S'Morton Alan Smith charged with incest, rape, child molestation

[browngrl]

I would hope Katie/victim(s) are being supported but here is what bothers me: NONE of the patriarchs or matriarchs have come out in support of Katie. They were quite willing to publicly proclaim the benefits of the fundie way at Katie's wedding. They convinced her to marry Alan and were willing to publicly announce this in a blog. They made many videos about their beliefs (some of which featured Katie and Alan) yet NONE of them is now willing to publicly announce their support of Katie and the victim(s). Sure her brother made her a go fund me but where are they? None of them (other than the one who make the funding page) have lent public support. They were all quite willing to be public when it seemed their way worked but now almost nothing.  I can understand they want privacy and I'm not talking about sharing any details but rather things like: a picture showing the whole family beside Katie and her children or everyone's name co signing the go fund me page etc .   Maybe I am just a cynical bitch (quite likely in any case) and maybe Katie's sisters are quietly supportive but I suspect her father and father in law are thinking mostly of themselves.

[Queen Of Hearts]

29 minutes ago, browngrl said:

I would hope Katie/victim(s) are being supported but here is what bothers me: NONE of the patriarchs or matriarchs have come out in support of Katie. <snip> Maybe I am just a cynical bitch (quite likely in any case) and maybe Katie's sisters are quietly supportive but I suspect her father and father in law are thinking mostly of themselves.

Or maybe the crimes against the victim(s) are so terrible that they feel it is better for the victims to not draw public attention to this situation - not to hide it, but to protect the innocent.  Different generations handle things in different ways.  It doesn't surprise me that the older generation would go silent while the younger generation would be more vocal.  

[nolongerIFBx]

On ‎7‎/‎30‎/‎2016 at 4:59 PM, Red Hair, Black Dress said:

It may just be the quality of the video but I thought I noticed that neither Capt'n nor Alan wore a wedding ring.   Do fundie men wear wedding rings?  Do the women?  Wouldn't they want people to know they eere taken?  Being Catholic all the men in my family wear wedding rings

 

Many different varieties of fundies, so many differing beliefs on jewelry.

[SpoonfulOSugar]

51 minutes ago, browngrl said:

 

I would hope Katie/victim(s) are being supported but here is what bothers me: NONE of the patriarchs or matriarchs have come out in support of Katie.

The reality is we are seeing only a small slice of what is happening with the family.  We really don't have enough information to know with any certainty what is happening between the various families and generations.

If someone in my family were accused of a crime against other family members, I would likely not say anything, either.

Silence does not inherently imply support or denial.

[Mudgie]

It's a simple thing for people on the outside of these situations to speculate or assume a behavior or thought process taking place.  This is a large, complex and intertwined family, with many, many young children. I will not speculate who the victim/s are. Given the charges it's clear that they are a family member and a young child. 

To have an adult, a trusted member of the family, a loved and valued member of the family, turn out to be a worst fear realized is horrifying. This man is someone's son, brother, husband, father, uncle, nephew, etc. To believe him to be one kind of person, and to trust that person, to love that person, and then to find out that this was inside of him the entire time? To discover that he is capable of such a long term horrifying and vicious abuse? To learn that he has abused children? How does a person rectify that? It's nothing a person can come to terms with immediately. There's not a switch for love and trust. For every horrifying detail of this case that they learn, there are likely a million moments they can conjure up in their memory that make it so difficult to reconcile that person with the person they're learning he truly is. The shock and horror that comes with that realization is stupefying. It's not about denial or disbelief, it's shock. It's taking your everyday reality and ripping it into a million shreds. That sort of revelation is going to take some time to fully deal with intellectually as well as emotionally.

For the parent of the victim/s to have to live with the knowledge that there was a predator given repeated access to their child, is absolutely horrifying. The guilt, the horror, the questioning of "how did I not know, how didn't I see it, what did I miss, in what ways did I possibly help him to abuse my child?" I cannot imagine what it has to be to have that in your head and heart. Even though it is quite likely not their fault, those thoughts will forever permeate their being. Their trust in themselves and their own parental instincts are fractured. How can they not be? I have four kids, I can't even imagine what it would be to know that I wasn't able to keep them safe. I've always said that having a child is like having your heart walking around outside of your body. To learn that this happened to your child? for over 3 years? There aren't words. Learning that a family member took this innocent person and violated them physically, mentally and emotionally? It's absolutely horrifying.

From whatever perspective the people involved are coming from (sister, wife, mother, brother) to find out that a person you've loved and trusted is someone completely different than you knew is life altering. Finding out that they are capable of true evil? How does a person reconcile that?  Is there a "right" way to word what's happened? Can we really sit and judge their sentence structure when sharing the story and asking for help for their family member? 

