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Small-Scale Question Sunday for July 2, 2023

Do you have a dumb question that you're kind of embarrassed to ask in the main thread? Is there something you're just not sure about?

This is your opportunity to ask questions. No question too simple or too silly.

Culture war topics are accepted, and proposals for a better intro post are appreciated.

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In general, the far right misses the forest for the trees in the Rotherham affair.

The key factor that the far right cares about is the betrayal aspect, that police were too afraid of looking racist to do anything about it. They tried hard to cover it up, disappearing the evidence. And they succeeded for at least a decade.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rotherham_child_sexual_exploitation_scandal#Weir_report_(2001)

Having a poor, unemployed, faithless underclass is one thing, having a poor, police covering up for the criminals is quite another.

In two of the cases we read, fathers tracked down their daughters and tried to remove them from houses where they were being abused, only to be arrested themselves when police were called to the scene. In a small number of cases (which have already received media attention) the victims were arrested for offences such as breach of the peace or being drunk and disorderly, with no action taken against the perpetrators of rape and sexual assault against children.

https://www.rotherham.gov.uk/downloads/file/279/independent-inquiry-into-child-sexual-exploitation-in-rotherham

The police were incredibly useless and unhelpful, all the young people in Rotherham knew that taxis drivers were abusers yet none of the officials who had these extensive liasons and meetings managed to do anything about it (like taking away their licenses, for example). Or the police thought doing anything about child molesting was 'a waste of time'. Or check 10.11-10.18, page 85 - it paints a rather disturbing picture of someone inside the police force helping an abuser blackmail a young girl by threatening her 11 year old sister. Concerns about this expressed to the District Commander were thoroughly ignored and witnesses were silenced.