Emanuel Foundation

Topic: credibility

US talk show host Oprah Winfrey is quoted with the wonderful sentence: "Speaking your truth is the most powerful tool we all have."

But what if you don't yet know the truth because the trauma makes it difficult to remember (which is not unusual for brain physiological reasons)? And what if you do know the truth but don't want to accept it because that would be too bad?

And to make things even more complicated... what if you know the truth and speak it, but no one believes you because such an experience supposedly cannot (or should not) exist?

Sometimes this takes on malicious traits - for example, when satirical programs make fun of victims of ritual violence with devil faces, journalists or church employees write about "self-defined victims" and misuse Bible quotes to accuse them of stupidity and a need for self-expression.

These are of course excesses, but they clearly harm the fair treatment of those affected and the more differentiated view of the question of the credibility of their memories. Extreme sexual violence, especially against children, has always been surrounded by many myths. What this means for the current discussion and why a lack of differentiation leads to disinformation that prevents education and appropriate help is explained in the texts attached here.

All conspiracy theory? A plea for serious information between two extremes (April 2020)

Current statements on the controversial discussion about ORG