Victim to victimizer – how can innocence turn to tragedy?

Victim to victimizer – how can innocence turn to tragedy?

In my last post I brought up a discussion on Charities and fund raising. Today I will attempt to tie this in with how this victimization profile and persona can also lead to tragedy and adverse results.


How does this relate to victims of the psychiatric modality? In some ways being the victim of blatant and obvious abuse in any form can lead a person or persons in being subjected to or inflict upon others all kinds of abuses (Cults, Psychiatry, scams, cons, misinformation, and manipulation in many forms).


Let us take the example of “David Koresh” who was the leader of a Branch Davidian religious sect, believing himself to be its final prophet. I doubt seriously that anyone reading this will not remember how horribly this turned out in reality with the loss of lives, grieving families, and torrid controversy.


This isn’t a debate about conspiracies, judgments, religious freedoms, or government actions here. I would like to take an honest look at how the events of a life can be turned from a proposed victim to an extreme victimizer.


There lots of good examples, and I quite honestly just picked this one out of thin air since it’s an extreme. Most victimization comes in much more veiled forms, cloaked actions, or is experienced in relatively grey areas.


Information was obtained through Wikipedia and is should not be viewed as an absolute or concrete fact – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Koresh


Koresh was born as Vernon Wayne Howell in Houston, Texas, to a 14-year-old single mother, Bonnie Sue Clark. His father was a 20-year-old man named Bobby Howell. The pair remained unmarried. Two months before Koresh was born, his father met another pubescent girl and abandoned Bonnie Sue. Koresh never met his father and his mother began cohabiting with a violent alcoholic. In 1963, Koresh's mother left her boyfriend and placed her 4-year-old son in the care of his maternal grandmother, Earline Clark. His mother returned when he was seven, after she remarried to a carpenter named Roy Haldeman. Haldeman and Clark had a son together named Roger, who was born in 1968. Koresh described his early childhood as lonely, and it has been alleged that he was once gang raped by older boys when he was 8. A poor student who was illiterate and diagnosed with dyslexia, Koresh dropped out of Garland High School in his junior year. Due to his poor study skills, he was put in special ed classes and nicknamed "Vernie" by his fellow students, but by the age of 11, he had memorized the entire New Testament.



If a good portion of this information is reliable or true; then there is little doubt there is a persona of serious victimization displayed here with this individual. This individual suffered from Abandonment, sexual abuse, labels, and appears on the surface as a social outcast.


We don’t know if any of these issues were ever truly addressed when this individual was younger. The long term outcome tends to suggest that they were not addressed and lead this person down a path which ended with horrendous tragedy.




When he was 19, Koresh had an affair with a 15-year-old girl who became pregnant. He claimed to have become a born-again Christian in the Southern Baptist Church and soon joined his mother's church, the Seventh-day Adventist Church. There he fell in love with the pastor's daughter and while praying for guidance he opened his eyes and allegedly found the Bible open at Isaiah 34, stating that none should want for a mate; convinced this was a sign from God, he approached the pastor and told him that God wanted him to have his daughter for a wife. The pastor threw him out, and when he continued to persist with his pursuit of the daughter he was expelled from the congregation.



Here it appears this individual was confronted for deemed inappropriate behaviors and had direct consequences attached to those behaviors. Yet this person moved on seeking what he viewed as validation for both his beliefs and behaviors. At this point this individual could be seen as possibly a victimizer and a victim.



In 1981 he moved to Waco, Texas, where he joined the Branch Davidians, a religious group originating from a schism in the 1950s from the Shepherd's Rod, themselves disfellowshipped members of the Seventh-day Adventist Church in the 1930s.



They had established their headquarters at a ranch about 10 miles out of Waco, which they called the Mount Carmel Center (after the Biblical Mount Carmel), in 1955. In 1983 he began claiming the gift of prophecy. Koresh then had a sexual relationship with Lois Roden, the prophetess and leader of the sect who was then 78 years old, eventually claiming that God had chosen him to father a child with her, who would be the Chosen One.



