Molestation and the reputations of great men

[Ed Anger]

Who doesn't?

[alfred russel]

Well, I guess it's not really possible to establish that unequivocally - there are only scant mentions and euphemisms about this, and in that period probably noone was particularly shaken but he apparently liked young girls.

How young are we talking about?

[Barrister]

Serious question, languish, and one that is strongly reminiscent of the Catholic Church's problems.

Assuming a man is lauded as great, and has justly earned his station through various achievements, what should be done if he has molested a child in a position of trust?

Assume he wasn't caught but it is known among a select few- it is out of society's eyes. Should it be kept that way? Does he cease being a great man, and become instead defined for his sinful indiscretion? Finally, consider this- the man is beyond punishment now, being quite dead, and it is only his memory that is in jeopardy.

I am very much at grief about this, as it effects numerous dear to me, and of course calls for a re-imagining of how I knew certain people and their life narratives. You can never know everything that goes into making someone who they are, that's for sure.

Is it a great crime and disservice to pretend the molestation never happened?

I know languish is fond of making light of my life and times, but i'd appreciate a serious response at this, if that was at all possible.

Rather than discuss this in generalities, I would be quite curious to hear the facts that makes you post this question. 

Child sexual abuse is a significant problem, and all too often is hidden by the general culture of shame that surrounds it.  We need to help victims come forward, we need to make it clear that such abuse will not be tolerated, and that victims will not be judged by being victims.

I see no reason at all to try and hide these kinds of despicable acts - but then again I don't know the particulars of your case.

[Martinus]

Well, I guess it's not really possible to establish that unequivocally - there are only scant mentions and euphemisms about this, and in that period probably noone was particularly shaken but he apparently liked young girls.

How young are we talking about?

Around 10.

[alfred russel]

Around 10.

Yikes.

[Eddie Teach]

Maybe he was just really turned off by facial hair.



Sorry, I'll get my coat. 

[DGuller]

What if a man is a great man because he was a genius cop who prevented 100 molestations, but then to celebrate that milestone he molested one of the boys he saved.  Is he now a despicable man?

[Martim Silva]

Assuming a man is lauded as great, and has justly earned his station through various achievements, what should be done if he has molested a child in a position of trust?

Some years ago, here in Portugal one of our most famous comedians (Herman José Krippahl) was discovered to have buttfucked several 15-year-old kids back in the 80s.

General attitude of the population was "he's funny, so screw the kids". Charges were dropped.

Anyway, with so many of our politicians raping 9-year-old boys by the dozens and making fun of it on national TV (many thousands of boys from the State orphanages were raped by them between the 1960s and early 2000s), it was hard to held a grudge against our comedian*.

Herman Krippahl continues to have an active career, of course (he's only 58).


*: Yes, we're run by a gay mafia.

[Maximus]

What if a man is a great man because he was a genius cop who prevented 100 molestations, but then to celebrate that milestone he molested one of the boys he saved.  Is he now a despicable man?

He's both a despicable man and a genius cop. You can't just add deeds together.

[garbon]

Assuming a man is lauded as great, and has justly earned his station through various achievements, what should be done if he has molested a child in a position of trust?

Some years ago, here in Portugal one of our most famous comedians (Herman José Krippahl) was discovered to have buttfucked several 15-year-old kids back in the 80s.

General attitude of the population was "he's funny, so screw the kids". Charges were dropped.

Anyway, with so many of our politicians raping 9-year-old boys by the dozens and making fun of it on national TV (many thousands of boys from the State orphanages were raped by them between the 1960s and early 2000s), it was hard to held a grudge against our comedian*.

Herman Krippahl continues to have an active career, of course (he's only 58).


*: Yes, we're run by a gay mafia.

Oddly enough that isn't what wiki says about the scandal in any language version.

[Martinus]

Wikipedia authors do not go to dinners with ambassadors.

[Barrister]

Assuming a man is lauded as great, and has justly earned his station through various achievements, what should be done if he has molested a child in a position of trust?

Some years ago, here in Portugal one of our most famous comedians (Herman José Krippahl) was discovered to have buttfucked several 15-year-old kids back in the 80s.

General attitude of the population was "he's funny, so screw the kids". Charges were dropped.

Anyway, with so many of our politicians raping 9-year-old boys by the dozens and making fun of it on national TV (many thousands of boys from the State orphanages were raped by them between the 1960s and early 2000s), it was hard to held a grudge against our comedian*.

Herman Krippahl continues to have an active career, of course (he's only 58).


*: Yes, we're run by a gay mafia.

A quick review on google shows this to be a reasonably dishonest version of the story.  Jose's charges were dismissed because he showed he was working in Brazil at the time.  And while the Casa Pia abuse allegations do not exactly cover the Portuguese justice system in glory, there have been several convictions.

[Malthus]

My favorite example of this sort of thing was the great pioneering surgeon John Hunter. He was a genius of the medical world (a bronze bust of him stands outside the London College of Physicians & Surgeons) but he most definitely had a very dark side to his personality ...

His *known* bad deeds include organizing London's so-called "resurrection men" to find him suitable corpses for dissection, and hounding certain living "specimins" for his collection - like the Irish Giant (whose skeleton still adorns it). This wasn't too far different from what other surgeons did, but Hunter did it on a much larger scale than anyone - he was organizer and instigator.

His *suspected* bad deeds are far worse - there is a circumstantial case that he "collected" pregnant women (or rather, paid his gang of toughs to collect them) for disection before they were in fact dead.

[The proof of this relies on two things: perhaps unreliable contemporary rumour; and, more significantly, that he came out with a series of from-life dissections of the pregnant womb at various stages after pregnancy - i.e., womb at 2 weeks, womb at 4 weeks, etc. A statistical study demonstrates it would be very, very unlikely for sufficient pregnant women to die in the time the study was completed - even if his men succesfully stole every body in London of a pregnant women who died by natural causes it was unlikely he could have done it 'legitimately']

[Razgovory]

Benito was a jolly man.

He had the virtue of not being a kiddie fucker, so, not all bad. Unlike hitler who first pulled a jerry lee lewis and fucked his underage cousin then driving her into suicide.

I think he raped a chick once. 

[Ed Anger]

Benito was a jolly man.

He had the virtue of not being a kiddie fucker, so, not all bad. Unlike hitler who first pulled a jerry lee lewis and fucked his underage cousin then driving her into suicide.

I think he raped a chick once.

She was on whore pills.