[lbo-talk] Feminism and the False Memory Syndrome

Yoshie Furuhashi critical.montages at gmail.com
Sat Oct 21 05:34:58 PDT 2006


On 10/20/06, joanna <123hop at comcast.net> wrote:
> Having faith or not having faith....Yoshie, how can this be about "faith"?

Organizations of medical, psychological, and psychiatric associations always emphasized extreme caution about "recovered memory," and, to my knowledge, they have never recommended that it alone should suffice to establish the truth of what happened. The "Satanic ritual abuse" at kindergartens and adult children's lawsuits accusing parents of sexual abuse based on "recovered memory" happened because too many people -- from legal professionals to jurors -- put blind faith in "recovered memory."

The legal tide turned, however, in the mid-1990s. Courts began to reject "recovered memory" alone in the absence of any other evidence. And a spate of lawsuits against "recovered memory" therapists by victims (both accusers and accused) of "recovered memory therapy."

Those who insist that we must have blind faith in Bettina Aptheker's "recovered memory" appear to disregard the aforementioned history.

Political repression goes out of control when people make a leap from a fact -- e.g., dangers of covert action exist; crimes of terrorism and rape, including of children, exist; and they can be difficult to prosecute -- to total suspension of skepticism, a radical downgrading of legal and scientific norms, and the conclusion that all accusations of heinous crimes, however lacking in evidence, must be believed. -- Yoshie <http://montages.blogspot.com/> <http://mrzine.org> <http://monthlyreview.org/>



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