Changes in Awareness of Severe Abuse and Child Abuse Crimes Over Twenty Five Years
Presenter: Neil Brick
The awareness of severe abuse and child abuse crimes has changed over the last 25 years. In the early 1990s, severe abuse survivors were often believed and supported. Then a backlash started and severe abuse survivors and their supporters were harassed and attacked. The child abuse survivor movement changed and adapted. Ten years ago, research began again to help expose severe abuse crimes. More recently, first in the UK and Australia and now in the United States, a variety of child abuse, severe abuse, sexual harassment and rape cases are bringing public awareness again to the mainstream media of severe abuse crimes. This presentation will discuss the changes of the last 25 years, with an emphasis on the more recent exposures of organized child abuse crimes and social systems that have been part of the cover up of these crimes.
Neil Brick is a survivor of ritual abuse and mind control. His work continues to educate the public about child abuse, trauma and ritual abuse crimes. His child abuse and ritual abuse newsletter S.M.A.R.T. https://ritualabuse.us has been published for over 22 years. His research articles are at http://neilbrick.com
Disclaimer: This presentation is solely my own thoughts and research and not necessarily the thoughts or any other persons or groups I work with. This information is not intended as treatment or therapy. Survivors may want to use caution while reading this page. All accusations are alleged.
In the 1980’s several severe child abuse cases became publicly known. The largest case was the McMartin Preschool Case. At the same time, there was already an organized backlash against survivors which later developed into more powerful backlash movements like the FMSF.
Up until the early 1990’s, both sides of the issue of child abuse crimes, our side and the backlash side, were at times presented equally. This is shown in newspapers like the New York Times.
On my website at https://ritualabuse.us
There is a large page called the McMartin Preschool Case – What Really Happened and the Coverup. https://ritualabuse.us/ritualabuse/articles/mcmartin-preschool-case-what-really-happened-and-the-coverup/
This page repeatedly shows evidence of guilt in this case. At the time, it was one of the longest cases in legal history. There were split juries and in one trial a majority of jurors believed the children were abused. Tunnels were found backing up the children’s stories.
Sadly, this case was repeatedly spun in the media as some sort of panic. Without examination or balance, the media has presented only the backlash side of the story and not ours. Evidence showing abuse was repeatedly ignored. A good example is Wikipedia, where repeated efforts were made to balance the child abuse and day care pages of the 1980’s and 1990’s without success. These pages primarily present only the backlash side of the story. Those attempting to balance these pages with research were silenced or banned by Wikipedia editors.
In the late 1980’s, with Survivorship starting and other groups following after, the topic of ritual abuse was increasingly discussed. This culminated in 1992 with a lecture by D.C. Hammond, originally entitled “Hypnosis in MPD: Ritual Abuse,” but now usually known as the “Greenbaum Speech,” delivered at the Fourth Annual Eastern Regional Conference on Abuse and Multiple Personality Disorder (MPD), Thursday June 25, 1992, at the Radisson Plaza Hotel in Alexandria, Virginia.
Dr. Hammond was and is a highly credentialed clinician. He presented scientific evidence discussing government mind control in detail http://whale.to/b/greenbaum.html
This page may be very heavy for survivors, it describes government mind control in detail. Dr. Hammond discussed how his work was corroborated by other clinicians. He talked about how he and others were very careful not to suggest information or lead clients.
Soon after this in 1993, the FMSF changed the landscape of the media discussion. What had been at times a balanced discussion, turned into a mostly one sided discussion of false memories and a lack off credibility of ritual abuse and government mind control crimes.
This topic is well research in an article in the Columbia Journalist Review July/August 1997 issue: Media Manipulation by False Memory Proponents U-Turn on Memory Lane by Mike Stanton http://web.archive.org/web/20071216011151/http://backissues.cjrarchives.org/year/97/4/memory.asp
“A study published last year by a University of Michigan sociologist, Katherine Beckett, found a sharp shift in how four leading magazines — Time, Newsweek, U.S. News & World Report, and People — treated sexual abuse. In 1991, more than 80 percent of the coverage was weighted toward stories of survivors, with recovered memory taken for granted and questionable therapy virtually ignored. By 1994, more than 80 percent of the coverage focused on false accusations, often involving supposedly false memory. Beckett credited the False Memory Syndrome Foundation with a major role in the change.”
