A child sex abuse scandal the MSM ignores
“Double standard? Absolutely.”
Posted in: Media Bias
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ABC, CBS, CNN, Fox News, MSNBC, NBC: Nothing to see here; Move along, move along….. What a F!@#$%g joke!
THESE THINGS HAPPEN!?!?!?
I’m sure glad my two children aren’t attending school in LA!
That must be part of the social experience that home schoolers are missing out on.
sigh…wtf, man. wtf.
Philosophical query: is there more evil in the world now than before, or is it the same, just that we hear about it more due to our increased ability to communicate?
I believe it’s the former.
Yes, these things do happen… that is why CA had a gas chamber.
How does this conversation help Mrs O’s kids in private school?
What kind of backward, third-world, hillbilly, inbred, ignoramus would make a statement like that? Oh, LA Unified School District, nevermind.
Now could you picture the reaction if a priest said “These things happen”?
Oh come on, children are very flexible, just ask your local Iman!
js, I think most “backward, third-world, hillbilly, inbred, ignorami” would be shocked too.
While I agree that this story has been shamefully under reported by the media but Newsbusters is nuts if they think the Catholic Church scandal was blown out of proportion or overreported.
“Pedophila happens”
Great, the left has a new bumper sticker.
Rape “happens” too. So, by this logic the school system is handing out free rape kits because, as you know, we have to teach every form of vile acts to our kids (or make excuses).
… and when it does happen, it’s called statutory rape
WTF!
Even Deborah LaFave thinks this guy’s a pervert.
13 Counts. Insanity. and a young girl pregnant. LAUSD meet individuals from MichelleMalkin.com:
David L. Brewer III
Superintendent of Schools
Tel: 213-241-7000
Fax: 213-241-8442
superintendent@lausd.net
Board of Education
333 S. Beaudry Ave., 24th Floor
Los Angeles, CA 90017
Tel: 213-241-6389
Fax: 213-241-8953 or 213-481-9023
Board of Education Members
marguerite.lamotte@lausd.net
monica.garcia@lausd.net
tamar.galatzan@lausd.net
marlene.canter@lausd.net
yolie.flores.aguilar@lausd.net
julie.korenstein@lausd.net
richard.vladovic@lausd.net
Its okay, they were just living a different “lifestyle”.
Or if a Cardinal wrote a letter to a parent, saying their kid is lying about the abuse.
Oh wait, that did happen.
Yet another reason to homeschool your kids.
Okay, now how about condemning this?
Condemning what?
Rule of Thumb…
Join a Powerful Union…get away with Murder… (Or child rape evidently in this case).
Well if its that small of a matter, then the person who said, “well these things happen” probably would mind the teacher “instructing” thier children.
mookie, are you trying to equate all preists with those ones? If that standard is acurate then all teachers are sleeping with thier students. The teachers union may be a tad upset.
md1964, Its no big deal, it happens all the time, whatever fits your “lifestyle”.
This is horrible, but saying there’s a double standard at work is lunacy.
The Catholic Church is responsible for the abuse of thousands upon thousands of children.
Los Angeles has one of the biggest school districts in the country. Well, yeah, they do. It’s unacceptable and anyone found to have put a child in danger should be fired and/or jailed.
But the Catholic Church had the biggest pedophilia scandal in the history of time on their hands. So, yeah, there’s going to be more coverage, don’t you think?
These things happen?
Is that so?
Saying something like that makes it seem accidental, like some small facet of life that can’t be avoided.
“John was in an accident on the highway today, completely blindsided.”
“Yeah, these things happen.”
There is nothing in the world that angers me or gets me as fired up as to hear of someone hurting a child. This whole thing is inexcuseable. Heads should roll for this.
Child abuse and sexual assault DONT JUST HAPPEN.
Stopping now before I post things that get me banned.
I would like to see him put into jail for aiding and abetting, and then while in jail have the inmates they happen that these things happen … when you are in jail.
Hardly. What I’m saying is that I think Newsbusters is trying to make the case that the Catholic Church scandal was overblown and I strongly disagree. I also think the fact that what’s going on in Los Angeles has received only local news coverage is appalling.
I see. So you do not read the thread just make jabs at those of us who do?
I get it: “These things happen”
Well it will take a few days to “manifest”, but the MSM will be forced to address this.
Thank you Madam Hostess.
Funny, but I have noticed a 72 hr. delay between the time a story hits the blogs, & the MSM picks up on it… maybe 48 hrs. in this case… sex sells.
If you are going to paint with such a broad brush, then why not say the Democratic Party is responsible for the decay and crime in the inner cities. These cities are managed by the Democrats right?
