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Child sex
abuse hysteria and the Ellis case |
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The wisdom of
Gordon Waugh - Index |
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Mr Chairman, Ladies
& Gentlemen…. It's a pleasure to
visit you again, and meet up with friends. The reason I'm here is that John
Agnew and Roger Keller suggested it might be useful for you to compare notes
about how we handled the "recovered memory" fad in As far as we know,
there were no reported cases of "recovered memory" in The questions John and
Roger put to me were essentially these
: ·
What allowed the epidemic to flourish, and what caused its
death ? ·
What part did COSA play in its demise, and how did we
manage it ? I'll try to give you a
clear picture to answer those questions. As I talk, please remember that the
purpose of this address it not about telling you how to manage your affairs,
but to share our experiences with you, in the hope they will assist you in
your work During my Military
career, a requirement on our senior officer training courses was to learn a
disciplined method for solving problems and conducting military
operations. It can be applied to
virtually any situation. It certainly worked well in my business career, and
should therefore work for COSA. Its
essence is embodied in the following 8 headings : ·
Define the problem ·
Select the aim ·
Gather data ·
Assess the factors ·
Draw and test conclusions ·
Develop a Plan ·
Allocate resources, and ·
Implement the Plan. Within that general
framework, I'll give you a broad view of relevant history, comment on
development of our strategy, and explain some of the finer detail of the
tactics we employed and how we did certain jobs. I'll finish with some
suggestions you might find useful. That should take about 35-40 minutes, so
there'll be time for questions at the end. Phase I : Learning The Nature of the Beast Defining the problem is
the most difficult part. If we don't get that right, we end up helping no-one
and wasting our time and resources. The basic need was to
understand the source, extent and purpose behind this devastating problem,
and understand the climate which allowed it to flourish In the 1970's and
beyond, "victimhood" became the new fashion - fuelled, of course,
by millions of taxpayer dollars, masses of militant feminist propaganda, a
moral panic about child abuse, and the sudden and massive growth of a new
counselling industry. As the story goes,
women were politically, socially and economically dominated by the
patriarchal society. They were emancipated by suffragettes around the early
1900's. About 60 years later, radical militant feminists entered the
scene. They claimed women were
emotional, physical and sexual victims oppressed and manipulated by
predatory, domineering males. Amateur Self-help books
flooded onto the market. Departments of Women's Studies in Universities
flourished. Psychotherapists, psychologists and psychiatrists, of the
feminist and post-modern schools of thought joined the bandwagon, and
produced all sorts of weird and wonderful theories. These included "recovered
memories", MPD, Eye Wiggle
Therapy (EMDR), Body Memories, Dream Interpretation etc. They welcomed these new theories on board,
with far from adequate testing, but failed to listen to the voices of
science, reason and common sense. Women were suddenly
powerless victims again. They needed
counselling to unlock their pasts and begin to heal. They were told they
needed to be liberated and empowered. But in doing so, the feminists took
womanhood back to pre-suffragette days. Women are indeed being manipulated,
controlled and dominated - but by women, not men. Fascination with
"victimhood", and the "psychologising" of almost every
human experience, are fertile grounds for militant feminists. Their strategy
here is plain and simple - create a climate of fear - cast doubt and blame -
divide the family unit and conquer. And then the saviours come along,
claiming to have the cure for this huge problem. This is an area for which
"Recovered Memory Therapy" was tailor made. In the 80's and 90's there was a huge amount of advocacy
research being done - social engineering, if you prefer - resulting in claims
of immense amounts of sexual abuse. In these studies, it became apparent that
if you "Torture statistics long enough,
they will confess". Anyone daring to question the claims was
vilified, and was part of "the backlash". It would be a terrible
mistake, however, to underestimate the intelligence and skill of the people
driving this sort of stuff. It
requires a very significant engine-room to actually produce and market the
figures, so there is good organisation underscoring their propaganda. Recognising these
factors as a main cause, the aim is clearly to beat them at their own game by
publicly exposing the fallacies on which their claims are built. We had to work out exactly how to do
that. Phase II : Developing the Strategy We didn't just sit
around a coffee table and say "Let's form an Association". We had to develop a strategy. Objectives had to be very carefully set,
and the organisation and activities tailored to meet them. ·
We had to estimate the extent of the problem. [Gather data]. ·
Define what we needed to do, and why. [Select the
Aim]. ·
Specify our targets and decide how best to attack them,
and with what weapons. [Assess the Factors].
