Am I sad that there are fewer child abuse advocacy groups on Facebook overall? Sure. But, what makes me sadder is how many legitimate advocacy groups fell massively short of their duty to tell the truth to their followers. How many continued to share these theories well after they were disproved in some bizarre effort to show how much more they cared about children, while diverting attention and resources from real victims and organizations trying to help them.
So no. I don’t feel sorry for you if your page was taken down by Facebook for violating their terms of service around spreading disinformation. You owed real survivors, and the people who followed you to learn more about true child abuse stories, more than that. You are right about one thing, child abuse and child trafficking is an incredibly important issue. Spreading lies doesn’t help that message, it provides the rest of the world an excuse to ignore it. If you truly want to advocate for children, stick to the truth, or suffer the consequences.
It is always hard for anyone, male or female to speak out about the abuse that happens to them in their lives. It takes a lot of nerve for Neil to come forward with his story and I cheer him and support him on every step of the way.
Fighting this terrible crime starts with people like Neil speaking out. The more people who do, the better chance we have to fight against sexual abuse in any human being of any age, especially children.
Stay strong and someday, we will unite,
Ernie Meyer, Author of “The Story of Rita, Risen from Hell” and http://www.rapecounsel.com.