ge2015 you have to be elected to continue your crusade against child abuse. Amazing work , total respect.” Ta
— Simon Danczuk (@SimonDanczuk) October 30, 2014
Here, is another small majority, getting in on the act ...
2:25 pm, Wed 22 Oct 2014
Manchester MP piles pressure on abuse inquiry chief
"South Manchester MP John Leech has submitted a parliamentary motion calling on the Chair of the Historic Child Sex Abuse inquiry Fiona Woolf to stand down."
@IanMcFadyen1966 We should all despair Ian when politics comes to this. Negative. Exploitative. Hideous. As a politico I’m ashamed @djsway
— Nick King (@Nickking) October 25, 2014
Published: 01:18, 30 October 2014 | Updated: 09:01, 30 October 2014
Backing for MP who linked Brittan to sex claims in Commons: Colleague defends Jim Hood over comments saying he is right to speak out
">Jim Hood used miners' strike debate to accuse Lord Brittan of improper conduct,
>Remarks were branded disgusting by business minister Matthew Hancock,
>But fellow Labour MP has defend the accusations made by Mr Hood,
>Simon Danczuk says that the MP was right to speak out about the claims,
>MPs comments are protected from slander and contempt of court laws."
Published: 23:59, 31 October 2014 | Updated: 06:52, 1 November 2014
Are the vile paedophile allegations against Leon Brittan a sinister MI5 smear plot?
">Private Eye claimed MI5 targeted Leon Brittan after he planned 'shake-up',
>Claims Brittan wanted to reform MI5 after WPC Yvonne Fletcher was killed,
>Brittan told a journalist at the time that abuse allegations were 'all lies',
>Labour's Jim Hood this week linked Brittan to abuse in Commons debate,
>Lord Tebbit said Mr Hood should have bravery to speak outside Parliament."
John Mann Calls For 'Suspicious Deaths' Of Westminster Child Abuse Whistleblowers To Be Re-Investigated
"A campaigning MP has called for the reinvestigation of the suspicious deaths more than 20 years ago of two whistleblowers who he believes had significant information relating to organised child abuse by a group with alleged links to Westminster.
Labour's John Mann made the comments after he handed Scotland Yard a dossier that includes allegations about the involvement of 22 politicians - some of them apparently still serving - in paedophile [sic] rings.
He told Sky News: "What I want to see is both those suspicious deaths reinvestigated because what links them together was both were people who in essence were blowing the whistle on child abuse."
"John Mann is typically what we would describe as a ‘grief vulture’. Whenever a tragic incident occurs then John Mann can be found attempting to involve himself and direct media attention towards something he’s doing in concern to the incident.
After the 1400 children were paedophilically groomed in Rotherham due to the Labour Party’s negligence and political correctness, John Mann instantly jumped on this paedophilic [sic] tragedy and attempted to exploit press attention in his direction as he publicly called for an inquiry – just as he did with the expenses scandal.
More recently in the case of Garron Helm V Luciana Berger, the Jewish Labour Party Mp we saw John Mann attempting to once again exploit press attention and declare himself as a victim of online trolling after he publicly attacked free speech and jumped to the aide of traitor Luciana Berger."
"Therefore it is now clear that Dickens 'Westminster' Dossier is, like
his dossier on Satanic Ritual Abuse, a wicked compilation of bigotry
from his Christian evangelical friends who are willing to misuse the
police and the democratic process to further their prejudice against
minority religions and different sexual genders.
It was seized
upon in 2014 by the Child Scare Industry in an attempt to stampede
parliament into enacting further laws to expand it's own remit and gain
more funds for chasing phantom abusers using worked-up cases of
Historical Sex Abuse.
They thought you, the British public, would
be dim enough not to notice what they were up to, but the SAFF has once
again saved the day and brought you the unvarnished TRUTH."
Just seen the tweet that @tom_watson sent about a child abuse survivor & another former cp professional . Absolutely disgraceful behaviour
— Mark Williams-Thomas (@mwilliamsthomas) November 7, 2014
New evidence reveals whistle blowers were murdered as they prepared to reveal names of Westminster paedo perverts.