Apparently you missed my comment at #11.
I love how the author in that link uses a 1986 case to make his case that LA schools have a consistent problem with this.
Meanwhile, the Catholic Church had this problem in 1986. And 1985. And 1997. And 1964. Pretty much throughout the last 50 years.
It’s not the same, and shame on NewsBusters for trying to equate the two situations.
Mookie:
Once again justifying bad behavior by pointing to other bad behavior.
How does this help Michelle Obama’s children…Oh right, they don’t attend public schools in LA.
Wrong Rusty. You think this is the only school district that is having this
problemhappening? Where I live, they have just arrested a guy for multiple counts as well. If the press gave as much attention to schools/districts as they did to the Catholic Church, we would all be shocked.Mookie, The difference is the conservative church was roasted for compariatively few cases over an extended period, whereas the liberal teachers were almost ignored by comparison for more cases per time period that the church had. My opinion is that they all should be given girls names and released into general population. There should be no difference in the coverage and there seems to be a difference. But opinions are like as… errrr noses, everyone has one.
I apologize Mookie I did. I am good about reading all comments. I just missed it. Sorry.
#34 and now we know why.
If only women could be public school teachers! If only public school teachers could marry!
Oh, wait…
The ephebophilia carried out in the Catholic Church was done by a minority of people who - surprise, surprise - displayed a strong disdain and outright disobedience for Church teaching on things like sexuality, the all-male celibate priesthood, and 99% of the Catechism of the Catholic Church.
I find the scandal appalling and hold accountable those who perpetuated and covered up the abuse. But it’s disingenuous (at best) - and a downright ignorant lie at the worst - to claim it’s a problem with the Church as a whole when the evidence points to a subset of liberal priets, bishops, and theological laity who ignored, denied, and disobey Church teaching.
As I’ve said in other threads, read Goodbye, Good Men by Michael S. Rose. Very eye-opening. And anyone who wants to debate this issue has an obligation to get their facts straight before tossing out accusations.
Am I missing something here? The article from Newsbusters talks about a double standard. My posts have been in response to that article and so far, I’ve been accused of justifying and condoning what’s happening in Los Angeles. That’s a mindblowing leap in logic.
What’s happening in Los Angeles is disgusting and deserves much more media coverage than is being given. But I disagree when Newsbusters says things like, “Where’s the national media on this current scandal? By comparison, look at how the media has covered decades-old allegations of sexual abuse by clergy of the Catholic Church. Since 2002, the coverage has been voluminous and incessant.”
Fine. But I tend to agree with it.
Oh, and to emphasize it:
A Google search of “Catholic Church” “sex abuse” yields 989,000 results.
A Google search of “public schools” “sex abuse” yields 80,000 results.
I still can’t believe I read this irresponsible comment by this arrogant employee of this negligent and criminal school system. Here is hoping the MSM starts to pick this up (or at least Fox News) over the next 48 – 72 hour lag that brooklyn red pointed out in post #30.
“If the
glove don’t fitrobe don’t reach the floor,you mustacquitignore!”It is not just happening in LA. That is the point. If the MSM gave as much attention to the abuses in schools as they did to a religious organization, the scandal would be as far reaching.
Schools = local coverage
Church = national coverage
I am with that.
No worries.
The last thing I would want anyone to think is that I somehow condoned what’s happening in Los Angeles. I think Louisiana has the right idea: the death penalty for child rapists.
Or did some of this come about because the kids figured out that when they said they were sexually abused their teacher got yanked from the classroom?
I guess you’re ok with just making stuff up then. Either you are being willfully ignorant or you’re lying.
The Catholic Church was rightfully hung under the coals. It went all the way to Pope John Paul II when he promoted someone who actively hid pedophiles in various parishes.
When 4% of all LA teachers are accused of pedophilia, then we can talk.
Well, schools are local and the Church is global.
Still, 4% of American teachers are not accused of pedophilia.
If there was a large organization where 4% of the employees were accused of child abuse, trust me, you’d be hearing about it.
On May 19th, 2008 at 4:55 pm, Azygos said:
Or did some of this come about because the kids figured out that when they said they were sexually abused by a priest
their teacher got yanked from the classroomthey were awarded huge court settlements and would never have to worry about working a day in their lives??Thanks. Agreed only after castration and a very short trial (in case - like in S.C. where they let the guy off). At least he would not be a repeat offender.
Of course this type of abuse is appalling and disgusting.
Of course Mr. “These things happen”, needs a good beatdown, or at the very least a strong shaking.