In 1983, Roden allowed Koresh to begin teaching his own message which caused controversy in the group. Lois Roden's son George Roden intended to be the group's next leader and considered Koresh an interloper. When Koresh announced that God had instructed him to marry Rachel Jones, there was a short period of calm at Mount Carmel, but it proved only temporary. In the ensuing power struggle, George Roden, claiming to have the support of the majority of the group, forced Koresh and his group off the property at gunpoint.



Disturbed by the events and the move away from the philosophy of the community's founders, a further splinter group led by Charles Joseph Pace moved out of Mount Carmel and set up home in Gadsden, Alabama. Koresh and around 25 followers set up camp at Palestine, Texas, 90 miles from Waco, where they lived rough for the next two years, during which time Koresh undertook recruitment of new followers in California, the United Kingdom, Israel and Australia. In 1985 Koresh traveled to Israel and it was there that he claimed he had a vision that he was the modern day Cyrus. The founder of the Davidian movement, Victor Houteff, wanted to be God's implement and establish the Davidic kingdom in Palestine, Israel. Koresh also wanted to be God's tool and set up the Davidic kingdom in Jerusalem. At least until 1990, he believed the place of his martyrdom might be in Israel, but by 1991 he was convinced that his martyrdom would be in the United States. Instead of Israel, he said the prophecies of Daniel would be fulfilled in Waco and that the Mount Carmel center was the Davidic kingdom.



There were Power struggles and outrageous claims no doubt. Yet the fact remains, the followers and eventual victims didn’t question what was right in front of them; they followed blindly and this lead to giving absolute power to another that was more than willing to abuse it. “If Power corrupts, then absolute power corrupts absolutely”



At the Palestine, Texas camp, Koresh "worked it so that everyone was forced to rely on him, and him alone. All previous bonds and attachments, family or otherwise, meant nothing. His rationale was if they had no one to depend on, they had to depend on him, and that made them vulnerable." By this time, he had already begun to give the message of his own "Christhood," proclaiming that he was "the Son of God, the Lamb who could open the Seven Seals."



Lois Roden died in 1986. Up until then Koresh had been teaching that monogamy was the only way to live, but suddenly announced that polygamy was allowed for him. In March 1986, Koresh first slept with Karen Doyle, aged 14.He claimed her as his second wife. In August 1986, Koresh began secretly sleeping with Michele Jones, his wife's younger 12-year-old sister. In September 1986 Koresh began to preach that he was entitled to 140 wives, 60 women as his "queens" and 80 as concubines, which he based upon his interpretation of the Biblical Song of Solomon. Koresh then built up an entirely new theology around his "marriage" to Doyle. This theology was called the "New Light," with a doctrine of polygamy for himself, which he called "The House of David." According to this doctrine, Doyle was supposed to have a daughter named Shoshanna who would then be married to Koresh's firstborn son Cyrus. However, Doyle failed to conceive, so Koresh then transferred his attention to his wife's sister. Former Davidian David Bunds said that Koresh's doctrine of polygamy "rose out of his deep desire to have sex with young girls. Once he was able to convince himself that it was God's will then he was able to be free of guilt and have sex with as many young girls as he could get his hands on.”



Now the cycle from victim to victimizer is pretty much complete. This individual leads without any questioning and absolute power over others. There are no consequences and no other considered options for those followers/victims at this juncture. They have handed over themselves completely to another. You may ask how this could possibly happen, and even say that could never happen to me. Let us ponder that many well educated people with supposed grounded backgrounds fall into these traps time and time again. History is a reminder and guide to how those that are not on guard, can and will be subjected to the possibility of this happening to them and the society at large around them. We do hopefully remember the holocaust and world wars as a testament to the unbridled power of evil forces run a muck.



