ricardo

A fascinating and disturbing book. It graphically demonstrates how parents (or other authoritarian figures such as teachers, priests, kidnappers, etc) can manipulate the mind of a child into accepting responsibility for the abuse they suffer. They believe they are guilty and deserve to suffer. Ironically, in this case the bizarre family also instilled an independence of spirit and strength of character that allowed Westover to escape and gradually claw her way out of the emotional prison despite the perverse Sirens of familial obligation that kept pulling her back like a moth to a flame. Homeschooling is growing in popularity for parents who want to protect their children from the corrupting thoughts of "others". Social media is allowing us to filter out people who don't think like us and allowing hysterical synergy with those who do. We risk becoming illiterate in the art of social argument -- listening and learning as well as speaking. We are failing the art of progress via compromise and wallow in stalemate from obstructionism. One hopes that, like Westover, we can learn to open our minds.