Hi Everyone,
For anyone who doesn’t already know, the term, Stranger Danger, was intended to inform children and their parents/guardians to the many risks of people they did not know, aka strangers. Stranger Danger was used in many campaigns in the United States in the 1960’s and spread throughout North America like wild fire. Stranger Danger had global reach shortly after and the term is still used today.
Just a few weeks ago, I heard a girl of about seven years of age repeat the words, “Stranger Danger, Stranger Danger….” while we were in a public washroom. Since I have been well versed on this term for over three decades, I strongly refrained from saying anything. This is what I mean.
The Stranger Danger campaign was a HUGE failure. Instead of the campaign protecting children from strangers, it in turn opened Pandora’s Box by arming sex offenders etc., with the very information they needed to better continue with their crimes. In my opinion, the Stranger Danger campaign encouraged some sex offenders to act on their thoughts.
It is a little known yet proven fact that the majority of sexual assaults, kidnappings, murders, etc. are perpetuated by people that the victim(s) already know. That is why perpetrators use a variety of ways to first obtain and then retain their one or more victims.
A few examples of how they obtain their victims are, empathy, sympathy, gifts of any kind, usually alcohol, drugs and video games or a helping hand but the list is endless. If you can’t trust strangers then one would like to think that one can trust someone who is nice or needs or wants to help right?
WRONG!!!
That is exactly what perpetrators want and need their victims to believe. That is also why they will go to great lengths to first seek out and then befriend their victims. All perpetrators have a list of criteria of what to look for in their victims before they prey on them.
Low self-esteem, issues at home, drug and/or alcohol use, are some of the “tells” that perpetrators look for, but that list is endless too.
Another unfortunate fact is that because the victim already knows the perpetrator, they, the victim, does not or hesitates to come forward. This is usually because the victim has been shamed, made to feel blame, or has been physically or verbally threatened to remain silent. One or a combination of the above is ways of how perpetrators maintain their control over their victims.
If you read yesterday’s blog or have been following the tragedy of those three women being held captive for over ten years, then you would know that Ariel Castro threatened their lives and the child and that is how he maintained control over them for so long. The physical abuse of Ariel Castro is slowly being released yet I am sure that there will be more in the coming hours and days. (Here is the link to yesterday’s blog, titled, How Well Do You Know Your Neighbours? http://arebelsrant.com/how-well-do-you-know-your-neighbours/ )
Another important point to note is that it was strangers who helped those women in danger. The reason I mention this is because there are countless examples of strangers helping strangers in danger. Some strangers are good Samaritans. That is the double-edged sword of our society.
Here is a link to a video on how to protect your children or the children in your care. It is a parody so it’s not that boring but it does have some good points. Even if you believe you know what to tell the children in your life, I still recommend that you watch the video as a review. It is 2:34 minutes in length and it is titled, “Stranger Danger! Stranger Danger!”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Psp9cj9LsQs
Other videos regarding Stranger Danger pop-up after the video. On January 15th, I posted a blog called, Human Trafficking/Slavery. Here’s the link to that blog, http://arebelsrant.com/human-traffickingslavery/. I added this link because this is another way that the Stranger Danger campaign has failed society.
Thank you for reading A. Rebel’s Rant! ;D
by 
by