My thanks to Gavin for his guest post about the changing attitudes in society.
Major turning points in society.
We all see the wonderful pictures Pete sends us, and you laugh or cringe at the noticeable societal changes. Less smoking is a classic. On the other hand swear words are now normal and effin acceptable! One must also notice that climate changes as becoming a dramatic turning point. But there is another change that has turned the way we now live – completely. I can only give you the 2 major examples from New Zealand but I well know there are identical cases that occurred in your countries.
In 1987, Teresa Cormack was an adorable 6 year old walking on her own to school in the city of Napier. She was enticed into a strangers car, raped and her body found on a beach. The whole town went out looking for her and every man a suspect. Soon men all over the country were suspects. It broke up marriages and parents now had to drop off and pick their children up from school – the mother, not the father. The roads became clogged twice a day with many children run over and some school turned sports fields into car parks. The culprit was found years later by fluke thanks to modern DNA records. But on the way several men had their lives ruined, had to escape to another country, were never allowed to see their children and change their names.
In 1993, Peter Ellis was a creche supervisor at a day care in Christchurch. Out of the blue a parent told others her child said Peter performed indecent acts and bizarre rituals. Peter was perhaps gay. The education authorities got a psych to interview all the children – who got rewards for saying nasty things about Peter. He spent a decade in jail and recently died of cancer. Just last week he was proved to be innocent – as the “victims”, now adults, stated it was made up and the psych a man hater.
So we now have several generations brought up on the philosophy of “stranger danger”. We have females in their 30s who cannot socialise and many not formed hetero relationships. Many refuse to deal or work with a male and as a JP I have several who will only come to me if they can stand up and I sit down and not look at them. They will be accompanied by a witness and you are not allowed to talk to them. Men will no longer work in teaching and foolish if they do. As a solo dad I can tell you how hard it was being out with my boys and changing nappies in a park and if seen by a female, would get a police call out. Thank God I didn’t have girls. My mate in a similar situation gave his girl up for adoption as it was too hard.
So thanks to these 2 cases, the world had a major change with a gigantic cost.
But the final piece is
https://www.police.govt.nz/advice/personal-and-community-advice/school-portal/latest-news/who-abuses-children
From Gavin Marriott JP, NZ.
beetleypete 
Thanks for this guest posting. It’s needless to say, that here it was and is the same. It’s so horrible that children could not live their normal life, always anxious to be involved in such cases. Best wishes, Michael
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Also that those wrongly accused have their lives ruined, Michael.
Best wishes, Pete.
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Reblogged this on NEW BLOG HERE >> https:/BOOKS.ESLARN-NET.DE.
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Hi Pete, thanks for sharing this post of Gavin’s. It was quite an eye opening piece. It is not nearly as bad as he describes here in South Africa. It is really sad that such things happen.
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Thanks, Robbie. Attitudes have changed a lot in Britain where children are concerned, especially in towns and cities. When I was still living in London, I would never have talked to unaccompanied children. But in rural areas like Beetley, that is still acceptable.
Best wishes, Pete.
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You have to wonder if things would not have been better left alone. So much damage is done in just a few words. I was never raped, but I was abused and even as a child I knew that to speak just a few words would cause irreparable damage. I chose not to say them in part because I was afraid I would not be believed but also because the repercussions would have harmed people I loved. Even now, I can’t think I made the wrong decision.
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As much as we don’t want it to be the case, there has and will continue to be evil. The secret is not being evil ourselves or promoting the evil. You set the example of that with your writings & photography Carolyn which I enjoy and appreciate. purrr Gavin
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What with men and women become estranged from each other, current gender confusion / transgenderism, social divisiveness, the decline in family values, and moral decay,. you have to wonder what the world will be like in the future.
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It seems we are becoming a genderless society. Your words confusion & future sum it up. Gavin
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Yes it’s true that many men are looked on with suspicion by mothers. It’s sad that kids are made so fearful now, because the majority of men are not rapists. However, some are, it’s causing all men to be tarred with the same brush.
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Thanks for adding your thoughts, Stevie.
Best wishes, Pete.
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Thanks for sharing this, Pete. Society tends to swing too far in one direction or another before it settles, hopefully, in the reasonable middle, but that is not always the case. There are many real cases of abuse, but as the informative note explains, strangers are not usually the guilty parties. Thanks to Gavin for bringing this issue to our attention.
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Thanks for reading and commenting, Olga.
Best wishes, Pete.
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