Saturday, December 03, 2005

PBS's negative picture of fathers

Child custody battles are always wrenching, particularly when there are allegations of abuse. For years fathers' rights groups have complained that men face a pervasive bias in family courts, while many feminists have countercharged that the real bias is against women. The latest round of this debate is being waged over a documentary, ''Breaking the Silence: Children's Stories," which has been airing on Public Broadcasting Service affiliates in the past month. The film's point is simple: Children in America are routinely ripped from their mothers and given to fathers who are batterers or molesters. The women's claims of abuse are not believed by the courts and are even held against them when mothers are suspected of manufacturing false charges as a divorce strategy.

To fathers' groups, ''Breaking the Silence" is blatant antidad propaganda. In a campaign led by the Boston-based Fathers and Families, PBS has been bombarded with thousands of calls and letters. It is now conducting a 30-day review of the research used in the film.

Film producer Dominique Lasseur told me he was shocked by the backlash. ''I have nothing against fathers," says Lasseur, a father of two, ''but I have outrage about children being given to abusers."

There is no question that our legal system fails children all too often. But the PBS documentary presents a skewed and sensationalist picture. Thus, Joan Meier, a George Washington University law professor and one of the film's main experts, asserts that ''75 percent of contested custody cases have a history of domestic violence" and that about two-thirds of fathers ''accused or adjudicated of battering" win sole or joint custody of their children.

The website of the film's producers, Tatge/Lasseur productions, lists two sources for these claims: a study of 39 abused women involved in custody litigation in Massachusetts, and the 1990 report of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court Gender Bias Study Committee which states that fathers who actively seek custody obtain primary or joint physical custody over 70 percent of the time. But the 70 percent figure was not limited to domestic violence cases. It is also highly misleading, since it doesn't separate custody disputes from cases in which the father gets custody by mutual consent. In contested custody cases, mothers are two to four times more likely to prevail.

''Breaking the Silence" seems to suggest that abusers who get custody of their children are virtually always male. In response to criticism, the filmmakers say on their site that since ''women are five to eight times more likely than men to be victimized by an intimate partner," to feature one male victim of abuse alongside five women would have ''overstated the problems of men."

The accuracy of their figures is questionable: the federally funded National Violence against Women Survey suggests that over a third of domestic violence victims are male. That aside, doesn't featuring zero abusive mothers significantly understate that problem?

Lasseur told me that if he had encountered cases in which an abusive mother was awarded custody of the children, he would have reported on them. I asked about the claim on a battered men's advocacy site that a man named Tom Gallen had approached him with exactly such a case. Lasseur conceded that Gallen had a well-documented story but explained that, relying on his ''instinct as a producer," he felt that Gallen wouldn't be the right person to use.

It's difficult to assess the credibility of the stories actually used in the film, since their presentation is deliberately one-sided. (Lasseur told me that women's allegations of abuse are often ''dismissed because it's he said/she said," and that he didn't want to recreate that dynamic.) In at least one case, involving a 16-year-old identified as ''Amina," there are serious questions about the film's accuracy. Official documents supplied by the girl's father, Scott Loeliger, and posted at www.glennsacks.com, show that there were fairly serious child abuse allegations against ''Amina's" mother. Moreover, the only spousal abuse mentioned in these documents is violence toward the father by the mother. The documents also reveal a messy, complicated case in which most evaluators concluded that both parents were behaving ''abominably." ''Breaking the Silence" simplifies this into a straightforward story of a villainous man and a noble, victimized woman, and does so in the service of a film whose overall effect is to vilify fathers.

The filmmakers contend that their only concern was the well-being of children. Yet, if the film contributes to a climate in which fathers who seek custody are tagged as suspected abusers, it could endanger children as well. PBS should rectify this bias by presenting programs with a different point of view.

Source



Some politically incorrect thoughts about the Mongolians

(Post lifted from Banagor)

I am willing to bet money that most people had no idea that Mongolia supported us in the war on terror. But yesterday, a lot of people found out that they did. And if anyone read the Washington Post yesterday, they may just have learned why, in one of the nicest and best written pieces I have ever read, written by the Prime Minister of Mongolia, Mr. Elbegdorj Tsakhia.

Mongolia's experiment with democracy is far from finished, but perhaps there are already lessons for others in what we have accomplished. There is no reason or excuse why economic and political reforms cannot go hand in hand. The concept that democracy is a Western value is a fallacy. It is a universal value inherited by each and every person in Asia, Africa, Europe, Latin America and North America.

How we share those values abroad is as important as institutionalizing them here at home. Mongolians are standing shoulder to shoulder with their U.S. and coalition colleagues to create free societies and fight terrorism in Iraq and Afghanistan. The recent bombings in Jordan and attacks in Iraq are a warning that defeating terrorism will take international cooperation and dedication.

Mongolians are justifiably proud of the country we are building. Many within Asia can find examples in our economic and political successes as well as learning from our failures.


Now, I know that many RFSP out there will no doubt say that we are "bribing" them, or some other such nonsense. But then, that's why they qualify as RFSP. I admire the Mongols, and I'm glad that they are on our side. It isn't, however, the first time. They were our allies against the Islamic insanity in the world during the Middle Ages as well. I rather like the fact that they are fighting with us again. I know that they are still hated in the Middle East for sacking all the cities back then, and I know it only enrages the Islamic Idiots to have Mongols fighting them yet again, but so what? You live with what you make of the world, and they sure as hell have made one huge mess.

I sort of regard the Mongols as our Klingons. The Klingons were obviously modeled on them from the start, and I'm glad to have them in our little Federation when fighting the Borg. That's probably far too trekkie a comment for most people, but it still holds true to me. Heck, I say we conquer the whole region and give it to Mongolia as a gift. They really deserve to have it again. When they ran it last time, everything was nice and quiet, the silk trade route was open, and nobody made any trouble. They used to have the balls to police the place the way it was meant to be policed, and generally let people run their own affairs as long as long as they didn't create trouble. So let's get the Arab world a democracy, but let's really defeat them mentally by putting their old enemy in charge - and I don't say this facetiously at all. I treat the entire Arab world as the enemy because, well, they are. They say they are, they preach that they are, and most importantly, they act on the presumption that they are.

As Sharon once wrote, they need to learn the psychology of defeat. Having the Mongols on our side, proud and noble warriors, is one step towards that goal. I realize that this is completely politically incorrect, but what do I care? It's the truth. All hail the Khan of all Khans, and let his spirit live on forever. Arkhi and Kumis all around, and wide sky and open plain to them for their efforts!

No comments: