Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/531381
GregStevens,Publisher Chip Thompson, Editor EDITORIALBOARD How to have your say: Letters must be signed and provide the writer's home street address and home phone number. Anonymous letters, open letters to others, pen names and petition-style letters will not be allowed. Letters should be typed and no more than two double-spaced pages or 500words. When several letters address the same issue, a cross section will be published. Email: editor@ redbluffdailynews.com Fax: 530-527-9251 Mail to: P.O. Box 220, 545 Diamond Ave., Red Bluff, CA 96080 Facebook: Leave comments at FACEBOOK.COM/ RBDAILYNEWS Twitter: Follow and send tweets to @REDBLUFFNEWS By Tina Dupuy InthewakeoftheDug- gar molestation scandal and now the quirky case of Rachel Dolezal, one thing is clear: We as a public don't know what child abuse looks like. The CDC estimates that one in four American children ex- perience some form of abuse and yet we're not quick to spot it or identify with it. Instead there's a tendency to be irked that "this stuff" is even being discussed publicly. Or as we've seen with the Duggars and the Dolezals, we default into our preexisting paradigms of par- tisanship: The Duggars are rightwingers and are typical of those people and Dolezal is a liberal Obama's America "transracial" fruitcake. But both these cases also feature fringe Christian move- ments protecting their ideals over their daughters. The saga of reality show subject Josh Duggar, who ad- mittedly sexually abused five girls (four of whom were his own sisters), was a grotesque display of what religious zeal conditions people to be able to rationalize. "They didn't even know he had done it," said Mi- chelle Duggar during the soft- focus Fox News Megyn Kelly interview. I've talked to sexual abuse victims who didn't realize what had happened to them until decades later. They had fears and phobias and things they just avoided, seemingly without reason—but they didn't put two and two to- gether. So the idea of child abuse being contingent on the victim's memory, identi- fication or understanding is just wrong. Being asleep, un- conscious or blocking it out— doesn't make one not a victim. And it surely doesn't mean it didn't happen. Kelly, to her credit, repeat- edly asked the Duggars about their daughters and they re- peatedly answered by talking about their son, the abuser. To me it was Christian-based tra- ditional gender-role activists valuing the man and his sex- ual proclivities over anything their own daughters might un- dergo. And another painfully pub- lic tale of throwing your daughter under the bus is Ra- chel Dolezal. While the na- tional discourse instantly tee- heed and tsk-tsked at a white woman identifying herself as black, immediately branding her as a freak, a fraud and a phony—we all missed the real story. Why are her parents on TV at all? Their daughter wasn't hurting anyone. She had ad- opted a new persona. She had found another father who loves her—a community who embraced her. She didn't get a salary from her position at her local chapter of the NAACP. She was fighting for the mar- ginalized as an unpaid volun- teer. She was trying to help people and further a cause of justice. Loving and com- passionate parents don't go on media tours calling their daughter a liar and a disap- pointment—especially when, by every measure, she was suc- cessful and just living her life. Then it came out that this is yet another story hinging on child abuse. "Joshua Dolezal, 39, was charged in 2013 with four felony counts of sex abuse of a victim who was a minor at the time, sources and court records confirmed," reported the NY Daily News. Rachel is, of course, supporting the vic- tim and that threatens these home-schooling young Earth fundamentalists. To them, if Rachel is a liar, everything can go back to the way it was. Rachel's birth parents are abusive. Two of the other chil- dren in the family (so far) have corroborated Rachel's claims of abuse: physical labor, forced isolation and physical violence. Rachel is acting like an abuse victim acts. She's es- tranged from her birth parents for a reason. And when she says she can't prove that Ruth- anne and Larry Dolezal are re- ally her parents, she's divorc- ing herself from them. She's trying to move on and move past