— Don Hale (@perryscope21) November 15, 2014
Aaronovitch: 'fantasists are recycling themselves into the great establishment abuse story scenting headlines, publishing contracts & money'
— Barbara Hewson (@BarbaraHewson) January 1, 2015
"We owe it to everyone involved – victims [complainants] and perpetrators [defendants] alike – to calmly and forensically examine allegations to establish their accuracy and to weed out the few that do not withstand scrutiny.
Otherwise, if every allegation is treated as de facto, what is the point of an inquiry? And what, frankly, is the point of a trial?"
Published: 22:01, 15 November 2014 | Updated: 01:17, 16 November 2014
The Great British rake-off... what really happens to the billions YOU donate to charity: Fat cat pay, appalling waste and hidden agendas
">More than 195,289 charities in UK raising close to £80billion a year,
>Many have become 'hungry monsters' using money to feed own ambitions,
>David Craig's new book exposes the truth about Britain’s charity industry,
>Recent inquiry found there are too many charities to keep track of activities."
Sunday 16 November 2014
Child sexual abuse victims' charity in danger of collapse
"The leading charity for supporting victims of child sexual abuse is being forced out of its London office because of soaring rent, and will go bust in six months unless urgent funding is secured.
Peter Saunders, chief executive of the National Association for People Abused in Childhood (Napac), said the charity he founded in 1995 has six weeks to find new premises, after its current landlord raised the rent by 50 per cent; otherwise, it will become homeless.
Napac's income fell by more than £100,000 between 2011 and 2013 while the charity's spending increased by £75,000, according to its accounts. Its workload increased dramatically over the same period: in 2011, the charity answered 2,902 calls and responded to 750 emails. By 2013 those figures had risen to 5,192 and 1,858 respectively. The charity recently opened a new office in Stockport, its first outside London, to help cater for the 300 per cent rise in people asking for support.
Mr Saunders was critical of help promised by the BBC following a series of abuse scandals, including those involving Jimmy Savile and Stuart Hall. After the Savile scandal erupted two years ago, George Entwistle, the former BBC director general, gave Napac £10,000, which was used to help train staff to handle calls from abuse victims. Calls spiralled after the allegations against Savile were revealed.
A row between the charity and Lord Patten, the former BBC chairman, became public when letters between the two were published. It was resolved when Lord Patten acknowledged Napac's important role and the BBC's "essential" relationship with organisations such as Napac as it "seeks to deal with the fallout from the appalling crimes carried out by Jimmy Savile. I hope our two organisations can continue to work closely in the future."
"Like any modern organisation NAPAC has a copious website. It includes newsletters reaching a decade back in time, although it first came into being in 1999.
As with any campaigning organisation it was capable of holding views that clashed with the status-quo. Certainly, it's view that one or two innocent people in prison was a price worth paying went diametrically against the broad thrust of civil rights reaching back to the idealistic 1960's, but in the paedogeddon times of 1999 and thereafter, such a view has gained the increasing approval of many in Society, especially in the law-making fraternity.
NAPAC also expresses a quite strident disapproval of those in the field of Psychology who postulate notions of False Memory Syndrome as well as those who question Ritual, or Satanic Abuse. This clipping is from NAPAC's 2003 newsletter ..."
"Jean La Fontaine, whose 1994 report dealt the death blow to the Satanic abuse panic, sees eerie echoes of that old hysteria in the Savile case.
"There is a weakness in Western culture and society, which means conspiracy theories go across very well’, Jean La Fontaine, an established anthropologist, tells me over a coffee.
‘We’ve currently got one involving the BBC and the sexual abuse of young girls. Now, it may be true that all of these celebrities were doing things they shouldn’t, but we haven’t seen much in the way of evidence…’
It’s fair to say that La Fontaine knows a thing or two about the dangerous comingling of conspiracy theory and child sexual abuse. In the early 1990s, with children having been ripped from families in Rochdale, the Orkneys and elsewhere in the UK on the basis of Satanic ritual abuse allegations, the Department of Health commissioned La Fontaine to investigate.
The result of her investigations – a study titled The Extent and Nature of Organised and Ritual Abuse, published in 1994 – dealt the death blow to the fevered hunt for child-abusing Satanists. La Fontaine found nothing to substantiate the allegations. Or to quote the journalist Rosie Waterhouse, as La Fontaine herself does, there were ‘no bodies, no bones, no bloodstains, nothing’ ..."
