In order to escape accountability for his crimes, the perpetrator does everything in his power to promote forgetting. Secrecy and silence are the perpetrator’s first line of defense. If secrecy fails, the perpetrator attacks the credibility of his victim. If he cannot silence her absolutely, he tries to make sure that no one listens. To this end, he marshals an impressive array of arguments, from the most blatant denial to the most sophisticated and elegant rationalization. After every atrocity one can expect to hear the same predictable apologies: it never happened; the victim lies; the victim exaggerates; the victim brought it upon herself; and in any case it is time to forget the past and move on. The more powerful the perpetrator, the greater is his prerogative to name and define reality, and the more completely his arguments prevail. . Judith Lewis Herman
About This Quote

The quote reminds us that criminals and those who commit horrible acts of violence against others create a culture of denial, silence and blame. Once they are released from prison, they will continue to deny their crimes and attempt to shift the focus to the victim.

Source: Trauma And Recovery: The Aftermath Of Violence From Domestic Abuse To Political Terror

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  1. The conflict between the will to deny horrible events and the will to proclaim them aloud is the central dialectic of psychological trauma.
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