them. I haven't called my neglectful and emotionally abusive birth parents "mom" and "dad" in over a decade. And if you ask me if they're my parents, I'll say no. I have parents; they didn't give birth to me. When Rachel says she iden- tifies as a black woman and says she understands strug- gle, I think she does. Some- thing about oppression reso- nates with her. Also, in seeing herself as black, she becomes the opposite of the people who hurt her. She's running away from them—and she's told us why. Surviving is messy. It's com- plicated and it compels people to do seemingly absurd things. Some recreate their trauma by acquiring different abus- ers; some pass on their trauma by abusing others. Some hurt themselves, or in my case blame themselves. One be- came Oprah. And some vow to protect others—advocate for others—and dedicate their lives to helping others sport- ing a spray tan and a weave to tap into a culture noted for strength, endurance and tri- umph in the face of adversity. TinaDupuyisanationally syndicated op-ed columnist, investigative journalist, award-winning writer, stand-up comic, on-air commentator and wedge issue fan. Tina can be reached at tinadupuy@yahoo.com. Commentary RachelDolezal acting like an abuse victim Cartoonist's take The guest speaker at tonight's Tea Party Patriots meeting: Te- hama County Planning Director Sean Moore, dis- cussing a 78-acre rezoning. More political spoofs appeared in weekend re- runs. In an Ab- bot and Costello episode called simply "The Pol- itician," Lou Costello, having found no employment for 15 ep- isodes, runs for local office — is that a message? Bud Abbot joins Costello who is giving a stump speech on a park stage, while Costello's 4th grade teacher lends her support. Candidate Costello tells the crowd: "I am not a Republican, I am not a Democrat. I am a fusion of both parties. My party is Con- fusion." Abbot, used to straight- ening out such malapropisms, blusters: "This boy doesn't put himself with any party…Is he a Republican? No! Is he a Dem- ocrat? No! He's in between the two." At that point an audience member shouts: "He sure is. He eats like an elephant and thinks like a jackass!" Cue rim shot, ba- da-bump. A young woman's crying inter- rupts Costello's speech; he asks her to come up on stage and ex- plain her problem. She sobs that her father gave her his shoes to get repaired and she somehow lost them; Abbot promptly tells Costello to take his shoes off and give them to the girl. The crowd claps and cheers. One after an- other, several women with sad stories of lost items appear and Abbot continues to offer them first, Costello's hat, then his tie, then his shirt and, you could see this coming by then, Costello's pants, leaving only his under- shirt, socks and bloomers. As if prepared for the indig- nity, imprinted on his seat was "Vote for Lou Costello." It struck me that the difference between Abbot and Costello's fake gener- osity and real politicians is that, while Costello eventually ran out of clothing to give away, the Bud Abbots in office see no end of other people's stuff to give away, while currying favor from the re- cipients. Or, as the traditional wry maxim goes: Robbing Peter to pay Paul assures you of Paul's loy- alty. A corollary is that the art of taxing is to pluck the maximum from the most without causing enough pain that they vote you out. A further corollary is Brit- ish Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher's well stated, "The prob- lem with socialism is that eventu- ally you run out of other people's money." I see that, whether in Sacra- mento or Washington, Demo- crats are chomping at the bud- getary bit to creatively allocate more free stuff to people. "Free" pre-school, "free" health care, "free" food, "free" college, "free" hikes in the minimum wage, "free" expanded tax credits for the working poor. That last one is stealthy in that it is a monetary reward for hav- ing a low-paying job. With a fixed budget and limited available tax revenue, when a group is given such a tax credit the unintended consequences are: 1) It under- mines the incentive to improve one's job skills and earn a bet- ter-paying job, 2) It becomes yet another disincentive to give up benefits from dozens of income- based entitlements, and 3) A bal- anced budget will, by definition, require