By late 1987, George Roden's support had withered. To regain it, he challenged Koresh to a contest to raise the dead, even digging up one corpse to practice on it. Koresh went to authorities to file charges of corpse abuse against Roden, but was told he would have to show proof (such as a photograph of the corpse). Koresh returned to Mount Carmel in camouflage, with seven armed followers. All but one - who managed to escape - were arrested by the local police, who had been alerted by the sound of gunfire. When deputy sheriffs arrived, they found Koresh and six followers firing their rifles at Roden, who was also armed. Roden had already suffered a minor gunshot wound and was pinned down behind a tree at the Compound. The sheriff called into the chapel by telephone and talked Koresh into surrender. As a result of the incident, Koresh and his followers were charged with attempted murder. At the trial, Koresh testified that he went to Mount Carmel to uncover evidence of corpse abuse by George Roden. Koresh's followers were acquitted, and in Koresh's case a mistrial was declared.



In 1989 Roden murdered Wayman Dale Adair with an axe blow to the skull after Adair stated his belief that he (Adair) was the true Messiah. Roden was convicted of murder and imprisoned in a mental hospital at Vernon, Texas. Because Roden owed thousands of dollars in unpaid taxes, Mount Carmel was placed for sale.



Koresh and his followers raised the money and purchased the property, which he subsequently renamed "Ranch Apocalypse."Roden continued to harass the Koresh faction by filing legal papers while imprisoned. When Koresh and his followers reclaimed Mt. Carmel, they discovered that tenants who had rented from Roden had left behind a methamphetamine laboratory, which Koresh reported to the local police department and asked to have removed.



Name change



The name Koresh is a transliteration of the Hebrew name of Cyrus, the Persian king who allowed the Jews who had been dispersed throughout Babylonia by Nebuchadnezzar to return to their homelands. During the siege, Koresh would explain to the FBI negotiators that (in Koresh's mind at least) "koresh" had a deeper meaning: Koresh: "What is Christ revealed as, according to the fourth seal?"



FBI: "Pale... a rider on a pale horse."
Koresh: "And his name is what?"
FBI: "Death."
Koresh: "Now, do you know what the name Koresh means?"
FBI: "Go ahead..."
Koresh: "It means death."



Accusations of child abuse and statutory rape



Koresh himself denied all allegations of polygamy and child abuse in public interviews. The popular media, disaffected Davidians, and spokespersons for the US government, however, tell sordid tales of Koresh's personal life. It has been alleged that Koresh advocated polygamy for himself, and asserted that he was married to several female residents of the small community. Some former members of the cult also alleged that Koresh felt he could claim any of the females in the compound as his. The 1993 U.S. Department of Justice report sets out allegations of historical child sexual and physical abuse.



ATF Special Agent David Aguilera had interviewed former Branch Davidian Jeannine Bunds, who claimed that Koresh had fathered at least fifteen children with various women and young girls at the compound. According to Bunds, some of the girls who had babies fathered by Koresh were as young as 12 years old. She said she had personally delivered seven of these children. Bunds also claims that Koresh would annul all marriages of couples who joined his cult. He then had exclusive sexual access to the women. He would also have regular sexual relations with young girls.



In his book, James Tabor states that Koresh acknowledged on a videotape sent out of the compound during the standoff that he had fathered more than 12 children by several "wives," some of whom were as young as 12 or 13 when they became pregnant. DNA testing of the women and children in the video who died in the subsequent fire confirmed that some of the children were his.



On March 3, 1993, during negotiations to secure the release of the remaining children, Koresh advised the Negotiation Team that: "My children are different than those others" referring to his direct lineage, versus those children previously released.



At the time, in Texas, the age of parental consent for a minor to marry was 14, as was the age for consent to engage in sexual relations. Kiri Jewell, daughter of Branch Davidian Sherri Jewell, claimed in testimony before Congress in 1995 that she was sexually molested at the age of 10 by Koresh, who then read to her from the Bible. She originally related the incident in a 1992 custody battle, and the judge ordered that she be kept away from Koresh and Mount Carmel. While conceding that Jewell's testimony may be true, the attorney of Steve Schneider, Koresh's right-hand man, expressed doubts about the veracity of her evidence.



In his appearance at the House hearings on Waco, Jack Zimmerman stated: "There’s been doubts about contradictory statements that she’s made in the past. Now, it may be 100 percent true."



