re: Trying to stop child trafficking is now "Qanon-adjacent" and "paranoid"

quote:

---

mjthe

---

quote:

---

Yes, if the question is whether it is a good documentary, there are enough concerns about Ballard's veracity to think that the film is greatly embellished ... fear porn.

---

quote:

---

alem Witch Trials, meet the 21st Century.

---

quote:

---

Why don’t you post this study that proves that there are not child trafficking rings in existence.

---

quote:

---

Only a minority of Ss (n = 803) reported encountering ritual cases, but of those, the majority believe their clients' claims. Even so, the purported evidence for the allegations, especially in cases reported by adults claiming to have suffered the abuse during childhood, is questionable. Most clients who alleged ritual abuse have been diagnosed as having multiple personality disorder or posttraumatic cases. Issues addressed include the role psychotherapists play in uncovering or helping to co-create alleged abuse experiences and the need to clarify the definition of ritualistic abuse.

---

quote:

---

Tales of satanic ritual abuse, with well-organized cults sacrificing animals and babies and engaging in sexual perversion and cannibalism, is the stuff of tabloid television. Now the first empirical study of its actual prevalence, based on information from district attorneys, social service workers, police officials and psychotherapists, suggests that these tales are usually just that -- figments of imagination.

Athough the survey found occasional cases of lone abusers who used ritualistic trappings, it found no substantiated reports of well-organized satanic rings of people who sexually abuse children.

---

quote:

---

"Since the McMartin preschool case, there have been claims of ritualistic and sadistic child abuse in cases all over the country, and we've been concerned," said David Lloyd, director of the National Center on Child Abuse and Neglect. "The survey was to see just how well-founded these concerns are -- if these are just based on mistaken perceptions or there is some firm evidence."

The survey included 6,910 psychiatrists, psychologists and clinical social workers, and 4,655 district attorneys, police departments and social service agencies. They reported 12,264 accusations of ritual abuse that they had investigated.

The survey found that there was not a single case where there was clear corroborating evidence for the most common accusation, that there was "a well-organized intergenerational satanic cult, who sexually molested and tortured children in their homes or schools for years and committed a series of murders," Dr. Goodman said.

---

quote:

---

Again and again we are told - by journalists, police, and fundamentalists - that there exists a secret network of criminal fanatics, worshippers of Satan, who are responsible for kidnapping, human sacrifice, sexual abuse and torture of children, drug-dealing, mutilation of animals, desecration of churches and cemeteries, pornography, heavy metal lyrics, and cannibalism. This popular tale is almost entirely without foundation, but the legend continues to gather momentum, in the teeth of evidence and good sense. Networks of 'child advocates', credulous or self-serving social workers, instant-expert police officers, and unscrupulous ministers of religion help to spread the panic, along with fabricated survivors' memoirs passed off as true accounts, and irresponsible broadcast 'investigations'.

---

quote:

---

There are many possible alternative answers to the question of why victims are alleging things that don't seem to be true. ... I believe that there is a middle ground—a continuum of possible activity. Some of what the victims allege may be true and accurate, some may be misperceived or distorted, some may be screened or symbolic, and some may be "contaminated" or false. The problem and challenge, especially for law enforcement, is to determine which is which. This can only be done through active investigation. I believe that the majority of victims alleging "ritual" abuse are in fact victims of some form of abuse or trauma

---

quote:

---

An analysis of ritualistic and religion-related child abuse allegations.

---

quote:

---

a well-organized intergenerational satanic cult, who sexually molested and tortured children in their homes or schools for years and committed a series of murders

---