that taxes be raised on those not receiving such tax cred- its. It's budgetary vote buying— Democrats' goal. An episode of Wonder Woman, ironically, provided a possible ex- planation for the prevailing ide- ology in our nation's capitol. The tendency of Representatives and Senators is to move inexorably, over time, to accept and inter- nalize a statist, even collectiv- ist, mentality. In "Mind Stealers from Outer Space," a space trav- eler, Andros, "returns seeking Wonder Woman's help in defend- ing earth from an invasion of the body and mind stealing Skrill" (IMDB.com). In this iteration of "The Body Snatchers" theme, green glittery- costumed aliens aim a multi-col- ored ray at someone, immobiliz- ing them long enough to place a powerful Skrill crystal on their foreheads. In this plot, "the Skrill begin terrorizing Washington, D.C. and take over several peo- ple's bodies after draining their minds." The formerly freethink- ing victims then become autom- atons in service to the invaders' wishes and schemes. So, rather than Republicans being swayed by the dominant hard core liberal media, polit- ical class, bureaucrats and so- cial circles in Washington—even more likely than breathing gov- ernment-centric air and drinking government-glorifying water— we might want to be on the look- out for aliens with mind-stealing crystals. It could be happening, right? While our Congressman, Doug LaMalfa, has yet to show such signs, he would probably agree that something worms its way into otherwise sensible Re- publican brains. Could Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama be alien tools? Do you remember the "Men in Black" list of aliens among us? On a serious note, I found a Bible quote used by cartoonist Gary Varvel to be a moving com- ment on the slaughter of 9 pa- rishioners in Charleston, S.C. "Blessed are those who are perse- cuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven" (Matthew 5:10). I noticed that none of the fools clamoring for us to understand what motivates Is- lamic terrorists are calling for us to understand the racist motives of that evil murderer. Once again, Emperor Obama drew first po- litical blood by waving a "bloody shirt" over guns. On the shoot- ing and potential slaughter of 11 black block party attendees by 2 young black men in Detroit, we have Obama's silence. Don Polson has called Red Bluff home since 1988. He can be reached by e-mail at donplsn@ yahoo.com. The way I see it Free stuff and mind-stealing aliens She didn't get a salary from her position at her local chapter of the NAACP. She was fighting for the marginalized as an unpaid volunteer. She was trying to help people and further a cause of justice. Sounding off A look at what readers are saying in comments on our website and on social media. Don, you have been awesome for this town. Wishing you the best in the future. Sherri Morrow: On the announcement of the retirement of Corning Police Chief Don Atkins I am so glad they were able to give this poor family closure. Praying for them. Sandy Van Dyken: On the recovery Monday of a teen who drowned in the Sacramento River StateandNational Assemblyman James Galla- gher, 150 Amber Grove Drive, Ste. 154, Chico 95973, 530 895- 4217, http://ad03.asmrc.org/ Senator Jim Nielsen, 2634 Forest Ave., Ste. 110, Chico 95928, 530 879-7424, senator.nielsen@ senate.ca.gov Governor Jerry Brown, State Capital Building, Sacramento 95814, 916 445-2841, fax 916 558- 3160, governor@governor.ca.gov U.S. Representative Doug La- Malfa, 507 Cannon House Of- fice Building, Washington D.C. 20515, 202 225-3076 U.S. Senator Dianne Fein- stein, One Post St., Ste. 2450, San Francisco 94104, 415 393-0707, fax 415 393-0710 U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer, 1700 Montgomery St., San Fran- cisco 94111, 510 286-8537, fax 202 224-0454 YOUR OFFICIALS As if prepared for the indignity, imprinted on his seat was "Vote for Lou Costello." It struck me that the difference between Abbot and Costello's fake generosity and real politicians is that, while Costello eventually ran out of clothing to give away, the Bud Abbots in office see no end of other people's stuff to give away, while currying favor from the recipients. Don Polson OPINION » redbluffdailynews.com Tuesday, June 23, 2015 » MORE AT FACEBOOK.COM/RBDAILYNEWS AND TWITTER.COM/REDBLUFFNEWS A6