In the documentary film, Waco: Rules of Engagement, Jack Harwell, Sheriff of McLennan County, stated: "You have to have proof to go into court . . . Keep in mind, too, that most of the girls who were involved were at least 14 years old and 14 year olds get married with parental consent. So if their parents were there and letting things happen in the way of sexual activities and what have you with their 14 year old kids, you have common law husbands and wives.



Uh, I don’t say that I agree with that and that I approve of it. But at the same time, if parents are there and they’re giving parental consent, we have a problem with that in making a case."



Raid and siege



On February 28, 1993, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (BATF) raided Mount Carmel. The raid resulted in the deaths of four agents and six Davidians. Shortly after the initial raid, the FBI HRT (Hostage Rescue Team) took command of the federal operation, since FBI has jurisdiction over incidents involving the deaths of federal agents. Contact was established with Koresh inside the compound. Communication over the next 51 days included telephone exchanges with various FBI negotiators. As the standoff continued, Koresh, who was seriously injured by a gunshot wound, along with his closest male leaders negotiated delays, possibly so he could write religious documents he said he needed to complete before he surrendered. His conversations with the negotiators were dense with biblical imagery. The federal negotiators treated the situation as a hostage crisis despite a two hour video tape sent out by the Davidians in which the adults and older children/teens appeared to explain clearly and confidently why they chose of their own free will to remain with Koresh.



The 51-day siege of Mount Carmel ended when U.S Attorney General Janet Reno approved recommendations of veteran FBI officials to proceed with a final assault in which the Branch Davidians were to be removed from their building by force. In the course of the assault, the church building caught fire. The cause of the fire was later alleged by the "Danforth Report," a report commissioned by The Special Counsel, to be the deliberate actions of some of the Branch Davidians inside the building.



However this hypothesis is disputed in the documentary "Waco: The Rules of Engagement," which argues that the fire was deliberately set when the FBI fired an incendiary device into the building after loading the building with CS gas. At the subsequent trial of the surviving Branch Davidians, the jury listened to edited parts of a tape-recording from hidden microphones inside Mt. Carmel during the final attack and fire of 19 April. These consisted of sounds of static during which one could faintly hear a voice saying ". . . fire . . . ". A government expert testified that through electronic enhancement, he had reconstructed some clearly incriminating comments, even if the jury couldn't hear them. It later transpired that the FBI, when meeting Koresh's demands that milk be sent in for the children's wellbeing, also sent in tiny listening devices concealed inside the milk cartons and their Styrofoam containers.



Barricaded in their building, seventy-six Branch Davidians, including Koresh, did not survive the fire. Seventeen of these victims were children under the age of 17. The Danforth Report claims that those who died were unable, or unwilling, to flee and that Steve Schneider, Koresh's right-hand man, probably shot Koresh and killed himself with the same gun. "Waco: The Rules of Engagement" claims that FBI sharpshooters fired on, and killed, many Branch Davidians who attempted to flee the flames.



Testimony by the few Branch Davidians who did successfully flee the fire supports this claim. Autopsy records indicate that at least 20 Branch Davidians were shot, including 5 children. The Danforth Report concluded that the adults who died of gunshot wounds shot themselves after shooting the children.



David Koresh is buried at Memorial Park Cemetery, Tyler, Texas.



On January 23, 2009, Koresh's mother, Bonnie Clark Haldeman, was stabbed to death in Chandler, Texas. Her sister, Beverly Clark, was charged with the murder.

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Victim to Victimizer that intern prey upon yet more victims and the cycle continues until there is just tragedy, loss, and pain left behind.


Maybe there is lesson to be learned here? Maybe if someone would have questioned or intervened at some point along the way; lives would have been saved, changed, and improved. I wrote this following piece a while back and I tend to believe it may belong in this discussion.


Psychiatry, after the pills there is you, and then for some there is a new label called “victimology”


To begin with; to become a victim of psychiatry you start with making a choice or having a choice made for you. You walk into the office of a complete stranger and within minutes you are saddled with either to trust or not trust a diagnosis/label that will ever change your life.


