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Societies Secrets: The Selfish Crime of Incest

Published

2 years ago

October 28, 2022

Societies Secrets: The Selfish Crime of Incest

Society has changed over the past century or two. Religion and morality, once rooted in society’s very essence, its reason to unite us all as members of a group living together with purpose and responsibility to each other have become lost to many of our neighbors. While the law stipulates what is permissible and what is not, much happens behind our closed doors, things that should horrify us.

Incest exists today as it has throughout history. Sexual relations with a blood relative. There are people who are trying to change the law, making incest not a crime but allowed within our society. Statistics tell us that this is a hidden crime, but non the less it is criminal, Immoral, and needs to be recognized and stopped. It is believed that the most common form of incest happens between older male relatives and younger children. I was molested when I visited my extended family in Hungary (aged 8 yrs. old). Assaulted twice by an uncle, I told adults of this occurrence only to be ignored and even punished for impugning the character of the said relative. PTSD is often a result of incest, along with other coping mechanisms, including self-injury. While the first thing someone can do for a victim of incest is to believe them, most often a person will not challenge the aggressor, but rather the victim.

Incest as a form of abuse can be challenging, as it differs from culture to culture. Perceptions of incest vary across societies, and actions to stop it depend on what location the victim is in. In western society, the incest taboo is and has been the most common of all cultural taboos. Incest can be sexual abuse such as intercourse, sexually inappropriate acts, or the abuse of power based on sexual activities. This form of abuse is very damaging to a child’s psyche and will result in prolonged post-traumatic stress disorder.

The results of this form of abuse can be self-injury, substance abuse, eating disorders, issues with disassociation, or perhaps promiscuity. U.K. Studies have shown that the ultimate sacrifice, suicide can and has resulted from this form of abuse. The child may grow to adulthood but finds their place within the family and society challenged, or they may feel dirty, and unworthy of assistance, perhaps protecting their family member from legal repercussions. The victim is mentally unable to find an avenue for their grief, fear, and disgust towards themselves or the aggressor. When a family member assaults a child in this fashion, they have a hold upon the victim, a secret that is presented to the victim as self-destructive in nature. “You tell someone, I will deny it, say you lying” and “who will they believe, me or you”? A child abused like this, will often grow to adulthood and the abuse may very well continue unstopped by the victimizer.

Victims experience fear (they did something wrong), self-shame, and undue responsibility of perhaps disrupting the family should they announce this happening. Other family members can and do blame the victim as though the victim may have asked for it, similar to the trauma a rape victim experiences. Child sexual abuse impacts children more than AIDS, gun violence, and LGBTQ inequality combined, yet it is often publicly hidden, mentioned only when the Abortion issue is brought up as a reason for legalized abortions. Intentionally or not, children continue to protect adults who have claimed the child’s innocence, and probably changed their lives forever.

Incest makes people recoil, making them squirm uncomfortably. We are told by our public officials, church leaders, and moralists amongst us that incest is wrong, brutal, and manipulative, and should be stamped out. Then nothing is done. The religious and public authorities do not want to, or cannot enter our homes, our bedrooms, and our castles. They can only pontificate and teach the immorality of incest. Few are arrested and prisoned for this crime. The intentional manipulation, abuse, and sexual use of minors are often viewed as a mental health issue, with the attempt of public authorities to stay away from the uncomfortable legal avenues they have.

While society is shocked by the clergy abuse within organized religious organizations and what has happened to untold Aboriginal Children, the shock experienced does not follow the issues of incest. Why? It is easier to blame an organization that was once a bedrock of society like the Catholic Church, but entirely more difficult to accuse and bring to justice a family member. Whether unintentionally, unconsciously, collectively, or individually many of us are unwilling to accept and deal concretely with the depth and scope of incest within our society, community, or our very homes.

Incest is human evil, the manipulation and sexual use of an innocent, child. It is a mental health issue, but it is much more than that. It carries with it multiple rapes, assaults, and mental manipulation with a horrid human result in time. Incest is much like the murder of a child’s innocence, the child’s future potential. If I were to meet my uncle today, the man who sexually assaulted me, I fear bad things would happen. As a result of the two assaults, I became in time a man filled with rage, often not recognizing why. I believed the event had been hidden away in my memory. Like cancer, it leached into my subconscious only to result in violence perpetrated by me. The people who inflict their selfish wants and desires upon the innocence of this world must be punished, for desire is not a mental illness is it? And sexual desire unbridled by social conscience and morality is a serious crime.

What will you do about this issue? Allow it to hide within the shadows or fight the good fight? Should you witness such an event, or fear someone is being victimized contact someone with authority or call the Police, or Child Protective Services. It is your duty to do so.

Steven Kaszab
Bradford, Ontario
skaszab@yahoo.ca

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Langford, Heim lead Rangers to wild 13-8 win over Blue Jays

Published

5 hours ago

September 17, 2024

Anne Joseph

ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — Rookie Wyatt Langford homered, doubled twice and became the first Texas player this season to reach base five times, struggling Jonah Heim delivered a two-run single to break a sixth-inning tie and the Rangers beat the Toronto Blue Jays 13-8 on Tuesday night.

Leody Taveras also had a homer among his three hits for the Rangers.

Langford, who also walked twice, has 12 homers and 25 doubles this season. He is hitting .345 in September.

