Have We Learned Our Lesson Yet?

may be *spoilers* ahead....


This movie breaks my heart.

Child abuse, and especially child sexual abuse, should always be taken very seriously. It is a horrible, horrible crime :(

However, because there are real child sexual abusers does not mean that the system should be given license and power so overarching that innocent people become caught in the web that the family depicted in this film were. There was quite the witchhunt regarding this kind of abuse in the 1980's, spawning all kinds of false allegations and that resulted in the wrongful imprisonment of many men and women (parents, daycare providers, entire families even), and this documentary provides some insight into how such injustice occurs.

Once a public becomes hysterical about anything coupled with conflicts of interest for many involved, common sense and decency can so easily fly out of the window. And, some people remain in that mindset to this day.


I remember sitting in a college seminar class in the 1990's and the guest speaker who was an 'esteemed' child abuse investigator proclaimed to the class that 'children never lie'. As a mother of young children at the time in addition to being a psychology student, I almost fell out of my chair when I heard that. I gently challenged his claim in front of 300 people, providing very simple everyday examples of children's lies, and this man would not budge from his original statement, saying flat out that children are 'incapable' of lying. I left shuddering, thinking of how this man was in a powerful position and could very well have a part in innocent people being falsely imprisoned due to his simplistic, erroneous thinking.

And what about the hundreds upon hundreds of children who were innocent pawns of the witchhunters, victimized and traumatized by folks who implanted horrible and ugly thoughts and feelings into these kids -- a trauma from which they never fully recover, even if and when the smoke finally clears (usually happens when they are adults)? Their relationships with the adults falsely accused and their very childhoods are stolen from them in a most hideous and humiliating fashion. Can you imagine the guilt some of these children carry into adulthood when they realize their words helped to evoke and maintain such hurtful ugliness?

And, in all of this, the experiences of *real* victims becomes cheapened.

You would think (at least hope) that people in societally responsible positions would have enough simple common sense to be able to figure out that some of the wild accusatory stories flung around in therapists' offices and courtrooms at the time were beyond belief, often had no physical evidence to support the claims, and that children's minds can be shaped to think all kinds of false beliefs (which they truly come to believe as research shows) by people with authority. And, I think some of the corrupt people involved frankly had filthy minds themselves, and so the 'jaundiced eye' quote used in the film is very apt.


REAL child abuse is terrible and should never, ever be tolerated by decent society.

But, as this film depicts, child abuse can come in all forms and can even be institutionalized.

And, do these people stop to think that the young boy groomed to be a false witness one day will be a man who could find himself through no guilt on his part sitting on the wrong side of the table and gavel?


I read once how early American witchcraft hysteria finally started to dissipate once accusers widened their nets to pointing fingers at judges and their family members.

I would rather that our system employs more common sense, a true belief in innocent until PROVEN guilty, and a better understanding of child psychology and what real child abuse is, before we reach such a point in our society.

And, each and every person wrongfully accused/incarcerated should have a very public apology, be compensated as best the system can for what they had to go through, and that each and every official involved in facilitating such injustice be at least reprimanded and forced to watch films like these as continuing education.


When we give power over our children to a 'system', the system should always first do no harm.


"I can't stand a naked light bulb, any more than..a rude remark or a vulgar action" Blanche DuBois