If They Are Released For A Changed Sentence And Time Served, They Could Have A Tremendous Impact For Sex Abuse Survivors With PTSD; Their Father Raped A Member Of Menudo, Who Has Now Come Forward
Exactly what I was thinking--all of their documentaries feel like they were written in the CIA basement. "We need the public to believe this, so let's write a powerful movie about it."
Now I’m remembering the Godfather II part. In it, Michael orders the murder of Fredo. But Fredo is a traumatized man. The character was already traumatized before the assassination attempt of their Father, Vito, in which Fredo failed to protect him, according to the script of the first movie. In that second part, there is the story of the triumph of Castro and it is mentioned that Batista escapes. And before that Fredo, an irresponsible party guy, brings Michael to a weird sex ceremony, kind of a show, which the Director only suggests to the audience. Michael feels bad about that. But he decides to kill him only after the Mother dies, and only after he is sure that Fredo was implicated in his own assassination attempt. And, of course, there are mobster Jews in this movie, and the main guy wants to retire in Israel, trying to escape Corleone.
In real life, this José Menéndez was one of the elite Cubans of the Batista government who escaped.
It may have well been all done by spies.
These things always go together: revolutions, mobsters, masons, spies, the MIC, sexual slavery, trauma, and trauma survivors who chose to continue the program.
In fiction they reveal us more about reality than anywhere else.
What is it about the entertainment industry that attracts perverts and pedophiles?
THe Diddy list needs to come forward, and those who participated in his Freak Offs need to be shunned, and prosecuted. Now that is so many people it will bring down the current entertainment industry, but so be it.
It's power and fame that attracts psychopaths and sociopaths. It's not unique to entertainment, just more visible. They abuse people and then the traumitized often pass it along.
Being neither a pervert nor a pedophile myself, I have no idea.
But I do know that the abuse tends to continue until the abusers are stopped.
Perhaps once the Menendez Brothers get out of jail, hopefully with some kind of pardon, they can sue the pants off of Netflix, the producers of that Saturday Night Live skit, and a bunch of other influential folks who repeated lies about them?
As for the O.J. Simpson case, Mark Torkowski is convinced that Nicole Brown is still alive as her sister and that Judge Lance Ito was actually played by Bruce Lee. I can't quite see it myself, but he has done a photo match-up.
And there is also the curious theory that Nichole morphed into Megyn Kelly. Megyn hates this one as much as Alex Jones hates being told he's really bill Hicks.
What a contrast to the whore VP Harris, who after sleeping her way into the San Francisco DA's office promptly shut down her predecessor's investigation, and prosecution of pedophile priests who had abused hundreds of children. The number of sexual abuse victims is ALWAYS vastly undercounted in any given investigation, and prosecution of perpetrators. That Harris, and Walz, who is a closted homosexual, and a pedophile could even have a remote chance of winning this election is disturbing beyond word. Most of the population in the U.S. is severely brainwashed. The most severe among us can be still be seen wearing masks. They ALWAYS have a slightly vacant look in their eyes. If you've never met a killer, there's a vacant look in their eyes as well, but the two vacancies are slightly different. The killer's vacancy is colder.
Maybe. I live in LA and Gascon is a Soros funded chaos agent “selected” deliberately to wreak havoc in a city in need of crime prevention. Half the prosecutors in this City quit under his supervision. I don’t trust a thing he says or does.
And I’ve seen too many “movies” which are written and acted so well that it leaves little room for doubt- the portrayal seems so real. We saw this in Oprah’s movie about Michael Jackson’s alleged victims which are now seen to be a complete fabrication. We know the OJ trial outcome was politicized and major facts omitted from trial by both sides. (Celia did a great rabbit hole investigation on this). And the Charles Manson murders- another false story imprinted on our brains by the publicized trial, movies and many books providing the official account.
I don’t know the truth but I do know we’re lied to constantly and the best way to do so is through media. I'm more likely to believe that someone else murdered him and his wife and they set the kids up for the fall.
the kids were 19 and 21 when they slaughtered their parents with shotguns. they did initially lie, but eventually confessed, seeking to mitigate punishment with a backstory of sexual abuse. that was after a month-long shopping spree. the second jury believed it was premeditated murder.