·
And then look at the resources needed to do this work,
what we had, and what else we required
[Resource Allocation]. ·
We needed to decide a plan of action, and how best to
implement it. [Plan & Implement].
We held Strategy
Meetings to tackle this work, using the formal technique of "brainstorming", guided by the
Problem Solving Method I mentioned.
Without taking you through the whole nine yards, the factors which
dropped out of our sessions were along these lines : ·
We needed a clear, accurate and achievable set of aims and
objectives. ·
A national body which could speak with one voice for all
of us ·
We needed support from credible and reliable professionals
- a Professional Advisory Board was
indicated ·
Intellectual capacity to research and study the scientific
and practical aspects, keep abreast of developments, and dissect advocacy
claims, theories and methods. ·
Numeracy and literacy skills in order to clearly
communicate and express the issues ·
We needed to create and sustain public debate on the
issues, and to inform and educate the public, the professionals and the
politicians ·
Identify of a lynch-pin case or situation which involved
the public interest and fired its imagination and sense of justice ·
Organised and disciplined people-power to actually do the
work involved ·
Communications between members ·
Equipment and consumables, such as computers, fax
machines, telephones ·
Finance to pay for the things we needed. ·
Support from concerned members of the public who did not
necessarily want membership of our
Association. ·
We needed an agreement on the intangible factors, such as
the will and determination to not give up, and the courage to lay our heads
and reputations squarely on the block. ·
And finally, we had to be seen as a calm, unemotional,
professional, science-based, compassionate body. We would not be sabre-rattlers. We would debate with facts and science,
and with reason, logic and common sense. We initially formed
COSA into an unregistered Association, and Incorporation followed about a
year later, in 1995. Phase III :
Business Plan Implementation The next phase was to establish
and execute a Business Plan. This is
where the real work began. I want to try and
explain the actual workings and thinking process involved, so I'll go through
some items in depth, and then reduce down to summaries of other topics. What I want you to realise, is that each
of the topics needs deep thought and consideration. Skimping will not achieve the aim. The
attack we had to mount and sustain, was on a wide frontage, but it was
focused on a small number of key issues. Organisation: Analysis of
all the factors listed in the Strategy has direct control over the shape of
the organisation required to implement the plan. It describes the work content of the organisation,
its ethics and it principles. Using
the standard hierarchy of the WHAT WHY HOW & WHEN thinking, we set ourselves three very
positive primary objectives :
We had therefore
imposed on ourselves a strict requirement to ensure that whatever we
disseminated was indeed "accurate and reliable". That needs a lot
of technical and professional skill, and the penalty, if we failed and got it
wrong, was that the people we were trying to persuade would write us off as a
bunch of rabble-rousers. The next level is
"who are we going to disseminate it to ?" The natural drop-out
answer is "To government and its agencies, the professions, and the
wider community." It's then as easy job to work out the WHEN, WHERE and
BY WHOM factors. That process was
followed throughout. We needed Professional
Skill & the Time to do technical and administrative work. A vital task
was to understand Advocacy Research and learn how to dissect and demolish
it. That is a professional task. Let me put it to you
this way. If objective scientific
research is the legitimate currency of knowledge and understanding, then
advocacy or subjective research, is bogus coin. Advocacy research uses the
same general framework as objective research, it looks the same, but
underneath, its very different. It
is very persuasive, because it plays on people's fears, and appears to give
substance to myth and legend. Some of its hallmarks
are fairly obvious: They measure a problem
so broadly, and use the widest possible definitions, so that almost any human
difficulty can be taken into account, They measure a very
small sample-group known to have the problem, and then make sweeping
generalisations to project the findings to society-at-large, They use unverified
events and assumptions as facts They ignore the
standard range of errors, and They assert that a
number of other studies and reports, with different definitions, varying
quality, and often dramatic results, form a cumulative block of evidence in
support of current claims. The touchstone of this
sort of material is the final statement which warns that “this is just the
tip of the iceberg”. In the guise of social
science, advocacy studies vastly inflate the size of problems to support
ideological causes, attract funds, and create power-bases. They are used to
influence society and to bombard the public and the policy-makers with
horrifying “statistics”, for example about sexual abuse or domestic violence.
