What is Truth?
It's Not A Simple Answer in Modern Times
Catholic Priest scandals - not what you might imagine.
Now, am I suggesting that ALL of the accusations are unfounded? No.
But, in many cases, there is serious evidence of improper behavior - coaching of witnesses, ‘recovered memories’ - a concept that has been largely debunked, and focusing on long-ago charges against the Catholic Church.
This puts prosecutors in the position of ignoring or downplaying crimes committed by Children’s Services or their contracted foster care providers, and the many, many crimes committed by public school employees (which are generally resolved by allowing the perps to resign without prosecution).
Newsweek has covered the story - and it is one that permitted prosecutors to target Catholic priests, and ignore the more common problem of the state’s youth workers, foster parents, and other employees covering up abuses.
There are sworn statements on file of people who had gone along with the lies, but recanted. NONE of this has affected the imprisonment of the accused, nor has it caused the outrageous settlements to be rescinded.
The worst laws ever created were the ones that extended the time in which an accuser could bring charges in cases of underage sexual abuse victims. That time, in the case of NY’s law, extended legal liability until the victim was 55 years old.
There is a reason - a good reason - that the law generally puts limits on legal liability for crimes. That’s because memories fade, evidence is often lost, records cannot be found, corroborating witnesses cannot be found, and people who might have weighed in on the case die.
Now, originally, the laws allowed victims of sexual abuse as a child to bring their case until they were 23. In the cases of very young victims, that might leave the accused defending themselves against a decades-old case.
Extending that liability for another 32 years was a classic example of a very bad law. I’d have trouble saying what I was doing even 10 years ago. Longer than that?
Fuggedaboutit.
That is NOT justice.
Speaking of Truth, it is not to be found in Political Campaigns.
The closest you might come to Truth is Truthiness. Sadly, the averaIt ge adult in America is incapable of recognizing the difference between the two.
Most people, in their daily navigation of the world, operate on a superficial level. When it comes to information, they have several default preferences:
What they have done/believed before.
In this mode, they will default to the familiar - the same route, even if an alternative (guided by the near ubiquitous GPS) would be quicker and less stressful.
It means that, in a new situation, people will fall back on the same old, same old. They will eat the same food (even though it has contributed to their poor physical health), go to the same places (AA drills their members on the importance of avoiding the people and places they associate with drink), and do the same things (sitting in front of a viewing screen, whether computer monitor or TV, is the default for many people, especially when under stress).
They will defend familiar beliefs of their youth, even though experience has shown them to be wrong. Only a Gestalt experience - what Ms. Magazine called The Click Moment - has any possibility of breaking people out of that comforting state.
For many people, myself included, 9/11 was such a transforming moment. It forced me to face reality - my old, comfortable, family and friend validated beliefs were garbage. I stepped up to the challenge, and, fortunately, I was semi-employed at the time, and was able to gather information from the developing Blog World. For the first time, I heard alternatives to the mainstream media and the Liberal/Progressive Way of Thought.
I’d been indoctrinated into conformity with that viewpoint by education (high school and college), the opinions of people I associated with, and popular media. ALL agreed that only old, stuffy, Puritanical has-beens thought otherwise. I was quick to fall into line with this GroupThink. I was completely complicit with the process. It was only 9/11 that broke my thinking down, the only way it ever does - Hard Reality. From that point on, I was open to persuasion, and highly critical of what anyone said or wrote that contradicted my own experiences.
Many of my contemporaries did not respond by seeking out alternative viewpoints, and - slowly, as their initial shock wore away, and dissenting voices tried to paper over the reality and persuade citizens that what they saw was not related to Islamic terror, but, actually, America’s fault, solely. And, of course, because of those AWFUL, HORRIBLE RIGHT-WING VILLAINS!
What Authorities tell them
Those Authorities may include the government, the media, their families, and their friends. All of them will have a strong pull, leading them to fall in line, and Join the Bandwagon. This is a well-known norm for humans - we tend to go along with the group. As a result, the initial dissenters are likely to be those who are of independent mind, already have had the experience of not being part of the group, and/or those who are hard-wired for being socially non-conformists - mainly the autistic, or having some characteristics in common.
Authorities do not rely on voluntary compliance to group norms. Like Big Brother, they have ways of ‘persuading you’ that agreement with them in in your ‘best interest’.
That may include use of government resources to harass you until you comply/give up dissent, including the DOJ, IRS, EPA, Child Protective Services, the police, DHS, or other official means.
That may include lawfare - civil action on specious grounds, facilitated by financial support from donors, whether private, foundation, or foreign. LOTS of people have had to step back from activism to deal with the legal juggernaut that threatens to overwhelm them.
They likely will target vulnerable family members, including children. Ex-spouses may initiate custody suits, any potential financial support may dry up, and, if necessary for the truly brave, children may be targeted for criminal action. These people play hardball, and will not hesitate to go outside the norms of “Leave my family alone”.
Financial - loss of job, tying up assets, targeting pensions, encouraging lawsuits or arrests that force them to pay lawyers, even if the charges are dropped later. Deplatforming those with online money, de-banking them, pressuring their insurance companies and sponsors to drop them. ALL of these have been used by The Left.
Wow! Until this post, I had not realized that there were so many ways to screw with dissidents!
Expect the above, should you go vocal/active with your dissent, and publicly speak out against the Kamala/Tim Wave.
They have been anointed by The Left, and will not be permitted to fail. They are going to pull out all the stops. Another assassination attempt is not out of the picture. Nor, forceable incarceration of Trump, his family, and any allies that might offer effective opposition, should they appear likely to prevail.
The DHS still has the power to jail people without charges, if they can link that action to any claim of terrorism. It doesn’t have to be proven, or even slightly believable.
They just have to make the claim. Don’t be surprised if they try it. The only thing that might stop it is the actions of Brave Men and Women Ordered to Do Unjust and Illegal Things, which is a very Long Shot.