Wednesday, May 12, 2010

And Out Come The Wolves.

I knew when I started this site that it was only a matter of time until I began taking fire from Mr. Riggs' supporters.

The following is from an e-mail I just received from "SRA survivor":

The bolded portions are my commentary on each point.

"I noticed in your reply that you completely avoided the clearly documented evidence presented on Dr. Ellen Lacter's, as well as made no references to the work of Russ Dizdar who is a Pastor."

Dr. Ellen Lacter is a practicing psychologist who operates a website that has assembled multiple links to articles on the subject of SRA. My cursory review of the information is that it appears to be heavily biased. I have also noticed that none of them appeared to be written in peer-reviewed journals. If I am incorrect in this point, I welcome correction. I'll be going through this information in detail in further points.

This isn't the first time I've heard of Russ Dizdar. His writings are bizarre on a level comparable with Scientology. He seems to amalgamate a multitude of conspiracy theories and unite them under the banner and unifying theme of an international, intergenerational SRA conspiracy. He is like most conspiracists in that his claims exhibit a profound ignorance of both history and political science. I'll be taking aim at his writings in detail later on as well, but here's one for free:


Russ Dizdar is about as qualified as David Icke as an "expert."

"It seems clear that you have an agenda against Doug Riggs and at this point are unwilling to really look at the evidence that your are seeking to debunk."

To avoid taking things out of context, I'm waiting until I've had a chance to go through each one of these in detail before posting a concise summary of the writings and their basis in reality. From what I have read, it requires an awful lot of confirmation bias and credulity to believe, and no convincing cases have been cited, only shams like the West Memphis Three and the McMillan Preschool cases. That may change as I delve further into them, but with each example I see the same thing happening: Law enforcement officials and court-appointed therapists entering into investigations with a pre-determined conclusion propped up by self-appointed "experts." I suppose it's worth pointing out that in each of these cases there hasn't been a single shred of physical evidence presented. To the ones that buy into this worldview, that makes law enforcement complicit in the "cover-up."

In my opinion belief in the SRA conspiracy is on the same level as belief in the moon hoax, a flat earth, magnet therapy, ghosts, UFOs, New World Order hokum, and 9/11 conspiracy theories. It should come as no surprise that many who believe in a massive SRA conspiracy also believe in some, if not all, of the above.

And you are correct. I do have an agenda against Doug Riggs. I'd like him to stop tearing families apart. That doesn't seem so unreasonable.


"Below is one of the most updated resources with professionals from several disciplines. I will be watching to see if you interact and respond to this level of documented evidence to the phenomenon you are seeking to refute."

This person is referring to a book written by James Randall Noblitt, who appears to be the most notable, and educated, person advancing the idea of Satanic Ritual Abuse. He is faculty at the California School of Professional Psychology, and by its website, his book appears to be a collection of articles written by various contributors.

I cannot comment in an informed manner on the book in detail because I have not read it, but I will say this much. This is a published book, for sale - not an article or report submitted for academic peer review to a mental health journal. We have only the author's word that all of the contributing stories were fact-checked, properly vetted, and scrutinized for accuracy. This is why peer-reviewed journals are vitally important, because they separate actual research from self-aggrandizing egoists.

However, Mr. Noblitt doesn't have the best track record with reference to factual accuracy in his books. In one of his prior offerings, "Cult & Ritual Abuse:
Its History, Anthropology, and Recent Discovery in Contemporary America" he cited several people and ideas that have been revealed to be complete frauds: Mike Warnke, Steven Knight, Dale Griffis, Jim Shaw, and the infamous Taxil Hoax to name a few.

With that kind of pedigree, I don't expect a truthful and accurate effort from Mr. Noblitt. I rather expect to find a tome penned by someone who bought a lot of information at face value and didn't bother to verify a word of it as long as it supported his conclusion. That isn't research, and any professor worth his salt should be ashamed to have his name attached to such garbage.


"I would encourage you to look at whether this "stop Doug Riggs" motivation stems from a root of bitterness. If it indeed does, The Lord will not honor your desire, whether you are right in your desire for vindication or not. You do not have the authority to "stop Doug Riggs" only God does. Therefore you need to seriously be before Him asking if this intention of yours glorifies Him for if it does not, you are fighting a losing battle."