Celia, I appreciate you taking up the cause for sex abuse survivors, but there is no excuse for murdering two people sitting in their living room watching tv. They always had the option to leave. And where is the proof of anything they are testifying to? As far as Netflix goes, yes, there is more questionable content on that channel than not. That was indeed a warped view of the brothers meant to garner views. What you're trying to excuse is giving permission for others to commit murder instead of seeking help. With their money, the options were open including leaving and getting as far away as possible. Didn't the brothers go on a spending spree after the murder? Now, have they paid their debt? That would be left to either a parole board or a new trial. Do they deserve sympathy? Show me the proof of the abuse and I will certainly feel their pain. Gunning someone down is never an option unless you are in the act of defending your life from imminent death in self defense.
Rose, you wrote: "Show me proof of the abuse and I will certainly feel their pain."
I spent 13 hours on this post today, and prior to writing it, watched the documentary twice, and listened to a lot, a lot, of courtroom testimonies. There is ABUNDANT proof, of their abuse, which is why I spent 13 hours painstakingly linking to, backing up, my "case." (Please look at the links, for example, the doctor's testimony, the letter to the cousin, the FAMILY recalling Kitty protecting Jose when he was molesting Erik….and more...The "case" I was making was that imperfect manslaughter/imperfect self defense, would have been more just. (22 years.) But sadistic abuse, sodomy, beatings, attempted drownings, etc were not enough to make a jury have any sympathy for them in the early 90s in Los Angeles. Well—the women did, the men did not. My "case" I am putting forth is that we resist the truth about pedophilia and child abuse. That is does, in my view, mitigate and complicate a first degree murder verdict. Would you watch the documentary? If you have Netflix. Again—the documentary, for which I posted the trailer. Not the series.
Celia, I got halfway through what you wrote and wasn't sure I could finish reading. This was so disturbing. I did make it to the comments, however. Being in an abusive family situation for over 22 years, I asked God to open a door for me to leave and take my minor children with me, after my oldest minor child said if his father ever hurt me he would take a knife to him. I knew then I couldn't let that happen. Melendez brothers case in point. (Interesting enough, when I reminded him of how much his promise to defend me had prompted me to action, he could not recall having said that. He had put it out of his mind, because he did love his father, in spite of everything. I don't beIieve our situation was anything near the Menedez tragedy, thank God, but trauma is trauma, and no one should be subjected to this kind of abuse.) I had to remind myself that God was greater than my fear of escaping. Guess what? We got away.
Thank you for reading and breaking this all down for the rest of us. God bless!
The women of the jury chose the other option they were given. The men went for the obvious option, the one that requires less time to think. I would have probably do the same as the other men, if I didn't know about CPTSD. A person who is illiterate about trauma would interpret the testimony of the defendant as a total lie, crocodile tears and just acting to reduce sentencing.
If men learn about this, their decisions would be different, I think.
It rather reminds me of the Central Park 'wilding' incident which also occurred in the 90s and for which there was no remorse, no sympathy and no mercy for the (5?) who were sentenced--only to find, years later--that they were innocent,
they did not receive the death penalty, that was mitigation. sex abuse doesn't excuse first degree murder. if they hadn't been greedy, they could've walked out the door. but they wanted Daddy's money. and they were stupid enough to get caught, after their post-mortem spending spree.
being sexually abused does not make you a good person.
I've listened to the heart wrenching personal testimony of someone who experienced childhood rape by her father, back when no one wanted to believe it could be possible. It tears a child's soul to shreds! This person I knew who confided in me had fantasies of killing her father. And from what she told me, I wouldn't have blamed her if she had killed the lowlife piece of shit.
Rose, in some situations, you can run but you can't hide. The monsters have a very long reach. It's not for me to judge whether the Menendez Brothers gunning down their parents was justified or not. I don't feel the urge to condemn them or to absolve them. But this was a dysfunctional family, and on this occasion I am definitely blaming the parents. They at least received a sort of justice, and the Menendez brothers should be congratulated for definitively ending their father's career of raping, torturing and abusing other people, without which the victim list would have grown a lot longer.
