The Texan piece: what was said and what could have been
By Sandy . . . As NARSOL’s impact grows stronger, so do the efforts of those who wish to assign malevolent intent to our organization. Being a strong believer in freedom of speech, I advocate for the right to do that. However, I cannot help but be distraught when facts are twisted and presented so as to suggest falsehood.
That is what reporter Holly Hansen did in “reporting” about the NARSOL conference. She cherry-picked bits and pieces from our website; from information about our speakers, even those from past conferences; and from studies that we use to suggest, ever so gently, that our intent was contrary to public safety at best and evil at worst.
She reported very, very little about our conference, our distinguished speakers’ topics, or our many fact-based presentations and sessions.
This reporter was invited by NARSOL to talk with us. She ignored the invitation; her entire goal appears to be making us look like something we are not and making Houston’s mayor look bad. She used information to suggest, again ever so gently, that he and his office are inept at best and have nefarious motives at worst. If she is of the opinion and has evidence supporting Mayor Turner and his office being “shady,” even corrupt, she could have presented it, but innuendo and vague inferences need no support, do they?
She appears to have betrayed the principles and tenets of her publication also. The Texan claims that it “. . . is the alternative to the narratives and spin that are so pervasive in news media today.” Sadly, Ms. Hansen’s piece seems to be a mirror image of the spin about child sexual offending and the registry that is so pervasive in news media today.
Even with that as bad as it is, it is not the worst of what Holly Hansen’s article does.
The worst transgression is misleading her readers who are parents into beliefs that may actually put their children at greater risk of harm. It is the transgression of a lost opportunity.
One of her carefully selected quotes, one from an organization that offers zero evidence for its statement, is “. . . studies [It offers none that we could find] estimate a child is a victim of sexual assault every nine minutes in the United States.” If this estimate is anywhere near true, what further proof do we need that the registry system is ineffective? The system has been in effect close to 40 years. If it helped in decreasing child sexual abuse, shouldn’t it be working by now?
If children keep secrets about sexual abuse – and there is no doubt that they do – they aren’t keeping it a secret that some unknown or barely-known man living down the street – who may or may not be on the sex offense registry — hurt them. They are keeping it secret that Daddy or Uncle Earnest or Coach Mark at school is hurting them and has coerced them into silence.
Ms. Hansen, in her piece, could have pointed this out to her readers along with some concrete tools such as this page on the Stop It Now site or this one at Erin’s Law. This would provide more help to parents and safety to children than all the registries in the world.
She even managed to drag in the widely misunderstood topic of sex trafficking, conflating the very real issue of human trafficking/sex trafficking with the erroneous idea that your child will be snatched off the street the minute your back is turned and forced into the sex trade.
She writes, quoting from a source that offers no evidence nor cites any studies or even police reports, “[In Houston] You can literally dial up and order a child and have them delivered to your hotel room as easily as you can a pizza.”
This type of “reporting,” with its inflammatory language and imagery, focuses the issue away from the actual risk of child sexual abuse, that of “friends and family” being the molesters in all but the rarest of cases. What an opportunity Ms. Hansen had. Instead of misleading her readers and creating unwarranted fear in them, she could just as easily have shared information that would help them protect their children.
That would have encouraged honest examination of our website and our organization. That would have offered parents truths and reality about the risk of harm to their children and some resources to help them address it.
What she wrote encourages fear and hatred. It encourages remarks such as the ones on Twitter asking if anyone can get a list of the presenters and the attendees at our conference. Their purpose in getting such a list would almost assuredly be the same as the writer of a different comment who, after reading Ms. Hansen’s Tweet about our conference with a roomful in attendance, wrote, “Like shooting fish in a barrel.”
Unless, of course, their intent in having such a list is to invite them all to lunch.
Although the article is poorly researched and comes to incorrect conclusions, it will be very popular with her readers and that is the audience she is hoping to reach. Her goal is to increase readership, sell advertising and advancing her career. Often times, the truth doesn’t sell.
I feel sick. Would it help if we wrote her editor? For many people this issue is based on emotion, not factual information. It is often a projection of their own issues. These people ‘do not want to get confused by the facts.’ So sad.
