Predators: Home-made Monsters

In virtually every city of every nation lurks predators. They stalk us, our children, our wives, our loved ones, and sometimes, they are successful in their predatory actions. We become their victim.

Virtually every day of every week, some ordinary citizen falls prey to one of these predators. We lament the loss of another life, we weep and wail, and our hearts break as we anguish over the brutal rape, or kidnapping or murder, or other violent predatory action that has befallen someone amongst us.

But, it happens again, later, to someone else. Then again. And again. Over and over, we read or hear about another victim amongst us.

You would like to think that brilliant minds have been coming up with solutions. They haven’t. It turns out, most of them aren’t so brilliant. Worse, those who have come up with solutions find their solutions are not acceptable to a certain segment of the world’s society—especially large (and powerful) segments of American and European society.

Sexual predators are on the rise around the world. In America alone, between 1980 and 1986, the number of sexual abuse cases involving children tripled, and today, there are more than 300,000 child sexual abuse reports investigated annually in our nation. [1] One incredible statistic published in 2001 in the Annual Review of Sociology, and shown in the U.S. Bureau of Justice statistics, [2] noted that for all kinds of violent crime in the year 1998, including sexual assaults, 87.9 of every one thousand adolescents between the ages of twelve to fifteen became victims.

It gets worse for teenagers between the ages of sixteen and nineteen, who suffer from a violent crime at the rate of 96.2 for every one thousand of them. Indeed, their numbers rose to over 123 per one thousand teens in 1995, but dropped steadily afterwards. In the year 2005, the number was down to 44.3 victims of a violent crime per one thousand teens between the ages of sixteen and nineteen.

Those numbers might sound really great, until you do the math on them. If you look closer at those numbers, that means that out of 1000 children from the ages sixteen to nineteen, approximately 44 of them will, at some point in time during those years, suffer from some kind of violent crime, including sexual assaults and murder. To really comprehend the significance of those numbers, we must look at the U.S. Census Bureau tables which tell us that there were, in the 2000 Census, 21,324,186 children between fifteen and nineteen years age. [3] Statistically, we can say approximately .04% of those children are going to be victimized during those years. That translates to 852,967 children becoming victims of a violent crime—often a sexually violent crime— in a single year. That is a staggering amount of children who have become victims of a predator. And, that’s only one age bracket. Truly, our children are suffering. They are being assaulted from a wide array of predators, while society is in a moral stupor—deaf and dumb to it all.

But, we adults fare little better.

If you leap forward to those who are between the ages of 35 to 49, the statistics show 17.6 of every 1000 in that age bracket are victims of a violent crime. In terms of population, that translates to a staggering 1.17 million men and women who will be victims of a violent crime during those years. For those of us over the age of fifty, to the age of sixty-four, 11.4 out of every thousand will be victims of a violent crime. That translates to 593,567 men and women in that age bracket who will fall victim to a violent crime. That’s over a half million of us. So, do the math for just those three age brackets alone and you have, from just that portion of the population, 2,616,534 men, women, and teens, who, in a single year, will be a victim of a violent crime. And, the numbers for the population as a whole is even worse, because in 2005, the government shows that 21 American citizens out of every 1000 suffered from a violent crime in that year. That means that out of a population of approximately 296,507,061, somewhere in excess of 6 million of us suffered from a violent crime. Six million. That’s a six with six zeros after it!

Is it any wonder that we live in a state of fear, that the older citizens are perpetually nervous, and that millions of women are too frightened to even stay alone at home with the kids at night when the husband must be gone? In a nation with almost 17 thousand (17,000) murders a year (that’s like having six September 11’s strung together in a single year), we are a nation paralyzed with fear. Our children are being assaulted, raped, murdered, kidnapped, and we are being stalked by predators that live next door. The predator numbers have risen as the population has increased. More and more deviant behavior patterns are emerging. More and more “crazies” are showing up. We’re seeing the real-life Freddie Krueger’s come into our neighborhoods.

We keep wondering, “Why? Why us? Why is this happening?”