Bitterness? Perhaps. If I am bitter, it's that this man has continued to destroy lives through his "pseudo-therapy" and megalomaniac control of his followers. He's one jug of Kool-Aid away from being Jim Jones. Add to that disturbing allegations of sexual impropriety with his "counselees" as well as allegedly having an appetite for the very things he condemns, and you have a picture of a man that for years has bought into a patently false worldview, and forces this same worldview and his own desires onto genuinely hurting people that come to him in good faith for assistance and end up being convinced their parents abused them as children when there isn't the slightest shred of evidence to suggest it.

But you are correct. I don't have the authority to "Stop Doug Riggs." I don't have the ability to make him do anything. Doug Riggs will be stopped when people see him for what he is rather than what he claims, or the authorities in his area determine that he is acting as an unlicensed mental health professional, and censure him appropriately.

By the way - the toll-free hotline to report a person to the New York Mental Health Association for practicing without a license is 1-800-442-8106.


"P.S
In regard to your question, 2012 is simply the year I was to graduate at the time I created the email account. Nothing more, nothing less."


On a hunch, I asked this person if they also believed in the various theories surrounding the "2012 apocalypse" since the digits were a part of their e-mail address. Question asked, answer received.

-StopDougRiggs

8 comments:

  1. That is so like his followers to say it is clear you have an agenda against this man. I say bunk! This man Doug Riggs obviously has his own hidden agendas against some of his former followers that have gotten wisdom from the Lord to seperate from him. Mr. Riggs and his wife dissed off most of the people that had been with them. If you leave MSTC you have an antichrist spirit in you or you are completely deceived or deluded. Not, in a humble manner, is there any way we can come to any kind of a resolution? Have we done any harm in any way? I wonder what would happen if he/they would truly come to repentance and ask true forgiveness for all the harm their "pride and immaturity" as they mention in another site, from those who once fellowshipped with them. What would that truly look like? What about the recent fellowship in New York? Have things been resolved with them there after 2 people accused people at that fellowship of having satanic rituals in their fellowship? Why must this "accusing of the brethern" out of the mouths of his people still go on?

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  2. Unfortunately, this is another hallmark of conspiracy theorists. Any evidence or information, or people for that matter, that do not support what they have decided is the truth are agents of the conspiracy, or disinformation planted by whoever they think "THEY" are.

    People will waste their entire lives away in fear with this kind of thinking, and unfortunately nothing short of an enormous tragedy shakes them to their senses.

    The problem is one of falsifiability. One must always be open to the possibility that you are wrong about a given subject, and that information is gleaned through careful examination of the best available evidence.

    I am open to the possibility that I am wrong about Doug Riggs, and about the Satanic Ritual Abuse phenomena in general. However, the overwhelming amount of factual information tells me that I am not, and the "evidence" put forth by people who do believe in it was largely dismissed by the professional community almost twenty years ago. It's not compelling, and it doesn't stand up to scientific scrutiny.

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  3. Oh my goodness! We are supposed to TRUST Russ Dizdar because he is a pastor. I think there are plenty of people that trusted Doug Riggs as a "pastor" Hmmmm lots of bad fruit there! So just because someone has a title of pastor they can use that makes them beyond scrutiny?

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  4. Therefore you need to seriously be before Him asking if this intention of yours glorifies Him for if it does not, you are fighting a losing battle."

    Reply to this commentor: Would you be before the Lord in very serious prayer and ask the Lord Jesus Christ to speak to your heart and give you the truth about what you are involved in, which happens to be a cult. There were times when Mrs Riggs herself thought the MSTC group was a cult until her husband obviously brainwashed her. For a moment she was thinking CLEARLY! Why on earth do you believe your group is so elite and the rest of the church is sleeping? Does it help you to feel good for you to get such special attention and feel important about yourself from this man? Are you sure you are not in idolatry regarding this man because you are so special to him because he spends all this time to work with you because you have all this satanic power for what he believes is the end time agenda of Satan? Have you ever truly asked the Lord if you are not channeling spirits in by some of the stories that are reportedly spoken and accusing people in other churches of performing satanic rituals? Where is the proof and the evidence? The police have lots of forensic technology they can use.