“Rarely has such a strange and little-understood organization had such a profound effect on media coverage of such a controversial matter. The foundation is an aggressive, well-financed p.r. machine adept at manipulating the press, harassing its critics, and mobilizing a diverse army of psychiatrists, outspoken academics, expert defense witnesses, litigious lawyers, Freud bashers, critics of psychotherapy, and devastated parents. With a budget of $750,000 a year from members and outside supporters, the foundation’s reach far exceeds its actual membership of about 3,000.”
During the 1990s there are several documented cases of harassment against child abuse researchers and practitioners. Two well documented cases are David Calof and Anna Salter.
Calof, D.L. (1998). Notes from a practice under siege: Harassment, defamation, and intimidation in the name of science, Ethics and Behavior, 8(2) pp. 161-187. https://ritualabuse.us/research/memory-fms/notes-from-a-practice-under-siege/
Confessions of a Whistle-Blower: Lessons Learned by Anna C. Salter – Ethics & Behavior, Volume 8, Issue 2 June 1998 , pages 115 – 124 Abstract – In 1988 I began a report on the accuracy of expert testimony in child sexual abuse cases utilizing Ralph Underwager and Hollida Wakefield as a case study. “The argument between the field of child sexual abuse and the backlash against survivors is not an academic debate between two well meaning groups equally invested in ascertaining truth. It is not an academic debate at all; it is a political fight.” P. 121 “What wins political fights is organization and stamina and a refusal to be intimidated.” P. 122 https://ritualabuse.us/research/memory-fms/confessions-of-a-whistle-blower-lessons-learned/
Sadly, much of the child and ritual abuse field went underground due to this harassment after the mid 1990s, with little media help and often one side media attacks against child abuse survivors and their stories.
In 2001, an excellent book that received little attention was published. It was named
Secret Weapons – Two Sisters’ Terrifying True Story of Sex, Spies and Sabotage by Cheryl and Lynn Hersha with Dale Griffis, Ph D. and Ted Schwartz. New Horizon Press
Is a well-documented, verifiable account of not one, but two childrens’ long untold stories of being CHILD subjects of Project MKUltra. Quotes from the book: “By the time Cheryl Hersha came to the facility, knowledge of multiple personality was so complete that doctors understood how the mind separated into distinct ego states,each unaware of the other. First, the person traumatized had to be both extremely intelligent and under the age of seven, two conditions not yet understood though remaining consistent as factors.
The trauma was almost always of a sexual nature…” p. 52 “The government researchers, aware of the information in the professional journals, decided to reverse the process (of healing from hysteric dissociation). They decided to use selective trauma on healthy children to create personalities capable of committing acts desired for national security and defense.” p. 53 – 54 The book also contains a variety of documents on mk-ultra and different projects as well as reports to the Presidential Committee on Radiation and Mind Control, including information on the five Canadians’ lawsuit against the U.S. Government. http://www.abebooks.com/book-search/author/lynn-hersha-dale-griffis-ted-schwarz/
In 2008, there was a worldwide survey of ritual abuse and mind control survivors. This study has been reproduced in both English and German.
The Extreme Abuse Survey final results are online with findings, questionnaires and presentations for download as pdf-files. More than 750 pages of documentation http://extreme-abuse-survey.net/
Understanding ritual trauma: A comparison of findings from three online surveys – Handout for Karriker, Wanda. (2008, November). Understanding ritual trauma: A comparison of findings from three online surveys. Paper presented at the meeting of the International Society for the Study of Trauma and Dissociation, Chicago, IL.
10 Extreme Abuse Survey Findings Helpful to Understanding Ritual Trauma
1. Ritual abuse/mind control (RA/MC) is a global phenomenon.
2. A diagnosis of Dissociative Identity Disorder is common for persons who report histories of
RA/MC. (84% of EAS respondents who answered that they have been diagnosed with DID [N=655] reported that they are survivors of RA/MC).
3. Ritual abuse (RA) is not limited to SRA, i.e., satanic ritual abuse, sadistic abuse, satanist abuse.
4. RA is reported to involve mind control techniques.
5. Some extreme abuse survivors report that they were used in government-sponsored mind control experimentation (GMC).
6. RA/MC is reported to be involved in organized “known” crime.
7. RA/MC is reported to be involved in clergy abuse.
8. Most often reported memories of extreme abuse are similar across all surveys.
9. Most often reported possible aftereffects of extreme abuse are similar across all surveys.
10. In rating the effectiveness of healing methods, therapists tend to favor stabilization techniques; survivors are more open to alternative ways to cope with indoctrinated belief systems.