They lionise "victimhood", and create a climate of fear,
particularly for women and children. We were extremely lucky
to have Dr Felicity Goodyear-Smith as our President. She is a highly skilled and well
qualified medical practitioner, researcher and author, very experienced in
the field of sexual abuse. She did
much of the intellectual and professional work involved in unravelling the
Gordian Knot tied by the advocates. My wife, Colleen, is
widely experienced and knowledgeable in the Secretarial and Administration
fields. I had a few skills myself, and fell naturally into the role of
planning, letter-writing, liaison and finance. We realised the job
could not be done on a part-time basis, and it was going to take years, not
months. For we three, Colleen, Felicity, and myself, COSA became a full-time
dedicated occupation. On a part-time basis,
other people contributed their not inconsiderable talents and skills,
covering a wide range of work across the country. We found that a mixture of full-time and
part-time workers met most of our needs quite well. Communications : We established a communications network
by arranging for about 20 outlying members to be our Regional representatives,
to field initial calls for help, and pass them on to us. They also took on
the task of distributing leaflets in their cities and towns. Our telephone
and Fax bills were huge. We found it useful to
talk on a very regular basis.
Sometimes, Colleen and I would simply ring around a number of members
each week, just to keep in contact.
We also had a standard "telephone tree" which works like a
chain letter. When important news
broke, the tree was triggered by
making two or three calls to contacts, who then called two or three others,
and so on. It got the news around
very quickly without repetition. It is absolutely
necessary to maintain Operational
Records. On the basis of
"People before Process" we had a primary task of helping those
affected by the epidemic. That is quite different to the technical work we
had to do. Between us, we were taking new calls for help at the rate of at
least one per day, sometimes several a day.
Felicity taught us how to deal with the people who sought help. To form a
knowledge-base and derive data we could present in our various papers and
submissions, we needed to collect specific data on each case - their
locations by city, the type, source,
nature and impact of the accusations,
historical timing, information
on the accuser, the accused and their relationship, as well as counselling information,
criminal charges (if any), and so on. Felicity set up a Confidential Database for that
purpose. If the client decided to join COSA, the name and address details
were added to my Administrative Database for membership, subscriptions,
general administration, and newsletter purposes. In a few cases, our
Regional Contacts gave wrong advice to clients, so we instituted a regime
where that advice should come from the central office. We had to ensure and promise absolute
confidentiality and privacy for people who called us. We developed a basic Operational Guide for our Regional Contacts
- nothing too flash - and a simple Client Contact Form for them to fill out
and Fax to us. That way, everything
was kept on the rails, and all the data got logged onto Felicity's Database. An information package was sent to every
caller. An off-shoot of this method was the collection of data on our
activities - for example, how many calls we fielded in particular periods
from each city. Felicity kept a list of
our public activities. For example, the number of local and
overseas conferences, symposiums and meetings attended, presentations given,
radio talks, articles and papers published, and so on. It is absolutely vital
to have all that sort of data to enable us to argue from a position of
strength, credible data and genuine knowledge. Funding: We needed funds,
but it takes time to organise that.
