Chris asks in his latest blind news digest:
The question is, why did the Colorado Center for the Blind allow this to happen? And why did they apparently try to conceal past instances of sexual abuse?
OK, let’s have this conversation, because it doesn’t appear to have come up at any point during this entire disgusting situation.
Cover-ups like this happen because people who know about it and who know better repeatedly choose to remain silent in order to preserve a relationship or because they prioritize their cause or way of life above everything else.
It happens across every imaginable spectrum: Families, religious and social communities, (sorry atheists you’re not exempt), political parties and causes, and activist groups. Leaders who are caught in scandals like this are allowed to stay on by their organizations and the members of these organizations because the value they provide is worth the price paid by the people they abuse.
Nobody will admit to this, and they’ll become outraged when it’s pointed out, but at the end of the day, that’s the game. And when things finally get too hot to handle, they’ll all swear they didn’t know.
Well, they knew, they performed repeated cost-benefit analyses, and they determined the value they were receiving was ultimately worth the price, and how dare anyone suggest there should be any kind of consequence for any of it. The guilt some of them will swear they’re feeling should be enough.
Spoiler alert: It isn’t. Not by half. Especially for the people who are left to pick up the pieces and put them back together after someone who was supposed to be looking out for their well-being used their authority to abuse and while a whole bunch of other people looked on, did nothing, and from the looks of it continue to do nothing except say pretty words while they continue to reap benefits because God forbid anybody rock the boat. The cause is too important, after all.
The solution to all this is pretty simple, although not easy. Quit fucking covering for this shit. Quit stanning for your organization’s leaders when this shit comes to light. Quit prioritizing whatever your cause is or relationship or favorite celebrity or whatever over the people being abused by those you swore they could trust.
If that’s too hard to do, then this stuff is going to continue to happen, and at that point, whatever your org is, including the NFB, just shouldn’t exist anymore. I don’t care what value they offer.