Before I get pulled up for saying "defending" the abuses and bans: What's being defended is a core belief-system, in the face of repercussions over some of its evil behaviour.

So delete "defended" in my last post; but there's no single other word to put in its place which really says it all - minimising, rationalising, isolating in the past, excluding on some arbitrary grounds… take your pick.

I don't think for a nanosecond that Joe defends the sexual abuse (at least those instances of it that he'll admit to recognising) or any other atrocities. But he dishonours the very real - and ongoing - suffering of its victims* by this fantasy-reframing technique.



*Including those who have killed themselves over their experiences and now can't speak up. I worked on a suicide helpline in Cork and spoke to some of them on the phones, others in person; but this was somehow not convincing, didn't count as evidence unless I could "prove" it IIRC. Of course I couldn't prove it, so voila! It never happened.