Jae Johns commented on Elisabeth Hasselbeck Repackages Old Propaganda In Pimping Rifqa Bary's Book
2015-05-26 14:06:09 -0400
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I am glad to find this being talked about now.
First of all, since many of you followed this so closely, I am looking for a fox news clip from this case that features a female comentator, possibly Geller, claiming that there are 5,000 honor killings in the US every YEAR. It is later corrected (500 worldwide), but I want that original segment, if anyone has it. I need it for a media and child abuse dissertation.
As a woman who was sexually abused in home as a child, runaway, in foster care, and who advocates for abused children now, I think the entire way this has been handled is a farce. Sexual abuse for a child is always possible and should never be entirely ruled out, it’s also entirely possible that she didn’t want to tell the story . I think it’s equally likely whether her parents knew or didn’t. In America, the covering up of child sex abuse, especially when it happens in the family, is gut-wrenchingly common. But what happened here, if anything happened, wasn’t in the immediate family, and there is no evidence nor likelihood that she was in danger of abuse in home.
There was a picture that surfaced of her as a cheerleader. To ANYONE who knows a mouse fart about Islam, that picture tells you everything you need to know about how “strict” her parents were. Cheerleading costs more money than a kid could get on their own, and requires parental permission; clearly her parents supported it. Hijab is the most basic of basics in a “strict” muslim family, or even a mildly practicing muslim family. That alone is enough to rule out “honor killing.” That combined with no history of abuse makes it damn near impossible. I don’t doubt that her parents said some harsh things to her when they found out about her running away, as any parent would. I don’t doubt they said that they would send her back to Sri Lanka, among other things, and were very angry and all. But so what? The point is, if she was not in danger of abuse or harm, she should have been sent back to her parents and monitored from there. If she was willing to go this far, it’s clear that it would be impossible to get this girl onto a plane against her will. They may try to convert her back, as any Christian family would also do for a child they loved, but ultimately they would give up and accept her. Instead, this poor girl has been severed from any contact with her family, and robbed and brainwashed out of the chance to reconcile later.
Why would she lie? She was also probably afraid. Not of being killed, but of facing up to the consequences of what she had done. People, especially children, do crazy things to avoid dealing with consequences, the least of which is lying. If she couldn’t face them then, imagine how she feels now? It’s hardly a stretch to say the parents, teachers, and friends accounts of her not being abused, chatting sexually with men on facebook, and running away after a confrontation from her parents seem much more plausible.
In the real world, when a child says “my parents hurt me or may hurt me” there is first and foremost an investigation. If there is no evidence of that being an issue, the child is then sent home and CLOSELY MONITORED by authorities with the understanding that if anything does happen, DCFS will be right there. Support is given to the family to make sure that nothing untoward happens or continues. Emancipation and foster care are absolute last resorts after all reconciliation efforts are exhausted, or, if the child exhibits harmful behavior, juvenile dentition, correction, and girls’ homes are used. In general, no one cares about a child like their parents, and unless there is a clear problem, no one will be able give better support. Rozum, if you are truly into child advocacy, surely you know that children who age out of state care are at all kinds of risk and removing a child from the home should be a last resort. Since she came from a supportive home in the first place, her risk is greatly reduced, and she’s in college, but she is now dependent on the support generated by this “story” to keep her going in the near future, instead of her parents, who, no matter what else, would at least have allowed her more life choices than being an Islamophobia poster child.
First of all, since many of you followed this so closely, I am looking for a fox news clip from this case that features a female comentator, possibly Geller, claiming that there are 5,000 honor killings in the US every YEAR. It is later corrected (500 worldwide), but I want that original segment, if anyone has it. I need it for a media and child abuse dissertation.
As a woman who was sexually abused in home as a child, runaway, in foster care, and who advocates for abused children now, I think the entire way this has been handled is a farce. Sexual abuse for a child is always possible and should never be entirely ruled out, it’s also entirely possible that she didn’t want to tell the story . I think it’s equally likely whether her parents knew or didn’t. In America, the covering up of child sex abuse, especially when it happens in the family, is gut-wrenchingly common. But what happened here, if anything happened, wasn’t in the immediate family, and there is no evidence nor likelihood that she was in danger of abuse in home.
There was a picture that surfaced of her as a cheerleader. To ANYONE who knows a mouse fart about Islam, that picture tells you everything you need to know about how “strict” her parents were. Cheerleading costs more money than a kid could get on their own, and requires parental permission; clearly her parents supported it. Hijab is the most basic of basics in a “strict” muslim family, or even a mildly practicing muslim family. That alone is enough to rule out “honor killing.” That combined with no history of abuse makes it damn near impossible. I don’t doubt that her parents said some harsh things to her when they found out about her running away, as any parent would. I don’t doubt they said that they would send her back to Sri Lanka, among other things, and were very angry and all. But so what? The point is, if she was not in danger of abuse or harm, she should have been sent back to her parents and monitored from there. If she was willing to go this far, it’s clear that it would be impossible to get this girl onto a plane against her will. They may try to convert her back, as any Christian family would also do for a child they loved, but ultimately they would give up and accept her. Instead, this poor girl has been severed from any contact with her family, and robbed and brainwashed out of the chance to reconcile later.
Why would she lie? She was also probably afraid. Not of being killed, but of facing up to the consequences of what she had done. People, especially children, do crazy things to avoid dealing with consequences, the least of which is lying. If she couldn’t face them then, imagine how she feels now? It’s hardly a stretch to say the parents, teachers, and friends accounts of her not being abused, chatting sexually with men on facebook, and running away after a confrontation from her parents seem much more plausible.
In the real world, when a child says “my parents hurt me or may hurt me” there is first and foremost an investigation. If there is no evidence of that being an issue, the child is then sent home and CLOSELY MONITORED by authorities with the understanding that if anything does happen, DCFS will be right there. Support is given to the family to make sure that nothing untoward happens or continues. Emancipation and foster care are absolute last resorts after all reconciliation efforts are exhausted, or, if the child exhibits harmful behavior, juvenile dentition, correction, and girls’ homes are used. In general, no one cares about a child like their parents, and unless there is a clear problem, no one will be able give better support. Rozum, if you are truly into child advocacy, surely you know that children who age out of state care are at all kinds of risk and removing a child from the home should be a last resort. Since she came from a supportive home in the first place, her risk is greatly reduced, and she’s in college, but she is now dependent on the support generated by this “story” to keep her going in the near future, instead of her parents, who, no matter what else, would at least have allowed her more life choices than being an Islamophobia poster child.