tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8088717.post8111296153173347634..comments2023-10-18T02:03:42.145-07:00Comments on LEARNING TO LIVE FREE: Rape Culture in Tysford and ElsewhereUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8088717.post-56632640123365171042016-06-18T14:46:14.959-07:002016-06-18T14:46:14.959-07:00In my view Laestadians are conditioned from birth ...In my view Laestadians are conditioned from birth to repress and/or avoid their true feelings and emotions or to expose the truth about criminal behavior. There seems to be three unwritten ways for a guilty party to avoid criminal accountability. Confession of sins is the first avenue of truth suppression within Laestadian circles, especially when some one is trying to avoid a prison sentence. The second avenue to avoid criminal charges is the shame on the victim's part about having their name smeared and maligned in church gossip circles. A third more insidious way of avoiding accountability is based on the perpetrators perceived socio-economic standing within the church. Just as the secular 'world' meets out punishment differently based on one's standing in society, so too does one's standing in local Laestadian circles influence the possibilities of punishment if confession and shaming the victim were not enough. It usually takes a very large infraction of the law in order to goad Laestadians into pursuing legal action against a member as problem avoidance and suppression are the norms of the culture to start with. I read recent news report about a large Laestadian Ponzi Scheme where church members life savings were wiped out. The end result showed that victims went or are going through the three stages-some thought confession was enough, others were too ashamed to go public and still others did not want to do anything based on the standing of the alleged perpetrator. Old APAnonymousnoreply@blogger.com