me: >> [interestingly, the way that the SWP functionary's way of handing >> accusations of sexual molestation are exactly the same as the Catholic >> Church's.]
Louis: > Don't believe all the bullshit you read in the NY Times. That's good advice. It applies to all news sources I've encountered. It's also good not to believe _anyone's_ memoirs. They are almost always self-serving and partly fictional. And I agree that the author of this book is likely to move in David Horrorwitz's direction, even if he does not end up exactly like that creep. Once one starts criticizing a group such as the SWP to outsiders, rewards pour in (smiles if not more) encouraging further revelations and fictional "revelations." (Hanging around with such paroled paragons of purity as Martha Stewart encourages this.) If your old comrades shun you, that can spur further movement down the Horrorwitz path (as long as other paths aren't available). (It also helps to have a character disorder, as David H. seems to have.) That said, it's _possible_ that some of the stuff that he said about the skateboard and the sexual abuse (and the response to it) actually happened. After all, no group, no matter how top-down in organization, is totally monolithic: there are local variations and differences among members. My mom told me I couldn't have a skateboard: she found that telling me that they were "unsafe" wasn't enough and had to bring in the bull. It's possible that the author's mom did the same, with different bull. BTW, I was surprised that the reviewer says at one point that the SWP "was not, and is not, a cult." The NYT's standard bullshit usually includes the accusation of cult status, especially given the fact that I've read accusations of that sort by an ex-SWPer on pen-l. -- Jim Devine / "Segui il tuo corso, e lascia dir le genti." (Go your own way and let people talk.) -- Karl, paraphrasing Dante. _______________________________________________ pen-l mailing list [email protected] https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l
