Musings —11.23.2018 12:34 PM
—An essay about St. Mike’s is no longer here
[Liam Mather has requested that his essay be removed, after initially – and enthusiastically – agreeing to post it here, because the Toronto Star gave him a better offer. You may assess his opinions in that light.]
Student St Mike’s 1961-66. Nothing like this in my memory. There were only 400 students then, and I knew or interacted with many of them. I would have heard. Perhaps it was a more innocent time.
“Perhaps it was a more innocent time.” That right there is the heart of self deception. It is a belief that is unsupported by facts. I’ll leave aside the obvious points about how abuse just didn t get reported back then compared to now (you owe it to yourself to go look). Far too often we draw conclusions about the world based on our own experiences in it. And that’s no different from the false logic we see applied so often today by people who rationalize and minimize sexual abuse allegations. Thus, “well that wasn’t my experience with that person (or place),” becomes synonymous with “so what you are saying must not be true.”
This story—like so many—are forcing people to see these institutions as they *really* are, and not as we pretend them to be. We are complicit in what they do through our willingness to sustain this self deception.
“And that’s no different from the false logic we see applied so often today by people who rationalize and minimize sexual abuse allegations. Thus, “well that wasn’t my experience with that person (or place),” becomes synonymous with “so what you are saying must not be true.” ”
Also not much different than the people who would casually drop names like Patrick Brown and Brett Kavanaugh into a post like this, as if ether man had been proven to have done something wrong…
Please read _The Manufacture of Madness_ by Thomas Szasz and _The Anatomy of Human Destructiveness_ by Erich Fromm. After reading these books you will clearly understand why some malignant personalities abuse others. You will also understand the process of inculcation that takes place via institutional hazing.
RW