There are answers, but most don’t want to hear those answers, don’t want to believe those answers, and even if they do believe them, they don’t want to take the steps necessary to stop the nightmares visiting on our streets on a daily basis. Ironically, our behavior, as a society, is akin to those who are addicted to Crystal Methamphetamine. Even though our skin is blotchy, reddened and scabbed over, and our ability to chew our food is diminished because our teeth are starting to loosen, and though we live through hundreds of Nightmares on Elm Streets, we can’t—and will not—escape.

A Parallel

There is an interesting parallel to our societal behavior with respect to our refusal to remedy the problem of predators, and someone addicted to “crystal meth.” First of all, virtually all of the meth made today is “home-made” (and illegal). It is a stimulant to the central nervous system, giving an adrenaline-like rush to the brain and spinal cord. Our body has neurotransmitters—chemical substances—which are used to communicate to the body, transmitting information that influences our moods, thinking, and other systems in the body.

Meth provides an overload of stimulation, such that individuals high on “crystal meth” have a feeling of power and invincibility. But, in reality, they are completely unaware of the deterioration of their intellectual abilities, the drastic diminishment of their physical abilities, and even oblivious to their horrid appearance. They begin to live in a fantasy world, oblivious to everything except their need for the drug. They will sacrifice anything they own (or that you own) in order to supply their habit.

We’re so much like these meth addicts—so very much.

Sadly, we don’t even know it.

Have you ever wondered why it is there are so many “Weirdos” out there? Have you ever given thought to the reasons why there are such a large number of individuals who seem to have no conscience, and who seem to be completely without feelings? They have no sorrow for their crimes—only sorrow for being caught. They have no remorse. They can brutalize a child, yet feel only pleasure and a feeling of empowerment. They never identify with their victim, never wonder at the terror of their victim, and never consider the absolute nightmare of horror that destroyed their victim’s mind and life after they were done with them. Have you ever wondered how that is possible? Have you wondered why the numbers of such freakish individuals is rising? Is there some kind of Freak School or Monster 101 class for such beings? Where is the factory for these aliens, these apparent sub-human species?

There is such a “school,” and there are “lessons” being taught to these monsters, these predators who stalk us and our children. But, I’m also convinced that we—as a society—are unwilling to shut the “schools” down. In fact, we’re willing to supply the “monsters” (from our own homes) and we’re willing to supply the victims (from our own homes), but we’re not willing to shut down the training centers.

We’re very much like many of the Muslim countries who are in a quandary similar to our own. The Saudis have long had schools in which Wahhabism is taught. This is a “brand” of Islam that teaches rigid and strict of interpretations of the Koran (Curan, or al-quran). The teachers of Wahhabism inculcate young minds with these teachings that are merely a religious version of Nazism. These teachings are delivered non-stop, inculcating the minds of the young Muslims with a hatred for all things Christian, Western, and Jewish. Shortly after the September 11, 2001 attacks on America, the United States government began pressuring Saudi Arabia to eliminate its educational material that demonizes Christians and Jews, or that urges “jihad”—holy war—on “unbelievers.” Saudi officials gave much assurance that such had been done, but evidence from some sources, suggests otherwise.

There is, in Saudi Arabia, a “head knowledge” of the need for such reform, but there appears to be an absence of political will. In order to eliminate the Wahhabism teachings, or even reform them, the Saudi government would pit itself against very powerful imans (Muslim clerics presumably able to lead others in all aspects of life, and thus, given enormous respect by the populace.). These imans, if roused, could threaten the political life of the powerful House of Saud.

The Saudi Ambassador to the United States, Prince Turki al-Faisal, noted that reforms had been made with respect to the training of the teachers and in the messages “given to children in the formative years,” and added that it was done “for our own security and our own educational standard.” [4] However, The Center for Religious Freedom at Freedom House studied some of the textbooks used in the Saudi public schools and disputed the assertions of the Saudi officials.

