RascalPuff's Blog

“Conformist group aggression: the most common, the most dangerous, and the most difficult to prevent.”
– Eric Fromm, The Anatomy of Human Destructiveness

(“He’s about to expose the KGB, the FBI, the CIA, and himself!”
“How do you tell anyone about a thing like this?”
“That’s easy. You just tell ‘em the truth”.
“Oh. I see. You’re gonna write fiction”.

- Dialogue between Glenda Jackson & Walter Mathheau,
excerpted from the movie: Hop Scotch.)

This monologue regards a formerly close friend of Truly Yours, who I’d known for decades. At least, I thought I knew him, until he made the mistake of telling me on the telephone, in elaborate detail, that he was responsible for the rape of a child that wasn’t reported to the police, while someone else – his stepfather - was secretly blamed and innovatively punished for it, without ever being confronted with the accusation or the reason for his tormentation; thereby disabling the falsely accused from defending himself.


Meanwhile, from the moment the cited ‘friend’ said that he and his wife learned of this detailed allegation from their child, they were obliged to report it to authorities; it being a felony not to do so. The perpetrator wasn’t the least bit remorseful and the conversation went on for over an hour and a half. He alleged the foul deed was committed in a darkened room, and that the child therefore, was unable to indentify her attacker.


The crime was decades in the past, but the punishment of the innocent man he framed and blamed was still happening – mobilized and following the unknowingly accused man, by way of a traveling, ever increasing rumor, which enjoyed a lot of success, because the rumor-talk-stalked individual was an itinerant custom jewelry maker and salesman, whose business route was traced from his photo-copied address and phone book. Hence, all of his (dozens of) consignment-buyer contacts were reached by telephone and convincingly admonished that the so called ‘target’, was not trustworthy with children, and many other more glibly detailed prefabrications and character assassinations to reinforce that demonizing effect. Although a lot of these conspicuously anonymous and suspicious reports were rebutted out of hand, many were taken seriously. In such cases, the result was that the vacant accusation was passed on to what amounted to scores of customers who bought from and socialized with the telephone contacted consignment dealers. (This was before LED accountability on telephones.)

That is to say, the mendacious ‘rumor’ was highly contagious (reinforced with the incentive of ‘protecting children’), and literally followed the ‘targeted’ man, not only from consignment buyer to consignment buyer, but also, from town to town. The originator of this bizarre social dynamic was boastful in the telling of it; speaking of numerous reports that had come back to him, describing many humiliating and punitive occasions that had been imposed upon the subjected victim.


What my ‘friend’ didn’t know, was, I was audio-taping the entire conversation.


I had copies made of the original audio recording and placed in the custody of several local, state and federal authorities: voice identification equaling fingerprints.

Years later I sent the ‘suspect’ a written transcript of the conversation, which, of course, he recognized was indeed, a verbatim report of what we talked about.

A few months later he was about to go to trial under multiple charges of pedophilia and several counts of extortion and embezzlement.


Instead, he shot himself.

(Please continue to Pt II )