via Scott Rosenberg: Lawrence Lessig and John Hardwicke Fight Sexual Abuse and the American Boychoir School:
As head boy at a legendary choir school, Lawrence Lessig was repeatedly molested by the charismatic choir director, part of a horrific pattern of child abuse there. Now, as one of America’s most famous lawyers, he’s put his own past on trial to make sure such a thing never happens again.
Lessig comments (and you should read the comment thread):
...I am always stunned by the warmth of this community (though of course, stunned sometimes by the opposite as well). I had promised myself I would not read the piece, but the comments have forced me to break that promise. John is an amazing writer, and the piece has a rawness that is hard, but perhaps appropriate. (E.g., I rarely swear, though you wouldn't get that impression from the piece.). Three comments below, but first a plea: that we drop the H-word, and B-word (Hero, and Brave — ed) from commentary about this. This is an important social issue because of how ordinary it is in fact; and we need it to be understood to be ordinary, so as to respond in ways that can check, and prevent it.
I don't know what to say. What happened to Lessig and Hardwicke and the other children is monstrous. That the state is attempting to shield the school from prosecution is equally horrendous.
I've known people who don't see a problem with "consensual" sexual relationships between adults and teens. I saw an organization disintegrate (partly) over that issue, and whether the organization was responsible for policing such relationships. I drew a line between those who would engage in such relationships and those who would tolerate them. Right now I think I was wrong to draw that line: tolerance is complicity.
I've never met Lawrence Lessig, although we've traded emails. I think this hits me harder because he is more real to me than some random person I've never corresponded with. On the one hand that's unfair, on the other it's very reasonable: we learn from our connections. Just as a known gay person becomes representative of all gay people, a known victim of sexual abuse becomes representative of all victims. He's not the only victim of sexual abuse I know, either, although he's the most prominent in the outside world. I've offered to try and find the abuser of someone close to me so that we can kick his ass many decades later, but was turned down. I'm not sure that's a good thing.
This is a societal problem. It's not just the Catholic Church and choir schools &8212; it's all of us. Victims of abuse are more likely to grow up and abuse. They're more likely to abuse drugs (legal and illegal) and they're more likely to abuse other people. Lessig is a sterling and exceptional example of an abuse victim who's achieved at a high level -- many abuse victims underachieve for the rest of their lives, as John Hardwicke seems to be. Society is the loser. We lose because we pay the bills for abuse: hospital bills and school costs and police overtime. We lose because of the lost potential of the victims: John Hardwicke might have been a great scientist, or the leader of a new political movement, or even just a well-adjusted and happy citizen of the U.S.
I ramble. I'm too upset to coordinate and order my thoughts. I want to be able to do something about this. Maybe I can write more coherently later.
I do know that both Lessig and Hardwicke deserve both the H word and the B word, so I'll say it. They are both Heroes, and they are both being very Brave.
More Coherent Thoughts From Julie Leung