Finally, where were the authorities while all this abuse was going on? Before the State of California can presume to judge the actions of the Menendez children, surely it must first judge itself.
And the verdict is, you will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy than the elite who run that place.
I agree--that if they are making a movie about it before the issue has even hit the Courts, you know they are selling something. One usually does a documentary after the process is over. Here it has just begun, out of the blue after 30+ years. Also, the facts don't really match up--the brothers were very late in telling the abuse story at the time and the facts just don't seem to add up. Something else happened there.
For me it does add up. They had broken the veil. Lyle had confronted his father and it had backfired. Prior to the murders, the father had been pounding on Erik's locked door, screaming, and Erik sat in bed with a shotgun, petrified. I know that decades spent in terror and subjugation totally rewires the brain. That's the untold story: PTSD. It doesn't even look like they had an PTSD experts testify for the defense. I don't think Leslie Abramson understood it.
Thank you for your compassionate examination of this case Celia. It brings up a memory from my early 20's when I was living apart from family in a strange place in the mid-70's. I became friends and the roommate of a woman who confided things to me from her childhood that shocked me to my core. Incestuous sexual abuse was almost unheard of in those days. It began with her elder sister. "P" would pretend to be asleep when her father came into the girls' bedroom at night to molest her sister. He used to brutally beat her brother. The creep of a "father" impregnated the sister, and he beat her so badly that she miscarried. When the sister was finally able to escape the horror of her situation, it became "P"'s turn to be raped over and over by her drunken alcoholic father.
"P" tried to run away, but ended up in what was then known as "reform school" because no one would believe her. When she would get drunk sometimes she would cry and tell me how much she wanted to kill her father. She hated him with a passion I'd never seen before. She hated her mother almost as much for never stepping in to stop the abuse. The father had been a prisoner of war in WWII, and was a raging alcoholic ever since. The mother was an alcoholic too.
I heard a similar story some years later from a coworker. As a young girl, no one would believe her. She had to endure it for the sake of her mother and younger siblings. Imagine having to say that you lied about your abuse so that the family could continue to recieve the financial support of the abuser.
This is probably all too common. But until recently not spoken of.
I used to make psychological evaluations of children who suffered traumatic childhoods, a few who were sexually abused. I could only skim read. I have grown soft. But thank you for writing about this. It is extremely important that also this dark issue is acknowledged and processed.
The big issue is mind controll in children and sex trafficking of children. Why doesn’t Netflix air or something like that instead of this mealymouth documentary
White House Halloween-features panda, pizza, chicken, & Biden literally nibbling on babies. What exactly is their message here? Even Nicole Shananhan questions WTH?
My brother, who was a Chief of Police, often remarks how much he detests prosecutors because we have no recourse to remove them. Nor, as he points out, can prosecutors be sued. So, there is no check whatsoever on them and therefore they can do as they please.
I followed the Menendez case at the time because it was such an odd story. Given that a criminal cannot benefit from the proceeds of a crime, it didn't make sense to me that they killed their parents for the inheritance. Like many of these celebrity cases 'fair and balanced reporting' to my recollection was completely absent. No one presented the possibility that these brothers were anything other than monsters. Worse, they were spoiled brat monsters. Why doesn't it surprise me to learn that the most significant part of the story was suppressed?
a criminal CAN "benefit from the proceeds of a crime" and DOES when justice isn't served. criminals look forward to so benefitting, thinking themselves smarter than the cops. such was the case with the M Boys, who wanted to prematurely inherit.
Back in about 1993 I read a disturbing book that was a compilation of true stories called something like Children Who Kill. I was not aware of this Menendez brothers experience but it sounds very similar to some of the stories in the books. A child's body can only handle so much abuse before they either kill themselves or snap and take care of a situation that is killing them. My question is always, "Why are the adults turning a blind eye?"
