There's a disconnect. Something I can't put my finger on. “Pedophile ring. Release the files. Files released. Shut up about the files.” Two decades’ worth of shouting into the void and nothing. Now Jamie Raskin says there's even a nine year-old.
It's not a sudden surge of concern for women and girls, otherwise rape wouldn't be a thing. I get that. Nick Fuentes wouldn't feel so comfortable saying either in all seriousness or in gest that all women should be sent to gulags as sex slaves (the “good ones” would be weeded out after). The Boy Scouts of America wouldn't need a rebrand. America's favorite dad, Bill Cosby, couldn't have made a science of assault; Diddy wouldn't have the temerity to ask to be let out in a four year slap on the wrist. Louis C.K. The Catholic Church wouldn't be in perpetual legal apology. Fewer men are surprised to find themselves competing with bears than you'd think given the screeching coming from those offended by the thought. The Save Act is the first step down a really short road. Female bodily autonomy is literally under siege--bounties, no crossing state lines. Grok for Pete's sake. It isn't simply the Epstein class. It's the culture. The same crusaders for children can't stand the thought of free school lunch.
What I can't square is the silence. The conspiracy theorists were right. There's a cabal alright. But their rage was empty. They were fiending for a Gotcha. Not justice. Not accountability. Raped? So what? What were you wearing? Boys will be boys. Molested by your pastor? Be a good Christian and forgive. Victims are supposed ro just shut up about it. Stay invisible. Make ‘em CEO. Give ‘em more money. Make him president. So what then-children, now women (and some men), survivors’ names were exposed while their perpetrators are being shielded. Coup de grace, they gleven got a woman to do it.
No. Dragging us all into this malignant narcissist's whet dream, they only wanted proof that the Woke were every bit as fucked up and hypocritical as them.
I don't know if there is a real reckoning for the damage that was done. The silence from the conspiracy crowd is deafening. The pivot from the deep state to what? The deeper state? Sheer genius. So what wrong was done? Devastating wrong that stays in the body and spirit long after, reshapes, takes, and sometimes destroys. I honestly don’t even know that they think it's wrong. It's just the wrong guys got fingered. Pun definitely intended. I don't know who to be angrier with. The perpetrators or the ones gone silent because of the inconvenience.
What does justice look like when the very basis of outrage for it is manufactured?What does accountability look like when it isn't honestly sought by any but it's martyrs? The survivors have and will continue to have to make themselves whole on their own. Because honestly: so what?
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And stay tuned to Joy’s House for more from June Carryl.
When humankind can admit out loud that SAing females of all ages and little boys is a dark dirty little secret of societies around the world for hundreds of years.
When we can open up that festering wound and begin restraining our society, then we will have finally evolved.
We have to get beyond Patriarchy and move to Matriarchal Society. Its a painful move, but its time
I had hoped that maybe we had made some progress. Even allies in the press are saying things like, "Yes, I read the tip line transcripts. Some of these people are crazy/have mental health problems. I don't take those tips seriously." As a trauma therapist, I can assure you that survivors of complex trauma have mental health issues. That is different than making things up. But wait, most of these tips very similar. Through in some cannibalism and murder and the survivor is crazy??? What about these perpetrators and why do we draw the line at murder?
This would all be so easy if only we believed the survivors and didn't call some of them crazy. The whole point of the Epstein files debacle is that we are looking for answers but I guess only for the good survivors, not to mention that utterly dismissive judgement in the Diddy case where they had video evidence and evidence from multiple people both survivors and employees of Diddy's. Lest we forget the hierarchy, we spent barely a hot second on Diddy's survivors because they were mostly black and brown women.
Thank you, June, for this.
As survivors we know that we are harmed because perpetrators have a need to prove their power over us, humiliate us, and hurt us in ways that will always reverberate through our lives. It's a branding on our hearts and psyches. I am not saying I don't believe in redemption but there is no redemption without accountability.
These women are so remarkably brave to open themselves up for the brutality they are experiencing now. And is so often the case, the perpetrators sit back and watch feeling all the time like we are not human.