You have to honestly wonder if there are psychiatrist out there that actually would be honest and have the integrity to tell a potential patient that there is nothing seriously wrong with them; stare a person in the face and say that you as a viable and intelligent human being that most likely could be fixed and live a whole life with some diligent effort and self examination on your own. I sure would like to see those brain analyzing shrink researchers do a detailed study in this area of medicine and seen what the results would show.


Once to you have made that choice to allow another human being to have the ornate and all consuming power to alter your brain chemistry through treatment/intrusion with psychotropic medication or like means; you are in essence no longer who you were or will ever be as a person that just moments ago/earlier was not influenced by a foreign substance or gave unquestioned power to a flawed model of medicine and another person.



Let us always remember most often that in a psychiatrist eyes and thoughts, there is not an equal sitting across from them in that office; but a patient, a label, a person not in control of their own destiny or faculties. This opens the door to unbridled power and abuse whether with or without direct negative intent or conscious effort.



So you take a pill or pills that either change you or enable you to continue down a path of self destruction or redirection. If and when that pill alters your brain’s natural abilities to self direct, there will always be another pill and label awaiting you in the offices of this shrink land in a never ending cycle of futility.



At some point you may choose to end the cycle of madness, maybe even stop to cycle of pills and direction; yet the damage has already been done. You have been changed, altered, labeled, and your dignity and self has been most remarkably replaced or removed in truth.



Even if you are repairable and have hope at this point; you are still left with the original predicament of self determination and choice you had before you were reconditioned and changed from the essence of inside out. This does mean going back to square one in dealing with your initial problems and the whole spectrum of your emotional rainbow. Plus you have those pesky little things called your own whole life experience and all those that have interacted with you or touched you in a powerful way both negatively and positively to start to come to terms with in your life.



There is no question from this wounded and vulnerable place where there are no easy fixes or smooth roads for you to choose from; though another easy way out could appear tempting and alluring. Yet, the truth is right there before you in self to be discovered.


There is just a lot of deep self examination, years of rediscovery and self discovery, and the development of self ahead. A journey, quest, and search for your true life passions and meaning. It’s your brand new beginning taken with those small steps toward the very infancy of realizing the possibility of dreams.


Not unlike being awoken from a deep slumber; as a renewed hopeful being is morphed into this made reality. This is not a cake walk, or for those that want an easy road through life without hardship and great suffering.


But I will say this from a personal prospective as plainly as I can here. The rewards are unmeasured or yet conceivable from the beginning point of this journey toward a true being self of dignity and respect that is tangible each and every time you have to look yourself in the mirror or into others eyes throughout the rest of your life.


This less traveled and seldom worn road you can walk down is truly a gifted slice of Heaven on earth in comparison to what another appearing easier choice may bring.


Too often as I read through the many myriad of blogs and sites throughout the Internet; I see those that may have come to terms with a failed modality and have even sternly rejected being labeled as one of those {the less than full or human}. Then they blinding walk straight beyond rational and reasoning to a destination of relabeling themselves as victims and martyrs for the greater cause; yet never realizing they forgot to bring their true life/self along for the ride and journey with them.



Maybe it was not taking the time to grieve properly. Not taking the time or holding onto this gift of truly reflecting within to gain insight or perspective. Maybe it’s this price of developing a strategy in navigating and figuring out a true and straight course to real full recovery which may hold them back. Taking the shackles off should at least present choices and create opportunity to truly begin a healing process; to heal thy self, and then to heal the wounds brought upon you by others and outsides influences.


This seeking of fulfillment and enlightenment that could actually lead to firm ground, a solid foundation, a comforting resting place of contentment, renewed dreams realized, action taken with purpose, and a zest for this one time offer of an adventure and wondrous puzzle of this grand folly we call living.


This journey is a limited offer until that day which entails that last gasp of breath. Please remember that we each have an expiration date. This date is not stamped on your behind or forehead; yet is our final finite destiny all the same.


So take life as it was meant to be! A gift you can give unto yourself, to those you care and love dearly. This may not be so easy to verifiable measure in worldly finite terms by others. Yet, I believe personally it does have the power to change your life and even the world for a better today and tomorrow far beyond your stay here in this body and on this earth.