Of course it’s also very cheap and tacky to make a cheap political point with child abuse as a basis.
Of course comparing the abuse in this school district to the abuse perpetrated and condoned by the highest levels of of the Catholic church is misguided and like comparing an apple to an appletree. Shame on Newsbusters.
If they really wanted to make their cheap political point, they should base it on the lack of coverage for situations like in L.A., versus the media salivating over news of female teachers doing teenage boys. This especially holds true if the teacher is allegedly “hawt”.
Quit spinning it, and own it, fix it, and don’t let it happen at that type of scale ever again.!!!!! Comparing it to some pervs in L.A., just looks pathetic.
Well, schools are local and the Church is global.
Exactly.
Rusty, reports indicate the abuse experienced by school children throughout the nation is worse than the Catholic Church:
From Newsmax:
Not that this in any way justifies any abuse, but don’t pretend this isn’t a severe problem in public schools.
Abusers find ways to target the objects of their perverted desires - be it in schools or church.
Not to mention that these guys were homosexuals.
Rusty, we all know you are for sex in every case and sex is your favorite subject. This is just sick. So, since schools are local and only local coverage is deemed necessary, how would we get national/global figures to help you understand how reaching this problem is - or is it not a problem?
Rusty obviously thinks that since Catholic priest committed homosexual acts with minors, that all people should not be allowed to do the same.
And I couldn’t disagree more strongly. I went to Catholic school my entire life. Seven priests that I had either as teachers or advisers were charged with molesting children. A priest who had dinner at my home numerous times and who we considered to be part of our family was charged with abusing over a dozen children. He had been moved from parish to parish for decades. That’s just one priest. The amount of victims at the hands of Catholic priests, and those involved in the coverup, is epic.
YES! Could not agree more. There’s the real problem with the media and sex scandals.
I can agree with that.
EQ #54
Nailed it - thanks.
What about the story I linked to, Mookie?
And who knows how many kids go through the public schools, are abused, and never talk about it.
But, as usual, public schools are always the paragon of morality and the minority of priests (and, in my math, 4% is still a minority) who committed terrible acts (or covered them up) in violation of every Church teaching PROVE the Catholic Church is corrupt.
Reason will never have out here, given the inherent bias of many individuals who conveniently ignore the points I’ve made.
for rusty. Do a little research. 1-5% of teachers molest. They quit and get other jobs. The estimate is that 91% of teachers are NOT reported. Yes it is a big deal.
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=39783
This is only female teachers. Certainly not a huge sample of the teacher population, but interesting nonetheless.
Dusty, your white sheet is showing again.
Mookie is a dimwit and a liberal. Never expect a liberal to condemn the filth among his own. They don’t have the balls or honesty. Mookie is just a lib troll.
Any time a child is abused it is a big deal. However, systematic organized abuse is a bigger deal. The LA schools qualify. And, to an exponentially larger extent, the Catholic Church qualifies too.
You know what they said about Presidents Nixon and Clinton. It isn’t the crime that was the problem, it’s the cover-up.
With these scandals, it’s both. Abusive teachers are rarely protected by other organizations or by their superiors. If they’re found out, they’re gone.
With LA and, again, more obviously, the Catholic Church, you had horrible abuse and then you had a horrible cover-up. The LA cover-up has been going on since January. The Church had it going for over 50 years. Equating the two is ridiculous.
When this story broke out last month John and Ken were on like white on rice. Here in LA. Too bad the rest of the media ignored it.
Should I tell the troll that Clinton got away with the cover-up?
The Cathlic church abuses were reported appropriately. The public school abuses… very little, even though they are legion as well. Why? I believe there is a vested political interest in protecting the government school system.
DOJ statistics
http://www.cpiu.us/statistics.php
The Statistics of Teacher sexual abuse to Students
• The best estimate is that 15% of students will be sexually abused by a member of the school staff during their school career.
• Though, when the American Association of University Women Foundation surveyed more than 1,600 students in eighth through 11th grade, 25 percent of the girls and 10 percent of the boys who said they had been harassed or abused said the harasser was a school employee.
• The number of K-12 public and private school students in 1996 who have been or will be sexually abused by a member of the school staff is nearly 7 million of 51,331,000.
• Between 1% and 5% of teachers sexually abuse or harass students.
• At least a quarter of all school districts in the United States have dealt with a case of staff sexual abuse in the past ten years.
• Most cases of sexual abuse of students by teachers are never reported.
• In nearly half of the cases, suspects were accused of abusing more than one student.
