Supplemental material for The Satanic Panic Reconsidered series: The False Memory Syndrome Foundation (FMSF) and hired gun Ralph Underwager. This episode covers a number of topics ranging from the FMSF and some of the original founders, advisory boa…
Supplemental material for The Satanic Panic Reconsidered series: The False Memory Syndrome Foundation (FMSF) and hired gun Ralph Underwager. This episode covers a number of topics ranging from the FMSF and some of the original founders, advisory board members, and dubious scientific claims.
The FMSF is a controversial advocacy organization set up in the wake of the so-called "Satanic Panic" period of the 1980s. Ostensibly the foundation is intended to operate as one distributing information for individuals who may be falsely accused of sexual or similar abuse presumably based upon "recovered memories" or memories that may have somehow been "implanted" by a rogue therapist. However, the FMSF has been criticized for decades for the actions of those associated with the organization including the founders and various board members.
It is my view that this foundation ought to be treated with a high degree of skepticism due to the nature of the criminal actions that are involved in child abuse or molestation situations.
This video represents only one of my attempts to clarify the historical record over and against the dominant narrative that the 1980s "moral panic" was utterly baseless and people were simply caught up in some kind of baseless "hysteria" and went on a Salem witch trials-style "witch-hunt". My views are based upon my own direct experiences from the 1980s, my own historical research into these matters, and Brown University Professor Ross Cheit's unmatched tome "The Witch-hunt Narrative" which shows in broad outlines how what I call the Satanic Panic Mythos was originally constructed and by who and partially for what reasons. My attempts in these videos and future episodes are to fill in the gaps with my own findings and my views as to who created the narrative/mythos and their motives.
Nowhere in the series do I, nor will I, claim that all the accusations were incontestably true. I fully acknowledge that false accusations are destructive to all involv..