So then I come to ask this simple question of each one of you out there; what foot print do you want to leave on this earth when your life is made a final summation and statement to all that have known you?


You and you alone will only be able to answer this question within your very heart of hearts, and deep within your spirits breathing soul of existence.


To be or not to be is not the question here; for you will be! But what you will be and what that person will experience in this life journey is all yours to determine in this true reality.


You are now making a valid choice to be empowered, use this gift wisely and with great care. Which will you choose to be in the end? Victim, Victimizer, or Free from all the shackles finally!


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In Honor and remembrance to all the victims every where


BRANCH DAVIDIAN VICTIMS Died February 28, 1993


Winston Blake, 28, black, British
Peter Gent, 24, white, Australian
Peter Hipsman, 28, white, American
Perry Jones, 64, white, American
Michael Schroeder, 29, white, American
Jaydean Wendell, 34, Hawaiian, American

Died April 19, 1993

Katherine Andrade, 24, white, American
Chanel Andrade, 1, white, American
Jennifer Andrade, 19, white, American
George Bennett, 35, black, British
Susan Benta, 31, black, British
Mary Jean Borst, 49, white, American
Pablo Cohen, 38, white, Israeli
Abedowalo Davies, 30, black, British
Shari Doyle, 18, white, American
Beverly Elliot, 30, black, British
Yvette Fagan, 32, black, British
Doris Fagan, 51, black, British
Lisa Marie Farris, 24, white, American
Raymond Friesen, 76, white, Canadian
Sandra Hardial, 27, black, British
Zilla Henry, 55, black, British
Vanessa Henry, 19, black, British
Phillip Henry, 22, black, British
Paulina Henry, 24, black, British
Stephen Henry, 26, black, British
Diana Henry, 28, black, British
Novellette Hipsman, 36, black, Canadian
Floyd Houtman, 61, black, American
Sherri Jewell, 43, Asian, American
David M. Jones, 38, white, American
David Koresh, 33, white, American
Rachel Koresh, 24, white, American
Cyrus Koresh, 8, white, American
Star Koresh, 6, white, American
Bobbie Lane Koresh, 2, white, American
Jeffery Little, 32, white, American
Nicole Gent Little, 24, white, Australian
and unborn child
Dayland Gent, 3, white, American
Page Gent, 1, white, American
Livingston Malcolm, 26, black, British
Diane Martin, 41, black, British
Wayne Martin, Sr., 42, black, American
Lisa Martin, 13, black, American
Sheila Martin, Jr., 15, black, American
Anita Martin, 18, black, American
Wayne Martin, Jr., 20, black, American
Julliete Martinez, 30, Mexican American
Crystal Martinez, 3, Mexican American
Isaiah Martinez, 4, Mexican American
Joseph Martinez, 8, Mexican American
Abigail Martinez, 11, Mexican American
Audrey Martinez, 13, Mexican American
John-Mark McBean, 27, black, British
Bernadette Monbelly, 31, black, British
Rosemary Morrison, 29, black, British
Melissa Morrison, 6, black, British
Sonia Murray, 29, black, American
Theresa Nobrega, 48, black, British
James Riddle, 32, white, American
Rebecca Saipaia, 24, Asian, Phillipino
Steve Schneider, 43, white, American
Judy Schneider, 41, white, American
Mayanah Schneider, 2, white, American
Clifford Sellors, 33, white, British
Scott Kojiro Sonobe, 35, Asian, American
Floracita Sonobe, 34, Asian, Phillipino
Gregory Summers, 28, white, American
Aisha Gyrfas Summers, 17, white, Australian
and unborn child
Startle Summers, 1, white, American
Lorraine Sylvia, 40, white, American
Rachel Sylvia, 12, white, American
Hollywood Sylvia, 1, white, American
Michelle Jones Thibodeau, 18, white, American
Serenity Jones, 4, white, American
Chica Jones, 2, white, American
Little One Jones, 2, white, American
Neal Vaega, 38, Somoan, New Zealander
Margarida Vaega, 47, Asian, New Zealander
Mark H. Wendell, 40, Asian, American


As always your comments are welcome, and will be edited to my liking