Initially, Colleen, Felicity and I decided to put in private funds to
get COSA up and running, and began charging an Annual Subscription for
members. We investigated how
best to get grants. In NZ there are a wide range of bodies set up as
Charitable Trusts. Most operate only inside their own Province, and a small
number cover the whole country. They are quite limited as to what activities
they will fund. Because COSA at that time was a national body, we were
restricted to the national funds providers. But we also had to
battle disbelief. Hundreds, thousands
of cases of false allegations of sexual abuse? Don’t be silly, that just can't happen!! But with the facts and data we had
collected, and dogged persistence, we did persuade them. We didn't get all we wanted by any means,
but we got enough to function reasonably well. [Here is a sample on one such funding
application - LGB] We arranged a Bequest
Form to enable people to donate parts of their estate to COSA. Another fundraising activity was
registration as a Donee Organisation, for taxation purposes, to allow people
to make tax-deductible cash donations.
Roughly one-third of our annual income was by way of donations. To further boost our income,
we decided to offer a "Subscriber" Category. Some people wanted our information and our
Newsletter, but to preserve their professional neutrality, did not want to
join COSA. The Subscriber category
incurred the same annual subscription as for members, but did not confer
membership. This attracted a number
of lawyers, psychologists, psychotherapists, and concerned citizens. Newsletters: Monthly
Newsletters formed our primary communications instrument and our main public
voice. They had to reflect our
professionalism. Felicity was the
Editor, and with her expertise, she would put in 40 or more hours a month
drafting and assembling them.
Printing and postage was a major consumer of funds, as they were sent
to politicians, news media, professionals, our members and our
Subscribers, and a host of other
people. At the peak, we were doing
close to 500 a month. Data &
History: Gathering and sorting
statistical and claims-making data was an essential and routine
activity. We built up a history by
collecting boxes and boxes of newspaper reports. We got data from ACC's Annual Reports to
Parliament, as well as from its Minister and the Corporation itself. We got crime data from Justice Dept., the
Police, and other government agencies.
And also Population data. Public & Professional Awareness: We had to raise
public and professional awareness of the issues, by talking, writing and
sending out information. It was important to have just one spokesperson, so
that the right messages were always sent. We agreed that was a job for
Felicity. This persuasion was aimed at re-balancing the climate created by
the earlier misinformation. However, there was also
a need for members to become involved by writing Letters to Editors to debate
in public the issues being raised.
Anyone can do that, provided they make certain the facts are right and
no emotive language is used. I fell
into the habit of getting Colleen and Felicity to proof read my drafts. We sent copies of our
Leaflets to every General Practitioner (around 3,000 of We sent leaflets to as
many criminal lawyers as we could find. We contacted the Head Office of the
Citizen's Advice Bureau and arranged for a listing in all their 96 offices
throughout the country, and supplied and kept re-supplying them, with our
Leaflets. Members up and down the
country put Leaflets in public places eg Courtrooms, public libraries,
supermarkets, local noticeboards, Churches, community rooms, service clubs,
sports clubs, and anywhere they could
find. To have a very direct
presence, we three core members gave presentations to various community
groups, went on National Radio and Talkbacks, as well as on TV documentaries
and current affairs programs. They are very powerful media. We had various articles published in
magazines and newspapers. Felicity continued to be published in professional
journals at home and abroad. The aim was to inform and educate the public. An
informed public will become better jurors. Letter-writing
campaigns: The mass writing of letters by COSA members to Government
Ministers, Members of Parliament and Senior Officials was a key tactic. Using this method, we challenged them
on a number of issues. When their Departments gave out misinformation, we
criticised their knowledge, their standards and the outcomes. And we were
instrumental in getting the Mental Health Training Service shut down - it was
teaching appalling rubbish to counsellors.