BTW, does NARSOL give ‘journals a press packet with actual facts/statistics? If so, maybe they need an entrance and exit interview to understand their impressions.
This was sent to her and her editor; we have had no response. Others have written them, and as far as we know, with no response either.
Yes, our press packets contain such information. You suggestion is a good one. Thank you.
It seems a letter to the editor is in order or, flood the comment section of her article with the true facts.
Sandy….We are so fortunate to have someone like you to respond! Thank you. Grateful.
Sandy, this is typical of our society today. The true victims are the people that are influenced by this propaganda and are too ignorant to know. You can see this same manipulation daily in our mainstream media controlling the constant turmoil within our political system.
Truth is how it’s spun, and it’s controlled to obtain an engineered response. Keep the population ignorant, afraid, entertained and dependent, and they are easily influenced to comply with who ever they perceive to be in authority.
I understand the frustration that one experiences when the obvious truth is rejected by the influenced.
All we can do is keep up the good fight.
I looked her up and it’s clear that she writes for that segment of the population that has a tendency to reject facts and data on just about every political and social issue. Hers is an audience of haters and conspiracy theorists, and that is who she is being paid to “entertain” with misinformation.
Sue her
Ya a class action law suite for defamation of character. You would think it could hold some water when looking at true facts in court.
I think it’s an atrocity how most offenders are treated.We can’t live near a church,but can attend!In some cases offenders are literally being sought out and killed in their own homes.The way the government and news outlets demonize offenders is utterly disgraceful.I know that I can’t go into the details of my case here,but I tell you the punishment sure doesn’t fit the crime.
You should sue that woman, I would think that since Alex Jones was sued by the parents of the children that died when he misled the public by saying that the shooting was a hoax. This situation is not as bad as what Alex Jones did but the principle is the same Ms. Hanson kind did the same thing by misleading parents of kids in the Houston area and putting them in fear for their children and possibly putting innocent SOs at risk for hate attacks, sometimes the best way to attack such lies it to hit them were they hurt, the pocketbook.
I myself served time for a crime that could of happened. Not one that did nor one I was even a where of. But doest matter the cop got his arrest the DA got his conviction and the judge got re elected to keep the streets save. Facts don’t matter and in this nation as it is they never will. Look at the elected leaders look at who control the narrative. Nothing will ever change.
The Tourism/Convention Board should be aware that though their efforts at promoting Houston as a welcoming city for national organizations to hold their annual meeting are successful, groups that do come run the risk of being judged and criticized by the local press.
I visited her Twitter profile, where she prominently uses #Christian. It reminded me of how Joseph — you know, the one with the coat of many colors — was a convicted sex offender, and how Holly, like most Christians, venerates him, despite the fact that he was a convicted sex offender.
For those unfamiliar with the story, Joseph was falsely accused of attempted rape, convicted, and sent to prison.
If Joseph were living in Texas today, he would be on the sex offender registry. instead, he’s a Bible hero. HashTag Christian indeed.
I know this comment may not be popular, but this among many other reasons why I will never support a state that believes/thrives in this kind of misleading information. I understand that the Mayor and many members of that community have been supportive of this conference, but in the end, it is in Texas. I have had the conversations with how valuable this conference is as well as how difficult it is to find a hotel that is as accomadating and budget friendly, I get that, but still, in the end, it is in Texas. This reporter’s audience thrives on lies and will believe anything she says, fact or not, that is where our country is and places like this. I know there are amazing people in Texas, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, etc, but in the end, as hyper divided this country is, we need to support states, not just a city, but states that create the laws, that are inclusive to everyone – does that mean they will be super duper nice to anyone on the RSO, no, but there is a better chance that there will be more open minds and less risk of something like this happening. We barely have a tiny toe to stand on, doing a conference in a place like that is such a big risk.
I don’t exactly agree with your opinion here. I think her article was more unbiased than you believe. She presents a little bit of both sides of this issue and her references, such as the one about ordering a child like a pizza, referred to the person who made the statement and she said as much. She also made a similar reference to a judge who called them “witch hunts”
While I’m a little disappointed she didn’t accept your invitation to talk, I don’t feel like her article led to any definitive conclusions.
