In fact, the teenager's concept of "square" (f the term is still in use), when they talk about their parents, is almost identical to the concept of "cultural deprivation" as it is used by educational bureaucrats. In both cases it reflects an extremely self-centered and rigid way of looking at the world. Fortunately, with teenagers, it's a phase they grow out of.

A complete acceptance of personal responsibility is not optional. Whenever you find yourself putting responsibility outside of you, stop and remind yourself that you are responsible, especially when it is easy to blame someone else.

Justifying a demonic act does not make the actor less demonic; justifying only makes the negator more complicit.

You know what they didn’t do, though? They didn’t, not one single time, say, “What were you thinking?!” Not because they knew or because they understood—I really don’t think they did. They didn’t ask that because I sure as hell didn’t stab myself in the back, and when a radical extremist stabs someone in the back, the only person at fault is the radical extremist.

A la hija pequeña de Salome, Miep, la violentaron los hombres entre dos y tres veces distintas, pero Peters ha prohibido que la niña, que tiene tres años, reciba tratamiento médico, alegando que el médico difundiría rumores sobre la colonia y la gente sabría lo de las agresiones y convertirían todo el incidente en un escándalo.

No, ese hombre no albergaba los mejores sentimientos. Ese hombre no era bueno. Era lo que aprendemos a temer desde niños: un ogro.Nuestro amor era un sueño tan potente que nada, ni una sola de las pocas advertencias de mi entorno, había bastado para despertarme. Era la pesadilla más perversa. Era una violencia innombrable.

I give the victim the benefit of the doubt when it comes to allegations of rape and sexual abuse. I choose to err on that side of caution. This does not mean I am unsympathetic to the wrongly accused, but if there are sides to be chosen, I am on the side of the victim.

Blaming the victim is an act of refuge and self-deception. It allows the blamer to sit in judgment, imagining some mystical justice that means bad things happen only to bad people, thus ensuring their own safety.

The main difference is that the enlightened believe that the poor criminal should be rehabilitated while the righteous believe that the immoral criminal should be locked up in jail. Since almost the only available system of rehabilitation in America is to be locked up in jail, the difference remains highly abstract.

We don’t widely accept the idea that bad things happen for uncontrollable reasons because of fear. How could that be? If that is true, we can’t make sense of it with our cognitive brains. And that is scary. If that is true, there is no way for us to control those things while in human form. And that is scary. So we search for meaning, a less scary understanding. And we usually end up assuming the victim is to blame.