Monday, October 22, 2012
IN DEFENCE OF THE BBC OVER SAVILE
SAVILE HYSTERIA MIGHT BE BALONEY:
HE MIGHT WELL BE THE ABUSER AS PORTRAYED, BUT THERE IS REASON TO DOUBT IT.
The hysteria -- which comes from the evolved imperative to control male sexual access -- has made everyone take leave of their senses.
No friend of the BBC am I, given its nowadays thoroughgoing PC-totalitarianism; nevertheless the BBC was upholding good journalistic standards in not broadcasting a set of non-proven and non-provable allegations.
Let me list the major concerns …..
* None of the allegations are or even can be proved beyond reasonable doubt – or even on the balance of probabilities.
* That allegations are beyond disproof has allowed false allegations to be made with impunity.
* Standard 'criminal injuries' compensation payments of many thousands of pounds even for non-proven allegations are an obvious basis for false allegation, and in addition there is the ease of gaining compensation through civil law (against the BBC, for example) on the 'balance of probabilities' standard of proof.
* Girls/women often retrospectively redefine consensual sex as coercive, often for the most trivial reasons.
* 'False memory' construction is a normal part of human psychology, especially given a long elapse of time, as here.
* Given the huge number of opportunities for sex, a male such as Savile would have a tough time avoiding some 'error rate' in terms of miscommunication between the sexes -- the mixed signals of coyness and come-on that is the stuff of female courtship signals.
* An 'error rate' in respect of age-of-consent would also be inevitable given that girls of 14/15, owing to the ever earlier age of onset of puberty, often look 16/17/18; and young girls routinely lie about their age.
* Formal allegations even of rape, let alone lesser sexual assault, are in very high proportion bogus -- UK police rape investigators estimate 50%-70%, according to Sir Ian Blair.
* Trawling -- especially when the police and media are in cahoots -- inevitably throws up a feeding frenzy of both complete invention and wild elaboration.
* Savile's very job was to flirt or mock-flirt with teenage girls, and even sideways hugs have been taken to be abuse in Savile's case -- and now hysteria even over non-sexual hugs has prompted a silly accusation against Adam Hart-Davis.
* Savile's apparent sexual interest is not a preference or even a liking at all for pre-pubescents, so it is not paedophilia.
* The notion of hebephilia -- a liking or even preference for mid-/late-adolescents -- is not abnormal at all.
This is not at all to say that Savile may not be the abuser as he is being portrayed, but there is a strong likelihood that the true picture is quite different, and the truth is now impossible to ascertain.
# posted by Steve Moxon @ 12:25 pm 