Nina Shea, the director of the center, noted that the textbooks reflected “an ideology of hatred against the other, against Christians, Jews, other Muslims—for instance, Shiites and the majority Sunni Muslims—and all others who do not subscribe to the Wahhabi doctrine,” and even taught that Christians and Jews are ‘apes and pigs;’ and, they issued a dire warning not to befriend or even respect non-believers. [5]

In America, we’re faced with the same problem, and we’re dealing with the problem very much like the Saudi government dealt with the problem of Wahhabism. We know we’ve got a problem with crime and that violent predators are on the increase. We know that there are “crops” of these maniacs being grown within our borders. We know they are coming out of training well-versed in the killing arts, and that they are skilled manipulators, and that they are as addicted to their lust for their crimes as a “crystal meth”addict.

So, what are we doing to stop them?

Well, we’re trying to stop them by enacting new laws—stricter laws, which sweep broader, and which increase the penalties. But, it was always against the law to molest a child, or rape a woman, or murder a citizen. We’ve thought, somehow, that passing legislation will stop these predators. It is a band-aid, nothing more. Sure, Megan’s Law [6] is a good thing—as well as other legislation—and it has helped identify and locate predators, but it still will not stop a predator. Once that mind is “bent” into a predatory pretzel, no legislation is going to unbend it.

In Order to Stop the Predators

In order to stop the predators, we’ve got to stop their minds from getting “bent.” We’ve got to stop their psyches from being inculcated with the mind-bending images and scenarios that are crammed into them from birth. We’ve got to make it a crime, or at least a violation of civil law, to “bend” the mind and psyche of a child. (You’d think that would be a no-brainer.)

We have to stop the invasion of their minds by the Death Gamers and the Hollywood violence and porn factories which depict sex and violence in such a way as to interfere with the central nervous system, and which desensitize humans so as to eradicate their normal, ordinary emotions, turning them into beasts of prey without morals, without feelings, and possessed of a seared conscience. The pornography factories, under the guise of “freedom of speech,” have caused the rape and destruction of countless lives and ruined marriages by causing men to compare their wives to a fantasy. They have embedded images in the minds of impressionable young men, and older men—images that many of them these individuals cannot eradicate, creating urges they cannot control, and driving them to seek a pleasurable release akin to what they’ve witnessed hundreds, if not thousands, of times on a screen. They seek an illusion, even as the meth addict seeks his or her illusion of power and pleasure.

The invasion of the minds of so many of these children is causing us to grow up generations of warped, perverted, and emotionally damaged men and women. They are unaware of the serious re-wiring that has gone on in their minds and their emotional psyche. Those that are in their family often don’t see the trauma that has taken place until it’s too late. Sometimes, it’s only when they turn a fantasy into a nightmare for someone that people suddenly realize little Jimmy “really had some problems, but golly-gee-whiz, I never thought they were this bad.”

Realize that not all children are the same and do not have the same minds, nor the same backgrounds, nor the same emotional temperaments. Some of them come from homes and environments that are already cauldrons of scalding waters of life. Add to that, images of violence that are so powerful and radical that they indelibly permeate and imprint a mind and psyche that is already weakened, and you have the perfect specimen for the role of Freddie.

You think it isn’t possible? You think watching hour-upon-hour of graphic violence and sex, and minimizing moral values to the point of non-existence, does not sear a conscience, and that it does not create lasting, motivational impressions upon minds—especially young minds? Well then, I suggest you ask Anheuser-Busch why it bought 10 advertising spots for Super Bowl XLI (the same number it purchased for the Bowl game the year earlier). [7] Ad rates were pegged at $2.6 million for a 30-second spot. And, while it is probable that they were able to get the rates down a bit, one still must wonder why it is that any business would be willing to spend that kind of money on just 30 seconds of advertising if it didn’t work.

Do you understand what advertising really is about? Do you comprehend the nature of advertising? In simple terms, advertising is the effort by a company to place their product before your eyes with the express purpose of influencing you favorably towards their product, and for the ultimate goal of inducing you to purchase their product. And, these guys think that in 30 seconds, they can induce enough people to like their product and to buy it, to justify spending millions on that short span of advertising time.

They are willing to bet millions of dollars on their ability to shape the minds of millions of people in 30 seconds of time. It must work, else they’d not be coming back again and again. Busch came back. So did CareerBuilder.com, General Motors, and Pepsi-Co. These companies also bought more than one spot of advertising time.