https://ritualabuse.us/mindcontrol/eas-studies/understanding-ritual-trauma-a-comparison-of-findings-from-three-online-surveys
MEDIA PACKET – Torture-based, Government-sponsored Mind Control Experimentation on Children – Documentation that torture-based, government-sponsored mind control (GMC) experimentation was conducted on children during the Cold War. Data from two international surveys that give voice, visibility, and validation to survivors of these crimes against humanity. (Page may be heavy for survivors.) http://my.dmci.net/~casey/GovernmentSponsoredMindControlExperiments-MediaPacket.pdf
You can probably predict what happened. Efforts made to make the research public mostly failed. The research was removed from Wikipedia and another major wiki. Most articles written about the research attacked it. One good pro-survivor source about the research is at: http://childabusewiki.org/index.php?title=Extreme_Abuse_Surveys
In 2009, a new type of harassment began.
This harassment included people sneaking into ritual abuse conferences, insulting survivors publicly, harassing survivors and clinicians in their personal lives by contacting clinicians’ employers and writing their licensing boards.
Grey Faction, Satanic Temple and Lucien Greaves Fact Sheet:
https://ritualabuse.us/ritualabuse/grey-faction-satanic-temple-and-lucien-greaves-fact-sheet/
For almost a decade Douglas Misicko using aliases (including Douglas Mesner and Lucien Greaves) has harassed groups helping child abuse, rape and trauma survivors. He has also harassed groups providing research in support of child abuse, rape and trauma survivors.
In 2013, he and others created a group called the Satanic Temple. One part of this group is called the Grey Faction. The Grey Faction states they “invade” conferences. These conferences are provided to help and educate child abuse, rape and trauma survivors and their helpers.
Their representatives that invade these conferences misrepresent their reasons for attending these conferences. They film people at these conferences without permission and publish these films without the permission of those filmed. The Grey Faction repeatedly misrepresents the research and statements of the people at these conferences. It uses repeated ad hominem attacks against child abuse and trauma researchers without rebutting their research or stories.
His organization uses propaganda techniques in its articles, movies and social media pages to manipulate readers’ opinions. They continue to repeat inaccurate information, even though it has been clearly rebutted in several of the articles listed below.
Douglas Mesner/Lucien Greaves has continued using insults and attacks against survivors of ritual abuse and the professionals that work with them. He has harassed and followed survivors and survivor advocates around the Internet for several years.
This page is a synopsis of critiques of the Grey Faction’s misinformation. Additional links have been added rebutting their statements about trauma, abuse and dissociation. It also contains information critiquing The Satanic Temple and Douglas Mesner/Lucien Greaves.
The Urban Legends of Those Attacking Ritual Abuse Theories and the False Logic of False Memory Proponents and Their Occultist Supporters – Presentation by Neil Brick
https://ritualabuse.us/smart-conference/2016-conference/the-urban-legends-of-those-attacking-ritual-abuse-theories/
“My license to practice therapy has been threatened with filed licensing complaints by people connected to a group called the Grey Faction, a part of the Satanic Temple. My job as a therapist has nothing to do with my advocacy efforts to stop child abuse and I have very clear professional and private boundaries that I maintain to ensure this continues to occur. Yet, the Grey Faction associates keep harassing me and others in the field. These attacks are factually inaccurate and meritless.”
“I believe that the work of the Grey Faction is meant to purposefully dehumanize and insult ideological opponents, so our ideas are derided and not believed.”
Reply to the Satanic Temple’s Grey Faction online guest post
https://ritualabuse.us/ritualabuse/reply-to-the-satanic-temples-grey-faction-online-guest-post/
“In conclusion, the guest post by the Satanic Temple’s Grey Faction criticizes the strong research and theories of ritual abuse survivors and those with years of research, experience and education in the trauma field. (The members of the Grey Faction have unknown credentials and may not have the experience to accurately determine trauma theory and research.) The guest post by the Satanic Temple’s Grey Faction presents inaccurate arguments, which are refuted in this article.”
“The Grey Faction claims they are combating pseudoscience with rational inquiry, but this rational inquiry is actually predetermined opinion, bolstered by name calling, ad hominem attacks and insults. There is no real rational inquiry because there is no evidence that all of the facts were looked at neutrally to derive a conclusion. It appears the only facts considered were the ones that back their arguments. In its articles, the Grey Faction hides behind the name of science and rationality, when in reality it appears it is an advocacy organization used to discredit ritual abuse survivors realities’ and their resources.”
Reply to the Grey Faction’s Petition to Revoke the License of Neil Brick
https://ritualabuse.us/ritualabuse/reply-to-the-grey-factions-petition-to-revoke-the-license-of-neil-brick/
“The petition states that The Allied Board of Health Professionals licensure division, having previously received a complaint…did nothing. The fact is that no violations were found and no disciplinary actions were taken (against Neil Brick after a one year investigation). We believe that this new letter is part of the continued actions of harassment against Neil Brick and those that help child and ritual abuse survivors.”
“The (Grey Faction) petition states “While we are not privy to records that indicate methods of treatment employed in Neil Brick’s practice.”….There is no evidence there are any problems with any methods of treatment Neil uses.”
(Note: The Grey Faction continues to publish misinformation regarding Neil Brick in continued ad hominem attacks on his research.)
Instead of rebutting the research of child and ritual abuse survivors, the tactic is to attack the people directly, calling them paranoid, delusional and so on without factual evidence of this.
In my opinion, the argument boils down to this:
We don’t believe them, therefore they are delusional.
Few stories or pro-survivor facts are rebutted. Few real facts are presented to rebut any of our data. Protests are staged outside of conferences to further disrupt conferences that help trauma victims.
To quote Anna Salter:
“The argument between the field of child sexual abuse and the backlash against survivors is not an academic debate between two well meaning groups equally invested in ascertaining truth. It is not an academic debate at all; it is a political fight.” “What wins political fights is organization and stamina and a refusal to be intimidated.”
The Good News
Even though our work is being marginalized in the media and we are being viciously attacked on the Internet, there have been many child abuse coverups that have been exposed over the last few years.
Jimmy Savile
Though he died before his story came out, a major famous British figure in their music industry was exposed as having hundreds of victims and was allegedly protected from prosecution.
Jimmy Savile: timeline of his sexual abuse and its uncovering
Investigators now believe the late Top of the Pops host preyed on around 500 vulnerable victims as young as two years old.
It is now known that Jimmy Savile sexually abused hundreds of children and women at the height of his fame.
Investigators believe the late Top of the Pops host preyed on around 500 vulnerable victims as young as two years old at institutions including the BBC’s broadcasting studios, 14 hospitals and 20 children’s hospitals across England.
Since his death in October 2011, a string of official inquiries have been launched into his offending at hospitals, schools and the BBC.
Today an independent inquiry found that Savile abused 60 people, including at least 33 patients aged from five to 75, at Leeds general infirmary. Other hospitals have also released the results of their Savile investigations….
October 2013: BBC asks Dame Janet Smith to investigate the culture and practices of the BBC in the decades that Savile worked there.
11 January, 2013: Scotland Yard labels Savile a “prolific, predatory” sex offender after its investigation reveals 214 criminal offences across 28 police forces, between 1955 and 2009. Its report, Giving Victims a Voice, found that 73% of his victims were children, and the allegations of abuse span 14 medical establishments.
https://www.theguardian.com/media/2014/jun/26/jimmy-savile-sexual-abuse-timeline
Catholic Church
Collated USCCB (United States Conference of Catholic Bishops)Data
On the Number of U.S. Priests Accused of Sexually Abusing Children and the Numbers of Persons Alleging Abuse
1950–2016
Compiled by BishopAccountability.org
From reports commissioned and released by the USCCB
Updated June 30, 2017
As of May 30, 2017, information published by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) indicates that the conference has counted 6,721 clerics “not implausibly” and “credibly” accused of sexually abusing minors in the period 1950 through June 30, 2016, with several gaps in the USCCB data. Out of the 116,690 priests who have worked in those years, the 6,721 priests accused of abusing children are 5.8% of the total.
This percentage is a useful corrective. As recently as November 2002, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, then in charge of all abuse cases for the Vatican, said in an interview that in the United States “less than 1% of priests are guilty of acts of this type.” Meanwhile, in the few US dioceses where investigations or disclosures have provided adequate data, including Boston, we are seeing rates as high as 10 percent. If that is ultimately found to be the percentage nationally, the US total would rise to 11,669 priests accused of abuse.
As of May 30, 2017, the USCCB has counted 18,565 victims who are known to the bishops in the period 1950 through June 30, 2016. Many more survivors have yet to come forward. In 1993, the late Fr. Andrew Greeley estimated that 2,500 priests (fewer than half the USCCB’s current total) might have molested “well in excess of 100,000” children in the United States…..
