Artemis
Saw a TikTok from a girl who was probably in the 13-15 age range saying "kids are paying attention to the stuff with the Epstein files & taking notes on how the adults around us respond (or are silent) to decide who we trust." She said they've learned a lot about how society views kids & they are fucking fed up.
GOOD.
Artemis
Parents don't have control over their children's minds, no matter how hard they try. A lot of pedophile-defenders are probably going to find that their kids are fucking DONE with them already & are just waiting for their chance to get away from the untrustworthy grown-ups in their lives.
Kids pay attention, & their parents, teachers, pastors, etc. are teaching them now that they can't be trusted. They are not going to be able to keep these kids "in the fold".
Artemis
Kids are finding out that their whole life is structured to accommodate pedophiles, all the way down to the *fashion* they are told to wear.
What a fucking terrible realization for a child but also...GOOD. If the adults aren't going to do or say anything about it, then yeah, they fucking need to know that there are people out there who believe that their youth provides an excuse to abuse & harm them & they need to learn to identify them.
Artemis
A lot of people don't even notice their children are autonomous beings with thoughts, opinions, & observations of their own.
The devotees & dupes of the Epstein class can keep having kids & trying to indoctrinate & control them, but it is not that simple. It is never that simple.
When the adults in a child's life reveal who they really are & what they really care about, they may eventually find out that their influence & control is at an end.
Artemis
It's what happened to me as a young adult. My values didn't change. I just started living by them more consistently.
While it deeply troubles me that they are taking great pains to isolate children from the wider world, I don't think that is sufficient.
When you are indoctrinated into right wing extremism, the contradiction from within really starts to hit as you approach adulthood.
Some will make the transition & accept the contradictions, but not all. Never all.
Artemis
I think childhood indoctrination often requires a transition period where the child is supposed to come to accept that some of the "beliefs" they were taught are not sincere, & there will ALWAYS be leakage at that point.
They teach children lies about why they live & act the way they do, & just expect the kids to somehow forget all the "values" they were told were at the core of everything.
Artemis
It definitely seems like some of the "shock" at my "change" came from people who assumed I KNEW, that I had to know, that we all knew, how much cruelty & abuse was happening around me.
As if I used to be okay with it, & I suddenly stopped.
I was supposed to be a warrior FOR them. My zeal, my intelligence, & my education were all supposed to be weapons in THEIR arsenal. I didn't get the memo. *I* thought I was "serving God."
Artemis
People to me at 20: "Artemis, you were such a strong supporter of our Christian community. What's with the sudden change?"
Me: "Change? What tf are you talking about? I was raised to believe I should treat everyone with kindness & fairness & that I should never tolerate evil no matter who the person doing it is or what the personal cost is to me. What fucking change?"
Artemis
Perhaps not shockingly, part of my wake-up call was seeing how common & protected child abuse was in my community.
I wasn't a kid anymore, but it really shook me.
I experienced traumatic religious abuse growing up & my parents employed a lot of harmful "disciplinary methods", but in my home I was never the victim of intentional cruelty from a trusted adult.
Learning that so many children experienced abuse that the people who should have protected them covered up changed my life forever.
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