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1.24.2018

Larry Nassar/A Historic Systemic "Look Away"


My Thoughts and Comments on

Larry Nassar/USA Gymnastics Coach:

This will go down as the largest systemic serial predator event in history, to date: bigger than Jerry Sandusky/Penn State event - and that was horrific.
As I have worked with abuse victims for the past 37 years, the trail of damage in this case is made all the worse because of the vile, "look aways" that occurred for decades, also known as the "enablers."
Chronic and repeat patterns of  abuse 
(in this case, 265 young ladies have come forward, which probably puts Dr. Larry Nassar's number of victims closer to 500)  indicate that a number of people and institutions, systems, failed these children. In other words, there was a multi-level system failure to protect, in fact, one could even argue, there was a promoting of sexual abuse and complicity that goes beyond simply putting blinders on and avoiding the obvious.
Whether we work in cubicles, executive environments, on group projects, or punch a clock in a factory, we know the twitchy patterns of our co-workers. 
We know what they eat for lunch, what music they like, their favorite restaurant, and the alcohol they prefer. We can smell it. Our spidey senses are well-aware of miscreant behavior when we are close to it.
For years, Dr. Larry Nassar was fed a human chain of young, healthy, ambitious, athletes (and let's not overlook the 37,000 child porn images and videos found on his computer).
Who, besides Nassar, is culpable here, within the USA Gymnastics  team?
Civil suits will rain down on the agency and changes will
surely be implemented, as three directors have resigned this week, appropriately so. 
The most recent press
states that the US Olympic Committee is asking that the entire US Gymnastics Board quit because of their negligence, lack of oversight, and the house of horrors that Nassar was permitted.
Michigan State University President Lou Anna Simon (age 71, with an annual salary of $860,00), where Nassar kept his office and "treated" (his deviant grooming language) young patients, has resigned. 
N.C.A.A. has opened an investigation; Nassar was also the athletic doctor for MSU's members of the softball and cross country team.
The USA Gymnastics Team has severed ties with the  world-renowned Karolyi team, and their Texas training site, which additionally housed Nassar and afforded him privacy to carry out years of abuse.
Yes, please!
When an active duty service member takes his life, groups of people sit around a table and ask themselves: 

Where the fuck did we go wrong? We failed this young man!
This psychological autopsy is meant to take stock, inventory, count the bean cans; forensically accounting for all choices, decisions, commitments, priorities, agency resolve.
This is the post-mortem of the United States of America's Olympic hopefuls. We are poorer for this historical event.
Work place ethics, a company conscience that holds leadership and financial profit within a reasonable balance, should be the cautionary tale. 
Many clinicians like myself are often given the opportunity to come into a business and provide a mental health overview. Small mom-and-pop companies can be just as toxic as larger, remote businesses. The two-man flower stand is a work environment and the 100-employee company both have social responsibility to the care and well-being of the "little guy." 
Leadership. Leadership. Leadership.
The smart money is on being pro-active and cleaning house. Intelligent business owners benefit from workplace wellness; protecting themselves prophylactically is the investment; allegation-proof.
Corporate responsibility saves money and protects the longevity of business; just ask the Weinstein Company shareholders what they wish they had done differently.

Dr. Larry Nassar Was Not a Doctor