The USCCB hired the John Jay College of Criminal Justice to evaluate data submitted by member bishops regarding the sexual abuse of minors by Catholic priests, bishops, deacons, and seminarians. In its 2004 report, the John Jay College found, according to survey forms completed by the bishops, that the bishops had received in 1950-2002 “not implausible” allegations of sexual abuse of 10,667 minors committed by 4,392 priests, including 12 bishops.
The John Jay College report also provides an estimate of the number of priests who worked in the United States 1950-2002. The surveys collected for the project reported 75,694 diocesan priests and approximately 34,000 religious priests, for a total of 109,694. In the years 2003-2016, the Catholic church has ordained 6,996 men to the priesthood, according to the Official Catholic Directory’s General Summary of diocesan data. That brings the total number of priests in 1950-2016 to 116,690.
http://www.bishop-accountability.org/AtAGlance/USCCB_Yearly_Data_on_Accused_Priests.htm
A recent case is that of Larry Nassar, a doctor who treated young Olympic athletes.
Larry Nassar sentenced to up to 175 years in prison for decades of sexual abuse
(CNN)Once a world-renowned sports physician treating America’s foremost Olympic women gymnasts, Larry Nassar now will spend the rest of his life behind bars.
The disgraced former USA Gymnastics and Michigan State University doctor was sentenced to 40 to 175 years in prison, a judge announced Wednesday, after more than 150 women and girls said in court that he sexually abused them over the past two decades….
Nassar had pleaded guilty to seven counts of criminal sexual conduct in Ingham County in Michigan and admitted to using his trusted medical position to assault and molest girls under the guise of medical treatment….
“There are no words that can describe the depth and breadth of how sorry I am for what has occurred,” Nassar said. “An acceptable apology to all of you is impossible to write and convey. I will carry your words with me for the rest of my days.”….
“I was a good doctor because my treatments worked, and those patients that are now speaking out are the same ones that praised and came back over and over,” Nassar wrote. “The media convinced them that everything I did was wrong and bad. They feel I broke their trust.”….
Many of the women said that when they spoke up about the treatment, they were ignored or their concerns brushed aside by organizations in power, primarily USA Gymnastics, Michigan State University and the US Olympic Committee….
https://www.cnn.com/2018/01/24/us/larry-nassar-sentencing/index.html
Michigan State’s $500 Million for Nassar Victims Dwarfs Other Settlements
Lawrence G. Nassar, the sports doctor accused of sexually abusing hundreds of young women, committed his crimes with impunity for decades. Here’s how.
Victims of Lawrence G. Nassar, the Michigan State University physician who sexually abused young women under the guise of medical treatment, would receive $500 million from the university in a settlement that is believed to be the largest ever reached in a sexual abuse case involving an American university.
It dwarfed the size of the settlement reached in the sex abuse scandal at Pennsylvania State University. And it was larger than many of the settlements that followed the child sex abuse crisis in the Roman Catholic Church.
“I think the number being so large sends a message that is undeniable, that something really terrible happened here and that Michigan State owns it,” said John Manly, a lawyer for many of the 332 women who sued the university over abuse by Dr. Nassar. “When you pay half a billion dollars, it’s an admission of responsibility.”
Women who say they were abused by Dr. Nassar still have lawsuits against U.S.A. Gymnastics, the United States Olympic Committee and others, and the settlement with Michigan State could add pressure in those cases. The settlement by Michigan State, a public university that is the state’s largest, also sent a loud warning to other colleges about the potentially devastating cost of ignoring misconduct.
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/16/us/larry-nassar-michigan-state-settlement.html
These three cases are only a few of the many cases where perpetrators were allowed to abuse children for years without any repercussions. These perpetrators in essence were allowed to continue abusing children because no one believed their victims. The system failed the victims.
Our Future
We have not received justice for the crimes perpetrated against us as child abuse survivors. The opposite has occurred. We have been attacked for speaking up. Our stories, our evidence and our research has been belittled, insulted, ignored and hidden. Not only have we spoken up about child and ritual abuse crimes, we have spoken out about how individuals and our society are controlled by propaganda, mind control and post hypnotic suggestion. We have discussed how for years individuals and groups have been allowed to torture and sexually abuse children.
The hope is that justice will occur. That we will be heard and those that have attacked us will be exposed for their vicious tactics and their misinformation. That society will regain its moral balance and people will treat others fairly and decently and those that are being abused will be heard and believed and that this abuse will stop.