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  5. Having the title of pastor should be one at a higher standard of accountability. My ex-husband trusted him completely & when I questioned it I was accused of having "the spirit of Jezebel". As I look back I shudder to think of the total lack of discernment & common sense he had. Fortunately, after way too many years, I finally was able to escape with my children, but it has taken years to recover

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  6. I have read Randy & Pamela Noblitt's "Ritual Abuse in the Twenty-First Century". I own a copy. A review of every chapter would take up a lot of space and most folks would likely doze off before the halfway mark, so I'll give you some of the themes and lowlights (there are no highlights).

    The dominant themes of this book are;
    1)allegedly, there is a dire need for the concept of "Ritual Abuse" to be recognized & acknowledged as a valid and accurate description of real, criminally abusive conspiracies and also of genuine victimization and subsequent illness/disability, by all mental health/ child welfare/ victim support & services practitioners and researchers, by all justice system, law enforcement and legal services professionals, and by all governments, popular media and every member of the general public.
    2)ways and means by which the authors, RA survivor claimants, RA therapists and "advocates" can acheive the goals in "1" without having to produce verifiable evidence that the alleged conspiracies are real, that the alleged victimization is real, or that the alleged illness/disability is real in any specific case.

    Several of the articles in this book; Chapters 1-5 particularly, discuss methods of bypassing the need for verifiable evidence by insinuating the concept of "Ritual Abuse" into medical nomenclature and/or popular concensus of reality. Members of the RA cult community are aware that their conspiracy and victimization fantasies and mythologies can become "reality" in popular concensus - even though they are easy to expose as meaningless pseudoscience and falsehoods - if they are listed alongside genuine forms of victimization or genuine illness/disorders in medical diagnostic manuals or law enforcement- justice system-family law/ child welfare/ victim services training and public awareness materials. If RA conspiracies and victimization are treated AS THOUGH they were real, in these kinds of 'authoritative' forums, more and more people will simply accept them as reality without ever having looked for or encountered verifiable substantiation for any alleged victim's claims.

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  7. continued...

    Most chapters in "Ritual Abuse in the Twenty-first Century claim to contain 'evidence' for or 'proof' of the existence of demonic, ritual abusing, child sacrificing, baby eating, mind-controlling, pedophilic, sex trafficking and pornography producing cults, and the alleged many thousands of their victim-survivors.

    Particularly notable for this, is the chapter about an online survey called the "Extreme Abuse Survey" conducted by RA-MC true believers. They claim that 1471 people from more than thirty countries participated, and reported experiencing; sexual abuse by multiple perpetrators, forced cannibalism, witnessing murders, marriage to Satan, forced to murder, bestiality, and of course ritual abuse - among other horrific experiences.

    Unfortunately for RA-MC evangelists, the authors of the study in question themselves admitted they had no means whatsoever by which to verify that even ONE of these 'participants' actually experienced what they claimed to have experienced. That fact renders all the supposed 'data' collected through the survey completely meaningless. If the participant's responses cannot be verified as truthful and accurate description of real-life experiences, then they have no more value or worth as 'data' than if the study's authors had made them all up themselves!

    The study's authors admit their real motivations for conducting & publicizing a "survey" wherein meaningless responses are posed as 'data.

    "True to our mission to provide voice, validation and visibility for survivors of extreme abuse...we encourage mental health clinicians to use our findings...we encourage interested social science researchers to analyze our raw data for significant findings... Hopefully, responsible journalists will disseminate what survivors 'en masse' have reported about these horrible crimes..."

    "By presenting and publishing our results...our findings about ritual abuse and its interplay with traumatic mind control, child pornography, clergy abuse, sex trafficking and other forms of torture...we trust that the atrocities reported by survey participants will...BECOME SOCIALLY VALIDATED REALITY". (pg 63, "Ritual Abuse in the Twenty-first Century")

    The true purpose of this survey was NOT, to collect verifiable factual data about physical or sexual abuse, sex trafficking, clergy abuse, child pornography or any other properly documented, genuine social problem. The purpose was to sucker mental health clinicians, social science researchers and journalists who might not read the whole study and commentaries carefully, into accepting the mere EXISTENCE of an "Extreme Abuse Survey" with "1471 participants from more than thirty countries" as evidence that such a thing as "Extreme Abuse" is reality in our society, and broadcasting their acceptance of this "reality" throughout their professions as well as the public, bringing the RA-MC advocates' fantasies and mythologies one step closer to becoming a SOCIALLY VALIDATED REALITY - for which there would still be no verifiable evidence.

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  8. Good review, Bob. That's about the takeaway I got from reading over Noblitt's work.

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