We all see the world through our own filters and experiences. We all approach things based on our own personal frames of reference. I'd venture to say most people try to live their lives based on a moral and ethical code. Whether that code has a religious base or simply a self subscribed one, at the end of the day I'd say that majority of people can agree that what's happened is reprehensible. 

This entire situation comes down to children. For all of the hurt and destruction this predator has caused to everyone in his life, and it's an enormous amount of destruction and pain to everyone. The single most important people in all of this are the children. Their innocence and trust has been decimated. They are forever altered. 8 children are now (for all intents and purposes) Fatherless.  Whether or not they were the victims of his predatory abuse, they're victims. Every child in that family is a victim. Their very safety has been shattered. It will take years for any of them to regain even a semblance of trust and safety. 

It's a brutal and horrifying situation for every single person. 

The children need to be protected. I hope all of the adults involved will do every single thing in their power to help those children regain a sense of safety. They need to be allowed to heal, to be allowed to be children, they need to be able to believe that they will be okay. 

As for the man who wrought all of this destruction and pain? Honestly, I hope he doesn't receive bond. I hope he isn't allow to plea bargain, unless it's for an incredibly strict and long term sentence. The vicious part of me hopes the fucker gets thrown into general population. I hope if he's guilty that he's never permitted to see any of his children again in this lifetime. He doesn't deserve them. They don't deserve it. If his family chooses to grant him Christianity based forgiveness, I hope along with forgiveness he is never permitted again in this lifetime to be anywhere near any of the children in the family. Never. The victims should never have to see his face again. 

As for Katie, I hope she will have the strength and wisdom necessary to heal and guide herself and her 8 innocent children through this new reality to allow them all a viable future. 

[browngrl]

I see your points and I fully acknowledge I could wrong. However, I still am skeptical that father or mother Morton will back very far away from their fundy beliefs which (IMO) tend to blame the woman for everything. In any case, I think we can all agree on one point: I think we all wish Katie/her children/the victim(s) get the support and help they need.

[Black Aliss]

2 hours ago, Four is Enough said:

I can tell you exactly how it feels to be in the middle of it, but it was my son, not my husband.

<snip>

Since release, I do find myself watching him to see what and who he's looking at. I confess to feeling relieved that he spends most of his time in his room when he's not at work. I will not look at his phone or his computer, however. I don't want to know what's on there. He's reached his majority. It's all on him.

Finally Mr. Four and I realized that while Son has this issue, it's not our fault, it's not our responsibility, and it's not our problem. Sometimes, I still wonder.

 

Four is Enough, I can't tell you how sorry I am that you have gone through this. I hope that with time you can accept that it was not your fault, not your responsibility. It is your problem only in the sense that you bear this burden, because you are your son's parents.

[NeverAFundie]

@Four is Enough, I always, ALWAYS appreciate the insight you provide.  Your willingness to be open and forthright go a long way, I think, into breaking down the barriers of secrecy and making it easier for people to talk about these things.  

[hoipolloi]

2 hours ago, fundiefan said:

All that being said, I still don't accept that they are rallying around Katie without other baggage. Denial, their religious doctrine about roles of people, government, etc. The support surrounding Katie is all about the finances - nothing else is apparent. Not to say it doesn't exist, but even the gofundme page is focused entirely on her being without a headship to pay the bills.

The fact that Andrew Morton would say something like "My brother-in-law was recently arrested leaving my little 9 year old nephew as the man of the house" does not make me think  there's been much change in the worldview that contributed to the situation.

Let that sink in: a 9 year old boy being called (and apparently though of as) the man of the house.

[AmazonGrace]

He's an improvement over the previous man of the house though

[fundiefan]

1 hour ago, hoipolloi said:

The fact that Andrew Morton would say something like "My brother-in-law was recently arrested leaving my little 9 year old nephew as the man of the house" does not make me think  there's been much change in the worldview that contributed to the situation.

Let that sink in: a 9 year old boy being called (and apparently though of as) the man of the house.

I don't know that a change in worldview is expected, or even the desired outcome - particularly not at this point. They've known of this what, a week? At least he was just arrested a week ago. In that time, the family has had to deal with not only what he's done and the upheaval, but the arrival of another one of the accused's children. There are far more pressing and immediate needs ; there is far too much to deal with to put your entire value & belief system on the line as well.

It *would* be nice to see behavior that indicates total support for Katie as an individual human being with 8 kids whose husband is an accused child rapist.  But, behaviors are different than your entire belief system.

[fundiefan]

I think I finally got a grip on what I can't manage to say and what position / viewpoint I can't hold onto.

I won't, either, unless I know what the family's viewpoint is. And, of course, I have no rights to know that, so I will probably flip- flop all over this situation for as long as we talk about it.