But, some of you would try and argue that sitting a child—especially an emotionally stressed child—in front of a television, or video game, or movie screen, or computer, and exposing that mind to exciting, thrilling, chilling, and breath-taking scenes of violence and gore and sex for hours—not just 30 seconds—somehow does nothing to the psyche and mind of that child. What colossal ignorance and arrogance!

If you don’t believe there is a link in the steady stream of graphic violence and pornography that is flooding our world, then you’re (a) not well read; and (b) not a critical thinker; and (c) were terrible as a child trying to connect dots (no doubt you still color outside the lines).

The Link Between Graphic Violence and Real Violence

In 1995, Frontline did a documentary entitled “Does TV Kill?” Reporter Alan Austin and a crew (which included psychologist Leonard Eron) went to Hudson, New York to interview, observe and film people—particularly children—to study their behavior and attitudes about watching television. [8] The hour-long documentary was very revealing.

The crew targeted several volunteer families in the town and trained their cameras on those who watched television. Eron had done similar work in 1960, finding then that the children who watched violent programs were more aggressive in school. He returned in 1971 and 1980, re-interviewing the same subjects. He found that those who had absorbed a substantial amount of violent television programming, had problems with violence in their late adolescence and early adulthood. Indeed, these individuals had more interaction with the police, having substantially more arrests and criminal convictions, were more aggressive within the confines of their homes, and, significantly, had children who were more aggressive. [9]

One rather stunning scene in the documentary came near the end of the program when a young boy, standing with his parents, was asked what he’d do if offered one million dollars to give up watching television. Without any hesitation, he rejected it. His mother, her voice ringing with disbelief, said, “Not even for a million?” When asked why, his response was to the effect that there would be nothing else to do. Clearly, this child represents the attitudes of millions. They’re addicted to a drug that’s not taken with a needle, but is taken directly into the mind, and its effect is akin to a drug in that it substantially alters the mind, alters the attitudes, alters perceptions, and even affects the children physically. One estimate made by researchers in the early 1990’s found that by the time a child left elementary school, he or she had seen 8,000 murders and over 100,000 acts of violence. [10]

Parts of Eron’s studies revealed a large segment of children who had become physically inactive from watching television, i.e., these children are seldom found outside playing, but are often found in front of the television set. To say that television watching is not addictive is simply not a statement that can be made with any credibility. It is addictive, it is psychologically debilitating, and physically harmful, and has also been shown to negatively affect the family relationships . [11] Moreover, studies have linked sexually suggestive programs with sexual behavior by children, as well as an increased sexual awareness that has lead to teen pregnancies. [12]

Bok Sessela’s excellent book, “Mayhem,” revealed an enormous amount of data in studies that clearly shows there is a definite link to the images being poured into the minds of our children on a regular basis, and that this is directly affecting our society in negative fashion. She showed how the research reveals that a rather dramatic desensitization has been taking place in our society. We are bombarded hourly with reality tv, showing crime scenes, murders, catastrophes, and a myriad of other actual events that, over time, tend to give what Sessela calls “compassion fatigue.” [13] After awhile, people who see so much violence, so much horror, and so much catastrophe, shut themselves off emotionally. One can only shed so many tears, can only be horrified so long, and eventually, a numbness comes to that person. The barriers come up and the emotions are “dumbed down.”

If a 30 second commercial can impact millions of minds, there is surely an incalculable measure of damage done, and being done, to tens of thousands of children and adults on a daily basis. Some of those children can’t handle it, can’t deal with the overload, and we suddenly experience a Columbine, or another senseless, brutal act somewhere by an adult (who once was a child whose mind was being fed this garbage), and we gasp, “Why? How can we stop this?”

I contend that it is this assault upon our emotions and minds which has brought us remorseless killers—men and women who do despicable acts that horrify us, that make us wonder how any human could do such a thing. But, when one considers the torrent of media material—television drama, videos, games, movies, and even the news—that sweeps into the minds of millions like a tsunami invading an occupied village, it is no wonder that some minds cannot handle it. Overload of the senses brings a numbing to the psyche. Add to that, life’s ordinary traumas, like sickness, poverty, peer pressure, and merely growing up, and you have the conditions ripe for the “Perfect Killer” who will, in a storm of violence, one day pay back to society what it gave him or her: pain, murder, mayhem, and violence.

