MK forum

What do they feed you Kiwis on down there. That is one tough, brave girl. My sort of hero.

I've heard you Kiwis make great friends but formidible foes.

Guess NTM found that out to the hard way


Moral of the story, if a young Kiwi girl can take on and beat those who say it is impossible in two countries, we sure as hell can do the same!

I, I, I.

That's a very encouraging story!

Yes, it should not be impossible for someone in one country to report someone in another country to law enforcement. The internet has spanned across the borders between countries ... in cyberspace we are all one big universal family. I hope attitudes and laws will begin to reflect that fact.

This article is riveting. Someone said newspapers no longer have investigative teams, but now I see that the Spotlight team from the Boston Globe is still at work. (If you saw the movie Spotlight, that is the team featured in the movie, that exposed abuse in the Catholic Church).

The team has done a lot of research for this article on sexual abuse in boarding schools in New England.

https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2016/ ... story.html

“I want to stay in touch with others, and I also want to reinforce the public understanding that sexual abuse is not about the particular incident of sexual abuse. It’s about what happens to people’s lives.”


Yes it's riveting! Thank you for posting the link.
It's not impossible to think there can be justice for abused mks.

Let's send the Boston Globe to Sanford.
As the movie dialogue went----
You start with the institution.
And you start at the top.----
The victims are not responsible for solving this.
It doesn't matter if the exact leaders are still in place.
Current leaders are responsible for their org---and its history.

Yup, you got it! You can lead the old NTM horse to water, but you can't make it drink the Jordan! It will think of every reason under the sun why it should just stand there dropping horse shit everywhere! Then it has the audacity to tell it's supporters that it's good for the roses, so send more cash!

This article is extremely insightful, and it helps clear some questions up for me.

New Triber, if you wonder why it feels like your opinion of what should be done to address the abuse of children in NTM in the past differs so wildly from the opinions we express here, this article may help clarify why our perspectives are poles apart.

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/26/opini ... hone-share

"We found that the critical factor lies in a particular set of moral values. .... the more strongly you privilege loyalty, obedience and purity — as opposed to values such as care and fairness — the more likely you are to blame the victim."

As a lifelong student of culture, I can see that we live in two different worlds: two different cultures.

"... when it comes to morality, some people privilege promoting the care of others and preventing unfair behaviors. These are “individualizing values,” as they can apply to any individual. Other people privilege loyalty, obedience and purity. These are “binding values,” as they promote the cohesion of your particular group or clan."

In a fundamentalist culture of any kind (including the NTM culture), a primary concern is the cohesion of the clan, and people within the clan, particularly those in leadership positions, will place a very high value on loyalty, obedience and purity. These are called "binding values". Anyone who has spent time in NTM will agree that disloyalty, disobedience, and obvious lack of purity (in most cases) are causes for dismissal from the clan.

I can see that those of us who doggedly follow and participate in this website discussion, and in this struggle, share a different viewpoint. We keep raising our voices to promote the care of others and the prevention of unfair behaviors. We clearly embrace "individualizing values". There is no entrance exam to be a part of our group. No one's moral purity is examined, nor are their religious or political views. We place a high value on individuals, and after reading this article, I understand why we care so very much, about every single MK who ever suffered pain and terror as a result of a childhood spent in New Tribes Mission.

The insight gained from this article is helpful to me, but it is also discouraging. At the moment, I feel a sense of helplessness. How do we change an entire culture? Victims will continue to be blamed for what others did to them. The focus will never be on the missionary who beat or raped or terrorized an innocent child. it is much too important for NTM to promote clan cohesiveness and survival. The Mission will always take precedence over the individual. Individuals who were out of step with the clan have been routinely pushed overboard without compassion, ever since the beginning of the Mission. People within the group have become so calloused to the pain of individuals that our cries and tears simply do not move them.

Good insight.

But bad. news. Very bad news.

As life long students of culture/s we know how difficult it is to change the way people think.
In fact, we looked to God to do the changing--just being the agent who relates/ loves/ helps/---
JUST? It was a heavy assignment.
As in the movie Spotlight--it took alot of facts and pressure from outside to get the Catholic church to pay attention. We already talked about this.
What else but some influence from outside?