Oh Celia. You continually talk about important things, difficult things, things nobody wants to think about. Perhaps because we feel some complicity in going along with the official narrative and accepting the societal judgement that was meted out in the absence of context or perhaps it triggers some trauma of our own that we'd prefer remain buried. Or maybe, as I contemplate it further, it's just too ugly and terrible to face. I recall some impressions I had about the highly sensationalized Menendez Brothers case. I was in graduate school at the time and have not had a tv since 1987 but was likely exposed to it through visiting other people or reading the newspaper. I don't recall hearing anything about physical or sexual abuse or it was so couched in a presentation of "of course these highly privileged and smug white males would say that because they think they can get away with murder". What I do remember hearing is that they were on the run and the FBI were following them and kept trying to collect forensic evidence from every hotel etc. that they had stayed in. I was definitely deeply ensconced in my own life and knew to stay away from MSM even back then but if I heard anything significant about the context it would have resonated with me. I grew up in the 70s and in addition to my own experiences I also marvel that worse things did not occur in the often unregulated environments of my childhood that were in no way extreme. I can only imagine what could happen in the rooms of a large mansion of a powerful man. I now believe that sexual abuse of boys may be more common than that of girls as there is a bigger stigma in talking about it. It also would be more scrutinized for a girl to be spending an inordinate amount of time alone with her father versus a son and any evidence of abuse more likely uncovered. There is also the societal stigma of one's manhood being tainted by these acts. I remember hearing a joke about the tight end football player who went to jail and came out as a wide receiver. It is disgusting to write off rape of anyone as funny because that person is seen as less than human or deserving of it. But the ritual physical and sexual abuse of children. It is so dark and wrong and terrible. The most vulnerable - unprotected by their parents, family or society and allowed to be repeatedly violated, for years. I don't know how anyone gets over that. I remember reading Gabor Mate's book In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts where he recounts the background of many of his patients who are heroin addicts - basically in every case these individuals had abusive childhoods. This is not normal behavior. I truly can't imagine what these experiences do to a child - they literally were repeatedly being killed as you point out - one would have to completely shutdown in order to survive and as a child you feel you have no power. To say that the brothers could have left is a gross lack of understanding of the emotional effects of years of (what sounds like in this case) severe abuse and abuse that occurred to a child. I know I would view the media's presentation very differently now as at the time I did not pay much attention and the information I did get was very selective and biased. Today's blog makes me very sad - Thank you for bringing attention and light to this taboo subject. We all bear responsibility as both individuals and societally to not stay silent. Children need protecting now more than ever and apparently ever really happens more than we would like to think. Shame on Netflix - I would not even watch if I still had a subscription.
I've always felt that if what the brothers said occurred did indeed occur (I never doubted it at the time; I guess I have immediate sympathy for anyone who claims such horrors happened to them, due to my own childhood trauma; not always a good thing. because I am sometimes easily fooled by those with psychopathic personality traits), then what they did was indeed "self-defense."
The main thing that I have always found puzzling about the Menendez brothers, and perhaps it's just my own perceptual bias because I still struggle so much with abandonment issue, even as an "old man": I have always found both of the brothers extremely, shall we say, "functional," for the level of trauma they are said to have endured. I know that if I endured anything like they are said to have endured, I would probably be dead, debilitated by panic disorder. I guess there are high-functioning and low-functioning trauma survivors, as in all things. I would definitely put them on the high end, versus myself on the low end.
Powerful article Celia - thank you much ...
I stopped believing Netflix documentaries a long time ago as Netflix always pushes certain political agendas
Exactly what I was thinking--all of their documentaries feel like they were written in the CIA basement. "We need the public to believe this, so let's write a powerful movie about it."
Limited hangout comes to mind.
Carolco Pictures Execs held a Life Ins. policy on Jose Menendez...
according to 'Juxtaposition'- Carolco was involved in Porn
https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1989-08-30-me-1259-story.html
hmmm...
what could that mean?
cui prodest, cui bono?
they wagered that the guy would get whacked eventually.
perhaps they knew the son was a good candidate to do it?
did they got any money after he was killed?
good question that I don't have the answer to.
but the whole episode is conflicted
You’re right, it is conflicted.
