The disguise
The camouflage
1
2
Primarily made up of false yet overtly charming character traits, the purpose of the disguise is the achievement of the following: any person (let’s call him Bob) who may be suspicious of Pred's (short for predator) actions or intentions need only take one look at his “character” and conclude that he must be innocent. Why would this work? Two reasons! Firstly, if is true that Bob likes, respects, admires or loves Pred due to his stellar character, and it's also true that Pred is a completely dysfunctional child molesting sociopath, then Bob’s ability to judge character comes starkly into question. Moreover, if Bob happens to be the guardian of the victim or gatekeeper of the family, the threat of searing emotional pain connected to overwhelming guilt, responsibility and failure serves to trigger a deep defence mechanism. Bob essentially, as an act of self-protection, becomes blind to the truth about Pred. Of course, this is non-physical blindness, but it is sufficiently powerful to allow Pred to slip through the cracks multiple times and over time with multiple people. Second, the false belief that our judgement of people’s character is effective, precludes us and Bob from noticing the red flags and inconsistencies in Pred's behaviour. Pred's charming character and Bob’s own lovely, personal experience of him goes a long way to keeping us and Bob in the belief that “he [Pred] is kind and wouldn’t do anything to hurt us”. We choose to believe the lie, because the truth, that our judgement of character sometimes fails to devastating effect, is too dreadful to accept. In order to balance the internal equation, tingles of suspicion are shut down and less compelling evidence is dismissed. Essentially our ego gets in the way of our wisdom and Pred gets away with it. The total power of a great disguise lies in how consistently it is worn and displayed. A predator in a flawless disguise could theoretically escape detection permanently. The actor is no longer just playing the character, but he becomes it. So much so, that the two become indistinguishable and disbelief is suspended.
This bit centers around the way predators and paedophiles alike, employ the environment to further aid their 'invisible man' routines. As humans have the ability to create and also manipulate their environment, human predators carefully craft theirs to help them hide in plain sight. They may select jobs that add credibility to their disguises. Any professional job requiring a higher level of education could suffice. Or they may select jobs that give them easier access to kids. The selection depends on what sort of hunting ground they prefer: prey as sitting ducks or the kind that needs hunting. The deadliest and most powerful camouflage is a combination of the two. Jobs which require a level of higher education, garner respect and admiration, carry authority and leadership while also bringing access to a smorgasbord of potential victims is the predators holy grail. Think school teacher or principal, religious leaders and sport coaches, obviously not all, not even most of, but certainly some tiny portion of the people occupying such roles are in it by design - easy access to kids and the agreed social blind spot: “we trust and respect him, he wouldn't hurt us”. Imagine the added collective pressure to remain blind in circumstances where the offender is an elected official, chosen by a community in which trust is an overt part of his job. People are not willing to be fooled and much less so in large groups. The group creates and applies pressure to itself, to the extent that “we don't see anything” becomes the overriding collective truth. The power of great camouflage is that the perpetrator does not even have to break a sweat to stay hidden. His job description, uniform, badge, title and qualifications operate together to make him either entirely non-threatening or completely concealed beneath all the razzle- dazzle of his position.
Collective Action Magazine | 37
Made with FlippingBook - Online Brochure Maker