There are much bigger hills to die on.
I just read the article. I call it an article because I could discern no central theme. The author seems to have difficulty staying on the subject. For someone that supposedly graduated summa cum laude from UCF with a degree in history, I would have expected a much more insightful piece. But then at the end I see they are begging for money, probably to pay her salary unless she’s a volunteer. That being the case of course you’d want to appeal to your base Texan.
I’ve said it before and I will say it again. I do not understand why NARSOL would spend any money in the horrible, corrupt state of texas. How and where I spend my money is about the only choice and power that I have left. Messrs. Abbot and DeSantis will never see one cent of my money. When you go there you are supporting the illegal interstate transport of poor suffering people that have put their existence in danger seeking a better life.
Tex,
Texas was mentioned in the US Senate Judiciary Committee this week while FBI Dir. Chris Wray was testifying. Wray stated Texas was to number one recruitment area for wannabe FBI Agents. We all know young agents sometimes prove themselves by infiltrating groups and playing a mole role. I’ve already informed NARSOL about this reality.
There is a great movement in this country to vilify any who do not support the ultra-conservative viewpoint among a brash and disconnected religious/political segment of our society. There is nothing more disconcerting than those who have a false and misguided religious agenda. What can be more upsetting than a people who believe God is on their side, though virtually ever position they hold is a perversion of what the Bible actually teaches. For the sake of being seen as a Christian basher, let me emphatically state the I, an RSO, have been a believer in Jesus Christ for nearly 40 years. My comments are simply given to present the dangers to many within our society who do not toe the line with extreme religious right. They will not stop with RSO’s, but will continue to enlarge their net.
There indeed is such a thing resurrection. You just do not get to be you again. You may even get a choice, so long as you evoke the son. This too is a choice.
You have chosen.
Media coverage is what it is…distorted thru bias. There have been many studies on bias in Communication Theories and studies. In the internet age we live in most of the communities occurs online and on the database driven infrastructure. Those who consider or ponder communication bias studies identifying the modus ( modality) of the communication is considered an important aspect. Modality impacts scope of the message and of course the internet lends amplification in both terms of range and scope to every message. Posting on the internet is quite different than a whisper is it not?
Yet often whispers end up online. As for bias, internet communication has the same effect of amplifier to individual distortion. Part of the writers bias is the in ability to imagine life without the internet. That is a dependency bias. As I am unsure of the authors age, I may be wrong, but she places a value on it’s existence if she suggests that NARSOL is evil for questioning the righteous nature of human involuntary servitude to government database upkeep. In other words, Ms. Hansen has faith in the collective.
NARSOL suggests faith in the people’s database regime use is unconstitutional.
Ms. Hansen is referred to human trafficking and the SOR internet availability without considering the impact of the internet on “Pimping” the old school term for human trafficking. Pimpin- has risen to a whole new level mostly thanks to social media. Pussy on sale everywhere on the net.
Thus Hansen is completely underestimating her affection for the DDI SOR where her bias is toward unfettered use and application of the machine. She reinforces her pro database bias by implicating NARSOL has evil intent by the modality in which she chose and communicated passive aggressively about the group. She reinforces her dependence upon the database to solve human problems.
Sandy,
Excellent article. I’m gradually letting idiots like that reporter have their say and then brushing them off. If she can’t report on the facts, and back up those facts with peer-reviewed studies, information from the Department of Justice website, or even the sex offender counselors in the Houston area, I’ll choose to turn a blind eye and deaf ear to her ranting and raving. We can’t fight back because we are just singled out, potentially, for violence from self-righteous do-gooders.
Peace and serenity to all.
What could have been asked is who put the MS in MSNBC? Not relevant to the mission you say.
Only if you ignore the foundation on, and of which you speak.
Ms Hansen’s article should not surprise anyone…. she graduated from the University of Central Florida with a history degree . We all know about the political climate in Florida and how many times facts have been distorted and out right lies have come from that state.