But we were always careful to ensure our letters were factual, not
emotive. Criminal Matters:
For those members unfortunate enough to have been arrested and
charged, we helped assemble their defence material. Analysis of complainant's
statements. Time Lines. Family documentation. Witnesses.
Photographs. School and
medical reports. Diaries. Floor plans of houses. Layout maps of farms. Accounting records. Job histories. Driving Logs. Passports.
And in one case, even weather records and tide tables. We exposed
inconsistencies in the allegations and descriptions of alleged events.
Felicity added medical evidence. We didn't always win of course, and some of
our members were convicted. We developed Help Kits to guide people. Complaints: If
complaints to professional bodies are not made, the people doing the damage
can rightly sit back and say "We're OK, Jack." When they are made, the organisation
receiving them has obligations to respond.
That puts them to time, trouble and expense. It absorbs some of their capacity, and it
makes them aware of outrage in the wider community. Imagine the outcome if hundreds of
complaints were lodged! We found it useful to
obtain Complaints Procedures from the Ombudsman, the Privacy Commissioner,
the Health & Disability Commissioner and the Human Rights Commissioner,
and others. We also got copies of the Complaints Procedures and Codes of
Ethics from Counselling Associations, psychologists, and other bodies
involved in sexual abuse matters. We encouraged our members to use those
procedures to make complaints. Making criminal
complaints to police is an option. Alleging fraud or false accusations, by
counsellors and their clients, is a truly potent weapon, but I think I'm the
only one who has done that in Suggestions: I think
that is probably enough detail to give you a clear idea of the amount of work
necessary to get the job done. The rest
is a list of suggestions for you to think about, without the detail : There is strength in
numbers. You might want to do a membership drive, and adopt the idea of
having a subscriber category. Your much bigger
country probably makes communications more difficult. You could look at E-mail, Video
conferences, or Phone conferences. Advertise widely and
often. You might also consider
borrowing tactics from the opposition, by holding an annual Awareness Week
- a la the Rape Crisis "Rape
Awareness Week" etc. Investigate and debate
school programs such as "Keeping Ourselves Safe". Do the same with prison
programs which claim to cure men of sexual abuse tendencies. If prisoners admit to the crimes, they'll
get out earlier. But if they denied
it at trial, and later admit it in these prison programs, they could be
charged with perjury. Conversely,
their liberty is conditional on making false admissions of guilt. With the help of
lawyers, develop a series of Help Kits for members and the public, similar to
ours perhaps, but tailored to suit your laws and conditions. If you want to win, dig
in for the long haul. Establish unity of purpose. One voice.
One spokesperson. One source of info. Give lots of attention to
funding. Above all, ensure your
organisation is suitable for its task, and flexible enough to cater for
change. As well as the administrative positions of President, Secretary etc,
there is a need for an engine-room with more intellectual grunt than that of
the opposition. Perhaps you could
look at the special aspects of : ·
A Professional or Research Officer to dissect and expose
the fallacies in various claims, and comment to professional bodies. ·
A Media Monitor to collect, categorise and analyse what is
being said publicly ·
(these two feed into the PR person) ·
A Public Relations or Education Officer to inform and
educate the public ·
A Liaison Officer to tackle Govt and organisations ·
A Complaints Officer to help members make complaints to
professional and counselling bodies.
His aim is to flood the market with complaints!! ·
A Case Manager to help people assemble their information
to defend criminal and/or civil cases, and to organise the warmth and comfort
aspects of hurt families. If necessary, you might
even look at revising your Constitution to embody some of these suggestions. Ending….. Mr Chairman, Ladies and
Gentlemen, Thank you for listening
to my comments and suggestions. I
trust you will find them useful in your efforts to tackle this dreadful
nonsense. I would also like to thank
Roger and John, and very especially Grahame & Elaine Forrest for
billeting me during my visit. They
are wonderful hosts. If you have any
questions, I'd be happy to try to answer them. |