Now I’m remembering the Godfather II part. In it, Michael orders the murder of Fredo. But Fredo is a traumatized man. The character was already traumatized before the assassination attempt of their Father, Vito, in which Fredo failed to protect him, according to the script of the first movie. In that second part, there is the story of the triumph of Castro and it is mentioned that Batista escapes. And before that Fredo, an irresponsible party guy, brings Michael to a weird sex ceremony, kind of a show, which the Director only suggests to the audience. Michael feels bad about that. But he decides to kill him only after the Mother dies, and only after he is sure that Fredo was implicated in his own assassination attempt. And, of course, there are mobster Jews in this movie, and the main guy wants to retire in Israel, trying to escape Corleone.
In real life, this José Menéndez was one of the elite Cubans of the Batista government who escaped.
It may have well been all done by spies.
These things always go together: revolutions, mobsters, masons, spies, the MIC, sexual slavery, trauma, and trauma survivors who chose to continue the program.
In fiction they reveal us more about reality than anywhere else.
I spent a week one winter at a house on lake tahoe by the dock where the film took place- go figure
Yep I canned 'em a few years back when they did a docuseries on sexualizing kids while pretending they were against it.
What is it about the entertainment industry that attracts perverts and pedophiles?
THe Diddy list needs to come forward, and those who participated in his Freak Offs need to be shunned, and prosecuted. Now that is so many people it will bring down the current entertainment industry, but so be it.
It's power and fame that attracts psychopaths and sociopaths. It's not unique to entertainment, just more visible. They abuse people and then the traumitized often pass it along.
Being neither a pervert nor a pedophile myself, I have no idea.
But I do know that the abuse tends to continue until the abusers are stopped.
Perhaps once the Menendez Brothers get out of jail, hopefully with some kind of pardon, they can sue the pants off of Netflix, the producers of that Saturday Night Live skit, and a bunch of other influential folks who repeated lies about them?
As for the O.J. Simpson case, Mark Torkowski is convinced that Nicole Brown is still alive as her sister and that Judge Lance Ito was actually played by Bruce Lee. I can't quite see it myself, but he has done a photo match-up.
https://pieceofmindful.com/2023/01/16/bruce-lee-lance-ito-revisited/
And there is also the curious theory that Nichole morphed into Megyn Kelly. Megyn hates this one as much as Alex Jones hates being told he's really bill Hicks.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2_JdsFxdXQM
What a contrast to the whore VP Harris, who after sleeping her way into the San Francisco DA's office promptly shut down her predecessor's investigation, and prosecution of pedophile priests who had abused hundreds of children. The number of sexual abuse victims is ALWAYS vastly undercounted in any given investigation, and prosecution of perpetrators. That Harris, and Walz, who is a closted homosexual, and a pedophile could even have a remote chance of winning this election is disturbing beyond word. Most of the population in the U.S. is severely brainwashed. The most severe among us can be still be seen wearing masks. They ALWAYS have a slightly vacant look in their eyes. If you've never met a killer, there's a vacant look in their eyes as well, but the two vacancies are slightly different. The killer's vacancy is colder.
From THE INTERCEPT:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7sVswKxx9dw
Maybe. I live in LA and Gascon is a Soros funded chaos agent “selected” deliberately to wreak havoc in a city in need of crime prevention. Half the prosecutors in this City quit under his supervision. I don’t trust a thing he says or does.
And I’ve seen too many “movies” which are written and acted so well that it leaves little room for doubt- the portrayal seems so real. We saw this in Oprah’s movie about Michael Jackson’s alleged victims which are now seen to be a complete fabrication. We know the OJ trial outcome was politicized and major facts omitted from trial by both sides. (Celia did a great rabbit hole investigation on this). And the Charles Manson murders- another false story imprinted on our brains by the publicized trial, movies and many books providing the official account.