For me, I think it comes down to this:

In their minds, is this a situation caused by Alan or a situation caused by the police (etc) who arrested Alan?

Did Alan leave his familywith no means of support or did the police take him away, thus leaving his family with no means of support.

Is it Alan's fault or the police's fault? Is this something Alan did or something 'others' did?

The family is attempting to help come to Katie's financial aid regardless, and that's good because that is exactly what family should do, but I think all the speculation we are doing (myself included, no finger pointing here, trust me) comes from the fact that we don't know how they view the events that have made Katie & her kids without a means of support.

 

[MamaB]

13 minutes ago, fundiefan said:

 

Did Alan leave his familywith no means of support or did the police take him away, thus leaving his family with no means of support.

Is it Alan's fault or the police's fault? Is this something Alan did or something 'others' did?

 

If what he is being held for is true then it would be his fault for molesting children.

From what I can gather about this family the women rely on their husband's for every single thing. If they need money they ask him for some. They don't really go anywhere without their husband. If they want to make a decision about something they take days or weeks to pray about it, whatever the husband feels he hears God say is the final decision.

[Four is Enough]

3 hours ago, Queen Of Hearts said:

Or maybe the crimes against the victim(s) are so terrible that they feel it is better for the victims to not draw public attention to this situation - not to hide it, but to protect the innocent.  Different generations handle things in different ways.  It doesn't surprise me that the older generation would go silent while the younger generation would be more vocal.  

This is very true. There are not only innocent victims of this crime,  who definitely need protection, support, therapy, and love, (and PRIVACY) but there are the innocent children, siblings, relatives, wife of the perpetrator. To talk about it, even in some family circles, is impossible, I found out in the family counseling sessions we went to with Son.  Some families rallied around; some completely rejected the accused and completely refused to have anything to do with perp OR victim. Some people just can't face it. Ours wasn't incest, so it may have been a bit "easier" for us to deal with it. Our victim didn't live in our house; our perp could live with us as he went through his first therapies.

But back to the innocent. Just How Much do you want your children, your neighbors, your relatives (cousins etc) to know about what happened? Where do you begin to speak; where do you stop?  We had to tell friends with whom we'd camped for years about Son because they had a younger child in the family. Other friends, we didn't

It's not completely generational as to who will be silent and who won;t, but I can tell you that whoever is speaking will be carefully weighing each word to ask, "is this need to know? Will they judge me? Will they offer help? will they disappear? will they spread gossip? will they offer information about resources?"

But enough about me. I am very interested to see if the clan is going to double down on religion. Will we see another "Anna in the girl's dorm" situation, with Katie under her father or FIL's umbrella once again, now that the husband is gone, or will her household be maintained with handouts and checkups from the elders and the relatives? My heart goes out to her. I wish we could bestow upon her some education and some street savvy.. 

[fundiefan]

20 minutes ago, MamaB said:

If what he is being held for is true then it would be his fault for molesting children.

From what I can gather about this family the women rely on their husband's for every single thing. If they need money they ask him for some. They don't really go anywhere without their husband. If they want to make a decision about something they take days or weeks to pray about it, whatever the husband feels he hears God say is the final decision.

I agree, and I think most everyone who lives a normal life does.

I just wonder if they do and that's my question; how are they - the families of Alan & Katie - viewing this.

Several people have said that Kennedy's post sounded like it was the police who dragged Alan away are the ones who left Katie destitute. I agree - I got a weird vibe reading her post too but couldn't pinpoint it.

As you say, women rely on their men for everything in their culture and I have definitely come across people who blame the authorities for the wife's position, not the person who committed the crime.

There was a blog awhile ago, I think it was even discussed here, written by a woman whose husband was in prison; the entire blog was from the POV of the 'mean police took him away from his family and now they have no money'. It was quite pathetic and scary on so many levels, not the least of which was her position that the criminal being in prison was wrong if it took them away from their wives/kids. It was just convoluted & upside down.

And, that's what I wonder about the SMortons - are they viewing this as big, mean police or criminal Alan?

[picklepizzas]

12 minutes ago, Four is Enough said:

But enough about me. I am very interested to see if the clan is going to double down on religion. Will we see another "Anna in the girl's dorm" situation, with Katie under her father or FIL's umbrella once again, now that the husband is gone, or will her household be maintained with handouts and checkups from the elders and the relatives? My heart goes out to her. I wish we could bestow upon her some education and some street savvy.. 

its crazy to think that meredith duggar has a peer in Baby Girl #8. Both daughters born in the wake of their father's child molestation scandals, to mothers with lots of children they are unable to support on their own. both, FINGERS CROSSED, the last child.  obviously josh has returned much more quickly than alan might, but still. maybe one day they will meet and bond over the strange shared circumstances that surrounded their births. 