• Only two cases were cases of false accusations; less than 1 percent of the cases studied.
• No type of school was immune to abuse: public or private, religious or secular, rich or poor, urban or rural.
Responses to Allegations of Sexual Abuse of Students by Staff
• 38.7% of the teachers resigned, left the district, or retired
• 17.5% were spoken to informally
• 15% were terminated or not re-hired
• 11.3% received a formal verbal or written reprimand
• 8.1% were suspended and then resumed teaching
• 7.5% were cases where the superintendent determined that the teacher hadn’t meant to sexually abuse
• Of the nearly 54% of abusers who resigned, weren’t rehired, retired, or were terminated, superintendents reported that 16% were teaching in other schools and that they didn’t know what had happened to the other 84%. All but 1% of these teachers retained their teaching license.
Teacher Student Sex Legalities
• In 20 states, it is not a crime for school employees—including teachers, administrators, and coaches—to have sex with students aged 16 and over.
• In 23 states, it is not a crime for school employees to have sex with students aged 17 and over.
• In 45 states, it is not a crime for school employees to have sex with students aged 18 and over.
• In 16 states, it is a crime for adults in a position of trust and authority—teachers, administrators, and coaches among them—to have sex with students under the age of 18.
Some big deals are more equal than others, apparently.
In case you missed it rusty
Of the nearly 54% of abusers who resigned, weren’t rehired, retired, or were terminated, superintendents reported that 16% were teaching in other schools and that they didn’t know what had happened to the other 84%. All but 1% of these teachers retained their teaching license.
:claps: for sonofdy
Facts are getting in the way of your argument though.
Church - evil
School - these things happen
Blasted gub’mint schools.
Your tax dollars at work, citizens!
The pervert teachers often retain their jobs, too. They simply get shuffled to other districts. The NEA jargon is ‘pass the trash’.
Looks like it’s time for another one of my famous gub’mint school outrage posts.
Want change?? VOTE SCHOOL VOUCHERS! - VOTE SCHOOL CHOICE!!
After all, who could be opposed to choice?
GO sonofdy, GO sonofdy, GO sonofdy, GO sonofdy, GO sonofdy, GO sonofdy
I think I am going to have a new favorite if this keeps up!
You are making me blush….
UH-OH
LB is exposing the “pass the trash” deal making. This is going to get ugly.
Thanks, sonofdy.
I appreciate your fact-finding.
If you live in Milwaukee, pretty much every liberal and Democrat throughout the state…guess it only applies to certain things, and not education.
I
I’m gonna just try to assume that you meant liberal in the sense of liberal adherence to faith, or something like that.
I just KNOW you aren’t trying to make this issue righty lefty politics with the implication being that the offending priests and bishops were political liberals. Eleventy gazillion sorrys if I’m misjudging you of making a tacky, tacky political snipe.
#48 rusty:
This is certainly an interesting subject. As long as we’re engaging in a “yeah, but…” style of discourse, I often wonder if the 4% figure would be met if other institutions (public schools, temples, other denominations besides Catholic, etc.)came under the same, deserved, 52 year scrutiny that the American Catholic Church recently underwent.
In other words, what numbers would the “John Jay Report” of other institutions disclose behind the legal, political, public + media relations and other protectionist barriers that all organizations build up?
Or is my curiosity misplaced, and has the Catholic Church been a magnet of pure anomaly amongst all social organizations over the past 52 years?
You’re accusing me of saying things that I haven’t said. I did not say the Catholic Church as a whole was corrupt. I didn’t say that and I don’t believe it. What I’ve said is that I think the amount of coverage given to the Church scandal was appropriate. I think the coverage given to sexual abuse in public schools is woefully inadequate. And when they do give it any attention, it tends to be on the salacious side. How many times have we heard about teachers having “affairs” with students? Those relationships are not affairs. It’s abuse, plain and simple.
“thousands upon thousands”
Proof please? Factual citation, not hyperbole.
And FYI, sexual abuse by teachers and family is far more common than by priests.
Its just as hideous evil and wrong. But teachers and liberals are sacrosanct in today’s media.
Yes, in this context, I am referring to LIBERAL in regards to theology and not politics.
As I said, those who perpetuated the abuse and covered it up were extremely opposed to many of the doctrines of the faith - especially celebacy and the all-male priesthood. They actively sought to undermine the Church by punishing orthodox seminarians, expelling them, blacklisting them, or forcing them to undergo psychiatric evaluations while allowing dissenters to go through and turning a blind eye to bad behavior (i.e., orgies).
Gotcha.
Thanks Englishqueen.