Why Can’t We Stop?

How interesting it is to me, our reaction to 9-11 and our reaction to millions of murders that happen on an annual basis in our nation. I’m rather stunned that we can accept violent acts of crime, including sexual assaults, of over a half a million—852,967—of our children, aged 15 to 19 years of age, in a single year’s period of time. We are willing to accept those losses. There are few headlines, except where there is a Columbine-type incident, of the horrendous numbers of our children being victimized. Ah, but let some terrorists kill only a small fraction of that number (approximately .003%—less than 1/10th of 1%), and it traumatizes a nation and sent it into a political storm of legislation.

I suggest that we adults, as a nation, have become so addicted and accustomed to absorbing the graphic violence, the graphic pornographic and sexual material, and the daily diet of “hard news” that we cannot turn it off. We are addicted, but we refuse to acknowledge it. We can’t pull Johnnie and Julie away from the tv set because we’re so addicted to it ourselves, we can’t justify denying them their pleasure. And, of course, there’s the “ignorance factor,” which accounts for the rest of the reasons why we can’t stop. Some are willingly ignorant, refusing to entertain for a second that they might be an enabler to the Monster Factory by pre-approving the lessons, paying for them, providing the equipment and housing for the school, and even supplying the student.

I suggest there are deeper reasons, as well, for our inability to stop the Kruegeristic-Wahhabism floods of gore and filth that come pouring into our minds and the minds of our children. Can it be that the moguls who brought us such “entertainment” and who have reaped the measureless profits from it all, are themselves so addicted to their wealth, their craft, their position of power and influence, and their own fare, that they are as unable to pull themselves away from the poisonous teat, even as we are? It would seem to be so. Or, do you know of a Hollywood producer who has suddenly said, “Enough! I will no longer produce trash that merely feeds the appetite for violence and sex. I will seek to feed the soul, the intellect, and the spirit. Know any of those? Perhaps there are a handful of them. But, surely their numbers are few, and their profits are surely not soaring as usual.

They could still have enormous profits, if they would pull away. Mel Gibson proved that. He showed that one could produce a movie that, while violent, was not done gratuitously, was far more than entertainment, was edifying, and reached out on a spiritual plane to the audience, rather than seeking to press all of the “pleasure buttons” of an audience, or trying to thrill the viewers with cheap violence, or seeking to please them with graphic sexual content. Gibson’s film, The Passion, made many millions, and is still making money today.

Unless our nation begins to pay attention to the producers of the hideous games and movies, and acts aggressively, as a society, to restrict the freedom to destroy minds—some have erroneously called it “freedom of speech—we will, as a society, continue to have our nightmares visit us, but not on Elm street. They will reach into our homes—our neighborhoods, our street. Eventually, you will be hit. Statistically, the odds are increasing that you’re going to be a victim of a violent crime. It isn’t just going to be the children—it’s going to be your children. And you.

We must act to curb the so-called “freedom” of the producers of mind-warping materials that are causing men to rape our daughters and wives, and molest and murder our children. We must act to protect our society against those who are causing our children to turn into mental and emotional zombies, unable to clearly reason, and able only to follow desires created by the psychological imprinting done by those who are driven by dreams of staggering wealth who are willing to leave us with nightmares of hideous death. They laugh all the way to the bank as they take some of our children and turn them into Freddie Kruegers and turn our lives into nightmares. What fools we are to permit it.

You know I’m right.

Terrorists killed around 3000 of our citizens in a single year, in one act of violence. We passed legislation and made fundamental changes to our entire governmental systems, from the federal to the state and city level of government. We had sweeping debates, and our vigilance was heightened to unprecedented levels. We even had colored lights to warn us at what stage of alert we should be.