I don’t know the truth but I do know we’re lied to constantly and the best way to do so is through media. I'm more likely to believe that someone else murdered him and his wife and they set the kids up for the fall.
the kids were 19 and 21 when they slaughtered their parents with shotguns. they did initially lie, but eventually confessed, seeking to mitigate punishment with a backstory of sexual abuse. that was after a month-long shopping spree. the second jury believed it was premeditated murder.
Very believable. Yes they should be released for time served, and I think they have a very strong case against the CA legal system.
Celia, I appreciate you taking up the cause for sex abuse survivors, but there is no excuse for murdering two people sitting in their living room watching tv. They always had the option to leave. And where is the proof of anything they are testifying to? As far as Netflix goes, yes, there is more questionable content on that channel than not. That was indeed a warped view of the brothers meant to garner views. What you're trying to excuse is giving permission for others to commit murder instead of seeking help. With their money, the options were open including leaving and getting as far away as possible. Didn't the brothers go on a spending spree after the murder? Now, have they paid their debt? That would be left to either a parole board or a new trial. Do they deserve sympathy? Show me the proof of the abuse and I will certainly feel their pain. Gunning someone down is never an option unless you are in the act of defending your life from imminent death in self defense.
Rose, you wrote: "Show me proof of the abuse and I will certainly feel their pain."
I spent 13 hours on this post today, and prior to writing it, watched the documentary twice, and listened to a lot, a lot, of courtroom testimonies. There is ABUNDANT proof, of their abuse, which is why I spent 13 hours painstakingly linking to, backing up, my "case." (Please look at the links, for example, the doctor's testimony, the letter to the cousin, the FAMILY recalling Kitty protecting Jose when he was molesting Erik….and more...The "case" I was making was that imperfect manslaughter/imperfect self defense, would have been more just. (22 years.) But sadistic abuse, sodomy, beatings, attempted drownings, etc were not enough to make a jury have any sympathy for them in the early 90s in Los Angeles. Well—the women did, the men did not. My "case" I am putting forth is that we resist the truth about pedophilia and child abuse. That is does, in my view, mitigate and complicate a first degree murder verdict. Would you watch the documentary? If you have Netflix. Again—the documentary, for which I posted the trailer. Not the series.
👏👏👏
Celia, I got halfway through what you wrote and wasn't sure I could finish reading. This was so disturbing. I did make it to the comments, however. Being in an abusive family situation for over 22 years, I asked God to open a door for me to leave and take my minor children with me, after my oldest minor child said if his father ever hurt me he would take a knife to him. I knew then I couldn't let that happen. Melendez brothers case in point. (Interesting enough, when I reminded him of how much his promise to defend me had prompted me to action, he could not recall having said that. He had put it out of his mind, because he did love his father, in spite of everything. I don't beIieve our situation was anything near the Menedez tragedy, thank God, but trauma is trauma, and no one should be subjected to this kind of abuse.) I had to remind myself that God was greater than my fear of escaping. Guess what? We got away.
Thank you for reading and breaking this all down for the rest of us. God bless!
The women of the jury chose the other option they were given. The men went for the obvious option, the one that requires less time to think. I would have probably do the same as the other men, if I didn't know about CPTSD. A person who is illiterate about trauma would interpret the testimony of the defendant as a total lie, crocodile tears and just acting to reduce sentencing.
If men learn about this, their decisions would be different, I think.
It rather reminds me of the Central Park 'wilding' incident which also occurred in the 90s and for which there was no remorse, no sympathy and no mercy for the (5?) who were sentenced--only to find, years later--that they were innocent,
wow
they did not receive the death penalty, that was mitigation. sex abuse doesn't excuse first degree murder. if they hadn't been greedy, they could've walked out the door. but they wanted Daddy's money. and they were stupid enough to get caught, after their post-mortem spending spree.
being sexually abused does not make you a good person.
I don't think Rose read your article Celia.
I've listened to the heart wrenching personal testimony of someone who experienced childhood rape by her father, back when no one wanted to believe it could be possible. It tears a child's soul to shreds! This person I knew who confided in me had fantasies of killing her father. And from what she told me, I wouldn't have blamed her if she had killed the lowlife piece of shit.
