June 30, 2012
When a scandal such as the Sandusky case breaks, people listen. They become outraged when they learn about the horrific abuse heaped on children while others stood by watching. When an individual case is brought to light, it becomes undeniable that something was wrong with the priorities of adults who knew about the abuse and chose to turn a blind eye.
But does the general public recognize that this case is only the tip of the iceberg and that this goes on every day? The prevalence of abuse and apathy is enormous.
One of the underlying themes in this scenario is national, personal, and social priorities with regard to power and innocence.
My thirteen year-old daughter asked me today about the impending California fois gras ban. She saw a film clip on the news of geese being force fed with tubes, and being the innocent, sensitive, smart, and sweet girl she is, asked how people can be so cruel to animals. As I talked about how humans were made to be capable of eating animals, I mentioned that our methods of raising the animals didn’t have to be so cruel. She wondered why no one eats people – “Well we’re at the top of the food chain,” I answered, but I realized that people manifest power frameworks in metaphorical ways. People are cruel to others, destroy others, feed off the pain of others – people like Sandusky.
This goes on throughout the world in multiple types of manifestations. Not only do people prioritize power and money over kindness, but people engage in abuse and cruelty toward the innocent as a form of weilding power and attempting to ease their own pain.
Abuse of the innocent is an ancient and continuing phenomenon, and it is so much more prevalent than we like to admit. It starts with children, and it leads to all types of power wielding activity, including governmental corruption, economic exploitation, and violence of all types.
The question is – do we have to be the victims or the perpetrators in the power scenario? Are people afraid that if they blow the whistle instead of standing by idly and watching, they will lose their power and turn into victims?
Here’s an interesting article in Boston Daily on the implications of the Sandusky case: http://blogs.bostonmagazine.com/boston_daily/2012/06/25/jerry-sandusky-abuse/