Because of that, I you can't make strong claims that this is definitely a problem of the sexual revolution--it may be the level of abuse was fairly constant, but a combination of kids more willing to report, and liberalizing parents more willing to believe them, raised reporting.
-
Show this thread
-
That said, I think there's some reason to disbelieve this. Catholic parents were already liberalizing in the 1950s--my Dad is of that generation, and according to him, his family/parish expected Vatican II to go much farther than it did.
2 replies 1 retweet 13 likesShow this thread -
Also, priests from earlier generations were still active in the 60s & 70s, and kids from the 50s and before were still mostly alive in 2002 when the scandal broke. If this is really all reporting, the curve should look pretty smooth, reflecting demographics, instead of spiking
1 reply 0 retweets 10 likesShow this thread -
Megan McArdle Retweeted Ross Douthat
I am now going to try the technically difficult task of replying to a tweetstorm by
@DouthatNYT within my own tweetstorm: https://twitter.com/DouthatNYT/status/1034812866854047744 … If I land this, I expect a perfect 10 from the judges.Megan McArdle added,
2 replies 1 retweet 21 likesShow this thread -
So first, yes, people who think of this as a pedophilia scandal are wrong. Pedophilia level (pre-pubescent children) is low and basically constant. The abuse scandal is about pubescent and post-pubescent children, mostly boys. And it spikes in the 1960s, starts declining in 1980s
6 replies 2 retweets 14 likesShow this thread -
I'm not arguing that there isn't a cultural component here. I think there *is* a cultural component--many, in fact. Like the sexual revolution, which radically changed understandings, including Catholic understandings of sexual behavior.
1 reply 0 retweets 9 likesShow this thread -
Also the belief that Freudian psychiatry and other forms of quackitude could cure sex offenders. A decline in vocations that left priests more isolated, with less community to supervise them. Many, many things. I also suspect environmental led may have played a role.
1 reply 1 retweet 11 likesShow this thread -
Lead damages impulse control. Where is environmental lead highest? In the urban "ethnic" areas where the generation of priests who formed vocations from the late 1950s on would disproportionately have grown up. Throw in a disinhibiting culture, and you have a mess.
3 replies 1 retweet 13 likesShow this thread -
I am specifically rejecting only the "homosexual influx into the seminaries caused this" theory. The timing is all wrong for that theory to work.
1 reply 1 retweet 12 likesShow this thread -
And you can't get around it by lagging the data, because the phenomenon peaks *before* the alleged homosexual subculture is reported to have arisen at some seminaries. It just won't work.
4 replies 0 retweets 12 likesShow this thread
I'm a strong socialcon, so I'm slotted to believe "gay priests", but I think that in the real world problems always have a dozen causes. Lead exposure, cultural permisivity, less supervision, less fellowship, more loneliness, THE CHANGE THAT CREATES IN THE SELECTION of priests...
-
-
Replying to @MorlockP
Oh, we haven't even gotten into my theories about what Catholic use of contraception, and therefore the change in family desire for vocations among their shrinking number of children.
1 reply 0 retweets 0 likes -
This Tweet is unavailable.
- Show replies
New conversation -
Loading seems to be taking a while.
Twitter may be over capacity or experiencing a momentary hiccup. Try again or visit Twitter Status for more information.