Rose, in some situations, you can run but you can't hide. The monsters have a very long reach. It's not for me to judge whether the Menendez Brothers gunning down their parents was justified or not. I don't feel the urge to condemn them or to absolve them. But this was a dysfunctional family, and on this occasion I am definitely blaming the parents. They at least received a sort of justice, and the Menendez brothers should be congratulated for definitively ending their father's career of raping, torturing and abusing other people, without which the victim list would have grown a lot longer.
Finally, where were the authorities while all this abuse was going on? Before the State of California can presume to judge the actions of the Menendez children, surely it must first judge itself.
And the verdict is, you will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy than the elite who run that place.
I agree--that if they are making a movie about it before the issue has even hit the Courts, you know they are selling something. One usually does a documentary after the process is over. Here it has just begun, out of the blue after 30+ years. Also, the facts don't really match up--the brothers were very late in telling the abuse story at the time and the facts just don't seem to add up. Something else happened there.
For me it does add up. They had broken the veil. Lyle had confronted his father and it had backfired. Prior to the murders, the father had been pounding on Erik's locked door, screaming, and Erik sat in bed with a shotgun, petrified. I know that decades spent in terror and subjugation totally rewires the brain. That's the untold story: PTSD. It doesn't even look like they had an PTSD experts testify for the defense. I don't think Leslie Abramson understood it.
In total agreement~a really thorough unbiased documentary and I'd watch it with bells on, but even then it would leave many questions unanswered~
Thank you for your compassionate examination of this case Celia. It brings up a memory from my early 20's when I was living apart from family in a strange place in the mid-70's. I became friends and the roommate of a woman who confided things to me from her childhood that shocked me to my core. Incestuous sexual abuse was almost unheard of in those days. It began with her elder sister. "P" would pretend to be asleep when her father came into the girls' bedroom at night to molest her sister. He used to brutally beat her brother. The creep of a "father" impregnated the sister, and he beat her so badly that she miscarried. When the sister was finally able to escape the horror of her situation, it became "P"'s turn to be raped over and over by her drunken alcoholic father.
"P" tried to run away, but ended up in what was then known as "reform school" because no one would believe her. When she would get drunk sometimes she would cry and tell me how much she wanted to kill her father. She hated him with a passion I'd never seen before. She hated her mother almost as much for never stepping in to stop the abuse. The father had been a prisoner of war in WWII, and was a raging alcoholic ever since. The mother was an alcoholic too.
I heard a similar story some years later from a coworker. As a young girl, no one would believe her. She had to endure it for the sake of her mother and younger siblings. Imagine having to say that you lied about your abuse so that the family could continue to recieve the financial support of the abuser.
This is probably all too common. But until recently not spoken of.
I used to make psychological evaluations of children who suffered traumatic childhoods, a few who were sexually abused. I could only skim read. I have grown soft. But thank you for writing about this. It is extremely important that also this dark issue is acknowledged and processed.
The big issue is mind controll in children and sex trafficking of children. Why doesn’t Netflix air or something like that instead of this mealymouth documentary
White House Halloween-features panda, pizza, chicken, & Biden literally nibbling on babies. What exactly is their message here? Even Nicole Shananhan questions WTH?
Biden’s- https://x.com/lizcrokin/status/1851787987006427320?s=46&t=a_sDK0ILUCUUu3ruPNEZtg
Shanahan-
https://x.com/returnofkappy/status/1852355732710076894?s=46&t=a_sDK0ILUCUUu3ruPNEZtg
Doesn't Obama have a lot to do with what plays on Netflix ?
My brother, who was a Chief of Police, often remarks how much he detests prosecutors because we have no recourse to remove them. Nor, as he points out, can prosecutors be sued. So, there is no check whatsoever on them and therefore they can do as they please.
I followed the Menendez case at the time because it was such an odd story. Given that a criminal cannot benefit from the proceeds of a crime, it didn't make sense to me that they killed their parents for the inheritance. Like many of these celebrity cases 'fair and balanced reporting' to my recollection was completely absent. No one presented the possibility that these brothers were anything other than monsters. Worse, they were spoiled brat monsters. Why doesn't it surprise me to learn that the most significant part of the story was suppressed?
a criminal CAN "benefit from the proceeds of a crime" and DOES when justice isn't served. criminals look forward to so benefitting, thinking themselves smarter than the cops. such was the case with the M Boys, who wanted to prematurely inherit.