“I think it’s really important to finish on a strong note,” Langford said. “I’m just going to keep trying to do that.”

Heim was 1-for-34 in September before he lined a single to right field off Tommy Nance (0-2) to score Adolis García and Nathaniel Lowe, giving Texas a 9-7 lead. Heim went to the plate hitting .212 with 53 RBIs after being voted an All-Star starter last season with a career-best 95 RBIs. He added a double in the eighth ahead of Taveras’ homer during a three-run inning.

Texas had 13 hits and left 13 men on. It was the Rangers’ highest-scoring game since a 15-8 win at Oakland on May 7.

Matt Festa (5-1) pitched 1 1/3 scoreless innings to earn the win, giving him a 5-0 record in 13 appearances with the Rangers after being granted free agency by the New York Mets on July 7.

Nathan Eovaldi, a star of Texas’ 2023 run to the franchise’s first World Series championship, had his worst start of the year in what could have been his final home start with the Rangers. Eovaldi, who will be a free agent next season, allowed 11 hits (the most of his two seasons with Texas) and seven runs (tied for the most).

“I felt like early in the game they just had a few hits that found the holes, a few first-pitch base hits,” said Eovaldi, who is vested for a $20 million player option with Texas for 2025. “I think at the end of the day I just need to do a better job of executing my pitches.”

Eovaldi took a 7-3 lead into the fifth inning after the Rangers scored five unearned runs in the fourth. The Jays then scored four runs to knock out Eovaldi after 4 2/3 innings.

Six of the seven runs scored against Toronto starter Chris Bassitt in 3 2/3 innings were unearned. Bassitt had a throwing error during Texas’ two-run third inning.

“We didn’t help ourselves defensively, taking care of the ball to secure some outs,” Blue Jays manager John Schneider said.

The Blue Jays’ Vladimir Guerrero Jr. had a double and two singles, his most hits in a game since having four on Sept. 3. Guerrero is hitting .384 since the All-Star break.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Blue Jays: SS Bo Bichette (calf) was activated and played for the first time since July 19, going 2 for 5 with an RBI. … OF Daulton Varsho (shoulder) was placed on the 10-day injured list and will have rotator cuff surgery … INF Will Wagner (knee inflammation) was placed on the 60-day list.

UP NEXT

Rangers: LHP Chad Bradford (5-3, 3.97 ERA) will pitch Wednesday night’s game on extended five days’ rest after allowing career highs in hits (nine), runs (eight) and home runs (three) in 3 2/3 innings losing at Arizona on Sept. 14.

Blue Jays: RHP Bowden Francis (8-4, 3.50) has had two no-hitters get away in the ninth inning this season, including in his previous start against the New York Mets on Sept. 11. Francis is the first major-leaguer to have that happen since Rangers Hall of Famer Nolan Ryan in 1989.

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Billie Jean King set to earn another honor with the Congressional Gold Medal

Published

6 hours ago

September 17, 2024

Anne Joseph

WASHINGTON (AP) — Billie Jean King will become the first individual female athlete to be awarded the Congressional Gold Medal.

Reps. Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania and Mikie Sherrill of New Jersey announced Tuesday that their bipartisan legislation had passed the House of Representatives and would be sent to President Joe Biden for his signature.

The bill to honor King, the tennis Hall of Famer and activist, had already passed unanimously in the Senate.

Sherrill, a Democrat, said in a statement that King’s “lifetime of advocacy and hard work changed the landscape for women and girls on the court, in the classroom, and the workplace.”

The bill was introduced last September on the 50th anniversary of King’s victory over Bobby Riggs in the “Battle of the Sexes,” still the most-watched tennis match of all-time. The medal, awarded by Congress for distinguished achievements and contributions to society, has previously been given to athletes including baseball players Jackie Robinson and Roberto Clemente, and golfers Jack Nicklaus, Byron Nelson and Arnold Palmer.

King had already been awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2009. Fitzpatrick, a Republican, says she has “broken barriers, led uncharted paths, and inspired countless people to stand proudly with courage and conviction in the fight for what is right.”

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Account tweaks for young Instagram users ‘minimum’ expected by B.C., David Eby says

Published

6 hours ago

September 17, 2024

Anne Joseph

SURREY, B.C. – Premier David Eby says new account control measures for young Instagram users introduced Tuesday by social media giant Meta are the “minimum” expected of tech companies to keep kids safe online.

The parent company of Instagram says users in Canada and elsewhere under 18 will have their accounts set to private by default starting Tuesday, restricting who can send messages, among other parental controls and settings.

Speaking at an unrelated event Tuesday, Eby says the province began talks with social media companies after threatening legislation that would put big tech companies on the hook for “significant potential damages” if they were found negligent in failing to keep kids safe from online predators.

Eby says the case of Carson Cleland, a 12-year-old from Prince George, B.C., who took his own life last year after being targeted by a predator on Snapchat, was “horrific and totally preventable.”

He says social media apps are “nothing special,” and should be held to the same child safety standards as anyone who operates a place that invites young people, whether it’s an amusement park, a playground or an online platform.

In a progress report released Tuesday about the province’s engagement with big tech companies including Google, Meta, TikTok, Spapchat and X, formerly known as Twitter, the provincial government says the companies are implementing changes, including a “trusted flagger” option to quickly remove intimate images.

— With files from The Associated Press

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 17, 2024

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