[Howl]

48 minutes ago, fundiefan said:

For me, I think it comes down to this:

In their minds, is this a situation caused by Alan or a situation caused by the police (etc) who arrested Alan?

Did Alan leave his familywith no means of support or did the police take him away, thus leaving his family with no means of support.

Is it Alan's fault or the police's fault? Is this something Alan did or something 'others' did?

Because we're talking about fundies here,  there's another possibility: SATAN!  I don't mean this humorously -- some leg  humpers out there somewhere are going to believe that Satan brought a good man down. 

[nausicaa]

2 hours ago, hoipolloi said:

Let that sink in: a 9 year old boy being called (and apparently though of as) the man of the house.

I hate that "man of the house" shit so much, and can't believe non-Fundies do it too. 

Grown ass mother of eight, you can't be leading the house, silly billy! Here's a nine year old to take care of things. Yeah, he's still a little shaky on his multiplication tables, but he's the requisite genitalia for complicated decisions!

[Four is Enough]

I think of all the craziness that's come out of this mess, the 9 year old being "man of the house" is the nuttiest. Are they fucking SERIOUS????

[Cleopatra7]

13 minutes ago, nausicaa said:

I hate that "man of the house" shit so much, and can't believe non-Fundies do it too. 

Grown ass mother of eight, you can't be leading the house, silly billy! Here's a nine year old to take care of things. Yeah, he's still a little shaky on his multiplication tables, but he's the requisite genitalia for complicated decisions!

And given how these kids are miseducated, he's probably lucky if he knows how to add and subtract, much less do multiplication. It really is all about the genitalia with these patriarchy types.

[usedbicycle]

Just my 2 cents on the Man of the house thing.

It's cringe worthy but not surprising.

When you believe in exclusive male breadwinners like the Mortons, teenage or adult sons would be required to care financially for their mom in a situation like this. It's an old-fashioned and sexist comment, but in this case it serves to point out that Katie has absolutely no financial help, as her boys are so young. I don't think it means that a 9 year-old could run the house better than her.

Remember that in these circles, work isn't seen as a means to personal fulfillment and independence, but a grueling chore that God requires of men to support their large families. (In the same way, God requires women to have painful labors and raise baby upon baby). Encouraging Katie to go to work to support her family would feel like they are punishing her. 

 

 

 

 

[Queen]

On 1 augusti 2016 at 4:45 PM, AmazonGrace said:

In any case the good Captain might have to face some unpleasant truths about his parenting skills because the fruit is  apparently not so good. How well does he even know his kids if his firstborn whose godliness he has praised gets convicted for raping a child? 

It might be that he, the Captain, doesn't even think child molestation is that wrong. I think it was Libby Anne (the Love, Joy & Feminism-blogger) who wrote that many hard core fundies divides sexual behavior (including sexual assault and molestation) into two categories: godly and sinful. Matrial penetrative heterosex without birth control is godly, while masturbation, gay sex, cheating, pre-matrial sex and rape/molestation of adults or children are all sinful. The sinful ones are seen as equally wrong, so it's just as bad to sexually assault a child as it is to masturbate. I know, it's beyond disgusting! 

1 hour ago, Cleopatra7 said:

 It really is all about the genitalia with these patriarchy types.

Yeah, absolutely, and about stickning to your assigned gender. I doubt they would give a transgender man any pathriarcal power because in their eyes he is a woman. On the other hand, they might strip a pre-op transgender woman of her status as the head of the household, because in this case a penis is not enough.

Oh, how I despise these misogynists...

[SparkleMomma]

If Alan is put away for a long time, surely Katie will have to get a job right? Her parents/siblings surely don't have the resources to completely support NINE extra people from now to eternity. Maybe they are thinking that they will support them until the oldest boys are old enough to go work for dear ol grandpa? I'm a SAHM myself, but I also have a bachelors degree to fall back on if something ever happened to my husband. Poor Katie (I'm assuming here) doesn't even have a high school diploma. Any job she would even qualify for would in no way fully support her and her children. I'm just appalled at the situation she's been put into by the headships in her life.

[Grimalkin]

On July 30, 2016 at 4:59 PM, Red Hair, Black Dress said:

 

It may just be the quality of the video but I thought I noticed that neither Capt'n nor Alan wore a wedding ring.   Do fundie men wear wedding rings?  Do the women?  Wouldn't they want people to know they eere taken?  Being Catholic all the men in my family wear wedding rings

 

 

         I never noticed because I find my eyes are drawn to the Captain's necklace. I swear  I'm not looking at his bosom! 

 

     

[SparkleMomma]

The captain really does look like a sopranos extra! That necklace really distracts from his countenance.