But, when over half a million of our children are hurt, no lights flash, no news bulletins come across the bottom of the television screen. Nothing. Just silence. No congressmen are gathered on the Front Lawn for a news conference to tell us how urgent it is we get out of our neighborhood before Freddie arrives. No congressional calls are made for sweeping legislation to stop those responsible for the unleashing of mass destruction of lives. (You do realize that nearly 17,000 murders is “mass destruction,” don’t you?) I don’t see any alerts come on the television. No condition red. Not orange. Nothing. Just business as usual. We send troops over to Iraq to fight some real-life Freddies, monsters, murderous goons and thugs who want to mass-murder us and even their own innocents who are mere bystanders, and after fewer deaths than caused by the 9-11 attacks, our nation went into an apoplectic, political frenzy.

However, over 17,000 of us can be murdered and over 6 million of us are attacked, and there’s a deafening silence, even from the pontificators who sit as Lords on the High Court of Public Opinion, declaring to us what “the news” really is and really means. Their silence is deafening. No marches by Jesse Jame…uh, Jackson. No sharp tons of babbling flesh telling us we have to stop these violent attacks on black teens. No frenzied editorials from editors in New York who apparently don’t have the time to care about mass destruction of humanity. No talking political heads making the rounds. No congressional mandates. No calls for the heads of Hollywood, nor Justice Department indictments of the Death Gaming Industry, and no cabal of lawyers demanding justice. Just silence.

Even silence from the ACLU, those pretenders of the protection of our “freedoms,” but who haven’t the common sense to comprehend that there is no exercise of freedom in death. There are no liberties to defend, nor freedoms to exercise, nor appeals to write in hell.

Freddie’s coming to your neighborhood. Like it or not, he’s coming.

You’ll wish then that those who numbed the mind of your child, or whoever is the sudden, in-your-house-nightmare, had been put out of business and not been allowed to destroy the mind that destroyed your life.

How I wish I were wrong.

Voyle A. Glover

http://brevia.com

Copyright 2007
http://brevia.com/General/predators.htm

Stop Sexual Predators from destroying a child’s life and your church. Order the book by Attorney Voyle A. Glover “Protecting Your Church Against Sexual Predators”

[1] These are statistics I gathered in the research for my book, Protecting Your Church Against Sexual Predators, (Kregel, 2005)

[2] See BJS, http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/glance/tables/vagetab.htm

[3] US Census Bureau, http://www.census.gov/popest/national/asrh/NC-EST2006-sa.html

[4] O’Hara, Vicky, Saudi Textbooks Still Teach Hate, Group Says, http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5426633

[5] Id.

[6] The brutal rape and murder of 7 year old Megan Kanka by a convicted child molester who was living in the neighborhood created such an outrage that eventually, a federal law was passed in 1996 requiring sex offenders to register and communities to be notified of their presence. Registration was already a requirement, but now, notice was required. Eventually, all states passed a “Megan’s Law” providing for registration and notice, and today, due to other legislation, most states post the identities and locations of all registered sex offenders within the state.

[7] La Monica, Paul R., “Super Prices for Super Bowl ads,” CNN, Money, January 3 2007, http://money.cnn.com/2007/01/03/news/funny/superbowl_ads/index.htm

[8] For more information on the documentary, including information on how to order the documentary, go to the following PBS website: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/teach/tvkillguide.html

[9] Eron, Leonard D., “The Impact of Television Violence,” testimony on behalf of the American Psychological Association before the Senate Committee on Governmental affairs, June 1992. Congressional Record, vol 88, 1992, p. s8539; Eron, Leonard D., “Relationship of TV Viewing Habits, and Aggressive Behavior in Children,” Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, vol. 67 (1963), pp. 193-96; Eron, Leonard D. and Huesmann, L. Rowell, “Television Violence and Aggressive Behavior,” Advances in Clinical Child Psychology, Benjamin B. Lahey and Alan E. Kazdin, eds., (New York: Plenum Press, 1984), vol. 7, pp. 35-55.

[10] Hamburg, David, “Today’s Children,” (New York: Times Books, 1992), p. 192.

[11] Sissela, Bok, “Mayhem,” (Addison-Wesley 1998), pp. 53-54 – this an excellent resource for anyone seriously wondering about the harmful effects of violence and sexual material being poured into the minds of our society. I highly recommend this book.

[12] Id., p. 54

[13] Id., p. 68

Copyright 2007 Voyle A. Glover