Hollywood Babylon has spread it’s tentacles. The is the left coast, liberal haven, anything goes, and sex is good and “normal” (even with children or farm animals.)
This is LA (welcome to the jungle), where the general population cares more about the plight of illegal immigrants and minimizing greenhouse gases, than they do about their own children. Why is anyone surprised by the lack of action by a public school district?
Suffice it to say you will not hear, or see any outrage from the notoriously loud-mouthed liberal groups on this…it’s not about Bush or the military, so it doesn’t matter!
Does anyone need further proof showing how destructive is liberalism?
Ahh rusty, did you get the info?? Rusty???
I disagree. Media coverage dictates what is heard, not statistics. People think more children die each year by gun accidents then by swimming pool accidents, more people are familiar with Matthew Sheppard than with Jesse Dirkhising, etc.
I contend that more institutions are capable of cover up than just the Catholic Church and the US Military.
Hmmmmm….wonder what the teacher’s union had to say.
These two issues aren’t comparable. The Catholic Church is a worldwide, global entity. The media is all over public school abuse at the local level in every single market.
It’s strangly abstract to expect outrage over the horrific child abuse taking place in public schools, generally, nationally. That’s like expecting outrage over abuse taking place in Little League or Pop Warner, nationally. It’s a local issue when it comes to public school.
The Catholic Church has obviously been a political, financial, and duh religious power for centuries. It’s simply a whole different animal. Higher ups in the church have aided in the relocation and coverup up of abuse in the Church on at the very least a national scale. The Catholic Church has had to pay 10s of millions in settlements because of these abuses. When a priest has a few dozen horror shows under his belt, and he’s bounced all around the country from city to city, and their is a papertrail of coverup, that is a condemnation on the Church as a whole. When a school teacher leaves one state to be a pedophile in another, it’s a condemnation on the one single jurisdiction he/she left and the one they wind up in. There is no coordination of coverup going on, just neglect, and it’s locale to locale.
I could expound on how the Catholic church is organized in a way, where the manipulator, abuser can claim to have “God on his side”, and the victim needs to trust so that he/she can enter heavan and avoid hell, making it a greater evil in the minds of most.
Child abuse is disgustingly, horrible, plain and simple, but the equating here is unnecessary, and in the end, not very equal at all.
that’s just my take, sorry about any typos…it’s dinner time.
Mookie,
The only fear I have of executing child molestors is that it makes an incentive to kill the victim. “Well if they’re going to kill me for molesting, or kill me for murder, why shouldn’t I remove the witness.”
englishqueen101,
I too have read Michael Rose’s book and it is one eye opener!
I do believe there were legitimate cases regarding the sexual abuse by priests. However with groups like SNAP out there, it has become a total witchhunt. I have witnessed two priests falsely accused by so called victims whose lives were totally destroyed. They were both investigated by independent tribunals (consisted of lay people– psychologists, police officers, social workers) and found NO evidence of abuse. The media failed to report this! One of them actually died from the stress of the situation.
Yes I do believe there is a double standard regarding reporting of Catholic priests versus public school teachers involved in bad behavior.
Good Point LiveWire.
This is the kinda carp that sends me into a blind fury, and damn fast.
These administrators betrayed those kids.
hanged, drawn and quartered.
It remains a mystery to me, why would any responsible parent, especially in liberal states/counties/cities, trust their precious children to public schools? In Texas, home schooling & private schools are the choice for more and more parents.
Nothing new here. In time the school, msm and hell the entire left must be held responsible for their actions.
The msm must have freedom of speech, I do not know how to handle them, but there is a way to hold them accountable to honesty, truth, and justice. Hey, it used to be the American way.
I’d go with both “A” & “B”, Matty; they’re not mutually exclusive.
I’m sorry, but I’m calling BS on this.
Not every Catholic, diocese, or Church was involved in the abuse. To say it’s reflective on the Church as a whole is inaccurate and sorely misguided.
#98
I don’t think anyone is suggesting that every Catholic, diocese, or church is involved in the abuse and coverup. But there was a coordinated system of coverup and relocation so as to ‘protect” the priests and “protect” the Church.
The public school system simply doesn’t work this way, and doesn’t go by the same “code” on a massive level.
The lawsuit settlements and apologies from THE ACTUAL POPE happen for a reason. Comparing the public school system and the Catholic Church is nonsensical for the reasons I stated in the prior post. It’s also unnecessary, and the only reason this thread exists is because some group wanted to take a shot at the media. This foolish debate is meaningless in every reasonable person’s concern for the abuse of children in every institution at every level