re: #309 Gang of One

Aye. I recall as much. You are right, Ice.

Actually I think it was more like 25 years ago…mid 80’s at the peak. You also had fake books like Michelle Remembers scaring people. Fake Multiple Personality Disorder and claims that it was caused by repressed memories of incest or satanic abuse. Stuff like the book When Rabbit Howls. Oprah and others earnestly interviewing many women who were the victim of poorly trained or unscrupulous psychotherapists, claiming that in their childhood they were forced to be high priestesses of satanic cults and subjected to gruesome abuse.

And of course, many people went to prison falsely as a result. Not to mention the women themselves, who falsely believed these implanted memories, and lost their health, their lives, their marriages, and their sanity for a while.

Collectively there was this backlash where we saw danger everywhere and had heightened fears about strangers and even neighbours around children. throw in the beginnings of the 24 hour news cycle and a few actual highly publicised cases of child abduction and murder and/or rape, and voila. All these years later and people take their kids to shopping centers or tightl supervised areas to trick or treat, and won’t let them ride their bike down the block.

There’s no doubt that there is real danger out there, and more than in decades past, but we’re also still suffering from massive over-protectiveness regarding children — and frightened by the 24/7 news cycle’s sensationalism.

Excellent books on false memory syndrome and the satanic panic here, btw.

amazon.com
amazon.com