Back in about 1993 I read a disturbing book that was a compilation of true stories called something like Children Who Kill. I was not aware of this Menendez brothers experience but it sounds very similar to some of the stories in the books. A child's body can only handle so much abuse before they either kill themselves or snap and take care of a situation that is killing them. My question is always, "Why are the adults turning a blind eye?"
Oh Celia. You continually talk about important things, difficult things, things nobody wants to think about. Perhaps because we feel some complicity in going along with the official narrative and accepting the societal judgement that was meted out in the absence of context or perhaps it triggers some trauma of our own that we'd prefer remain buried. Or maybe, as I contemplate it further, it's just too ugly and terrible to face. I recall some impressions I had about the highly sensationalized Menendez Brothers case. I was in graduate school at the time and have not had a tv since 1987 but was likely exposed to it through visiting other people or reading the newspaper. I don't recall hearing anything about physical or sexual abuse or it was so couched in a presentation of "of course these highly privileged and smug white males would say that because they think they can get away with murder". What I do remember hearing is that they were on the run and the FBI were following them and kept trying to collect forensic evidence from every hotel etc. that they had stayed in. I was definitely deeply ensconced in my own life and knew to stay away from MSM even back then but if I heard anything significant about the context it would have resonated with me. I grew up in the 70s and in addition to my own experiences I also marvel that worse things did not occur in the often unregulated environments of my childhood that were in no way extreme. I can only imagine what could happen in the rooms of a large mansion of a powerful man. I now believe that sexual abuse of boys may be more common than that of girls as there is a bigger stigma in talking about it. It also would be more scrutinized for a girl to be spending an inordinate amount of time alone with her father versus a son and any evidence of abuse more likely uncovered. There is also the societal stigma of one's manhood being tainted by these acts. I remember hearing a joke about the tight end football player who went to jail and came out as a wide receiver. It is disgusting to write off rape of anyone as funny because that person is seen as less than human or deserving of it. But the ritual physical and sexual abuse of children. It is so dark and wrong and terrible. The most vulnerable - unprotected by their parents, family or society and allowed to be repeatedly violated, for years. I don't know how anyone gets over that. I remember reading Gabor Mate's book In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts where he recounts the background of many of his patients who are heroin addicts - basically in every case these individuals had abusive childhoods. This is not normal behavior. I truly can't imagine what these experiences do to a child - they literally were repeatedly being killed as you point out - one would have to completely shutdown in order to survive and as a child you feel you have no power. To say that the brothers could have left is a gross lack of understanding of the emotional effects of years of (what sounds like in this case) severe abuse and abuse that occurred to a child. I know I would view the media's presentation very differently now as at the time I did not pay much attention and the information I did get was very selective and biased. Today's blog makes me very sad - Thank you for bringing attention and light to this taboo subject. We all bear responsibility as both individuals and societally to not stay silent. Children need protecting now more than ever and apparently ever really happens more than we would like to think. Shame on Netflix - I would not even watch if I still had a subscription.
Well done, as always.
I've always felt that if what the brothers said occurred did indeed occur (I never doubted it at the time; I guess I have immediate sympathy for anyone who claims such horrors happened to them, due to my own childhood trauma; not always a good thing. because I am sometimes easily fooled by those with psychopathic personality traits), then what they did was indeed "self-defense."
The main thing that I have always found puzzling about the Menendez brothers, and perhaps it's just my own perceptual bias because I still struggle so much with abandonment issue, even as an "old man": I have always found both of the brothers extremely, shall we say, "functional," for the level of trauma they are said to have endured. I know that if I endured anything like they are said to have endured, I would probably be dead, debilitated by panic disorder. I guess there are high-functioning and low-functioning trauma survivors, as in all things. I would definitely put them on the high end, versus myself on the low end.