GIST: "I took my time finishing the final episodes of True Detective. The twists and turns demand contemplative viewing, at least until the end. The detectives have spent eight episodes piecing together the identity of a serial killer whose devil-worshipping, ritualistic activities seemed to implicate major Louisiana politicians and a wide network of people and institutions. But it comes down, as these things always do, to a thrilling fight scene. Detective Rust Cohle has spent eight hours of television using his head to follow the murderer's trail and wax philosophical. In the end, he uses his head more literally, thrusting it repeatedly to knock the bad guy off his feet. In a recent interview, the show's creator Nic Pizzolatto hinted that the story might have a real-life inspiration. Numerous articles followed, quoting reports from 2005 on the case of a Louisiana pastor named Louis Lamonica Jr. who was convicted of raping his two sons and accused of weird and wild Satanic activities. Lamonica is still in prison. Maybe he's guilty, but his case has a lot of red flags........."When dealing with home-run records and financial opportunities, a reliable rule to follow is this: if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is," Michael Hall wrote for Texas Monthly when the San Antonio Four were released. "When dealing with child-sex-abuse allegations, a reliable rule to follow is this: if it sounds too bad to be true, be very, very skeptical.".........In all of these cases, no physical evidence was ever found. Many of the kid victims grew up to retract their accusations. Skeptical journalists like Debbie Nathan, co-author of the book Satan's Silence, found that bad interviewing techniques had been used on highly suggestible children. Most of the men and women accused of those crimes have been freed. The New York Times recently ran a short film that makes this "hysteria" look like a shameful relic on the order of the Salem witch trials. A shameful relic, that is, of the 1980s and the 1990s. Lamonica's conviction was in 2005. Satanic ritual abuse cases were mostly discredited by the time Lamonica's conviction came along. At the very least, his case deserves an ample amount of skepticism.........We may have for the most part moved past the Satanic abuse panic, but the popularity of True Detective suggests why we may have been so primed for the Satanic abuse hysteria in the first place. We all love a good story."
The entire post can be found at:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/maurice-chammah/true-detective-and-the-sa_b_5134345.html
PUBLISHER'S NOTE:
Dear Reader. Keep your eye on the Charles Smith Blog. We are following this case.
I have added a search box for content in this blog which now encompasses several thousand posts. The search box is located near the bottom of the screen just above the list of links. I am confident that this powerful search tool provided by "Blogger" will help our readers and myself get more out of the site.
The Toronto Star, my previous employer for more than twenty incredible years, has put considerable effort into exposing the harm caused by Dr. Charles Smith and his protectors - and into pushing for reform of Ontario's forensic pediatric pathology system. The Star has a "topic" section which focuses on recent stories related to Dr. Charles Smith. It can be found at:
http://www.thestar.com/topic/
Information on "The Charles Smith Blog Award"- and its nomination process - can be found at:
http://smithforensic.blogspot.ca/2013/12/the-charles-smith-award-presented-to_28.html
I look forward to hearing from readers at:
hlevy15@gmail.com.
Harold Levy: Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog;
