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NCFM Member Marc Gafni, Fake Facts: Unchecked Falsehoods that Destroy Lives

February 10, 2017
By

fake factsNCFM NOTE: To be perfectly clear, so there is no misunderstanding, NCFM in no way supports child abuse, sexual assault, or pedophilia. However, to our knowledge, there is no evidence to support Marc Gafni being a pedophile. Unsubstantiated opinions do not constitute facts, that is real ones; and certainly not the truth.

Fake Facts: Unchecked Falsehoods that Destroy Lives

A few days ago in a random article in a college newspaper, an undergraduate wrote about “ex Rabbi Marc Gafni who was accused of molesting children”, and had “used his position to extort children”. In a recent opinion piece in the LA Times, the writer quotes a sexual abuse activist who said, “She would not work with anyone who supports Marc Gafni because he is a pedophile”.

Beginning in January 2015, there was a sudden rash of newspaper articles in ostensibly credible sources, coupled with hundreds of web postings about Marc Gafni who, among other things, as a Rabbi or spiritual teacher was accused of molesting a 13-year-old girl. Readers were understandably sympathetic. This kind of information shared widely seems so important. We must all combat abuse and stand up for victims’ rights. Isn’t that correct?

Well not always. The only problem with these stories is that they are not true. They are based on fake facts, false narrative and outright falsehoods. These stories did not appear spontaneously on the web. Rather they were but the latest episode in a long-standing smear campaign against Gafni. Indeed it would not be a stretch to say that the Marc Gafni personae portrayed on the web is “Fake Marc Gafni”. But the average reader has no way to discern actual facts from fake facts.

I am Marc Gafni . I am privileged to be President of an awesome think tank, the Center for Integral Wisdom . I work daily with dozens of highly conscious and discerning men and women who all, like myself, have taken a fierce stand in life against any expressions of rape culture or victimization. I have four children, who are all great human beings, I wrote my doctorate at Oxford University, published ten books, and hosted the leading spiritual television show in Israel for several years.

One of the foundations of democracy is that story matters. It deserves to be lived, told, received and celebrated. Creating the safeguards in law and ethics for how that story is told and honored are what the founding principles of our democracy are all about. How we gather information in the legal system and on the Internet which will be used to judge other people, is the bedrock of democracy for which millions of Americans have fought and died.

Here are the facts in my story which I am sharing now so you can see just how horrifically distorted and damaging fake facts can be. When I was 19 years old and just out of high school, I met a young woman. We dated for a short period of time. During the time we dated she was 14 years old and in her first year of high school. Our physical contact was limited to teen-age necking.

Back in 1979/1980, when this teenage relationship took place, we did not have the consciousness we have in society today regarding age differences while dating. We both experienced the relationship as fully positive at the time. I did not know there was any issue around this relationship until almost twenty-five years later when vociferous political adversaries recruited this woman, let’s call her Emily, as the first stage in an orchestrated smear campaign against me. As soon as I heard she was telling an appallingly different story than what happened, I immediately sought to contact her through mutual acquaintances. I suggested we meet in a professionally facilitated context to resolve our different versions, check facts, and create whatever healing or resolution was necessary. Emily was however already inducted into the smear campaign and ignored my offer. She and her representatives ignored, rejected or mocked any attempt to mediate this conflict in a professional context. The rejection of my invitation to mediate began a two decade long attack against me. In the latest round of this smear campaign, Emily’s fake facts have been repeated again and again, in dozens of internet stories and ostensibly respectable media outlets.

The fake fact retelling of my teenage relationship with Emily was cleverly worded so that the reader naturally assumes that I, an adult Rabbi, age 30, 40 or 50, was “molesting children or “using his position to extort children”. That this is a set of fake facts without an iota of basis in reality is virtually impossible for the casual reader to discern. The results of this fake news story have been devastating to my family, my colleagues, my work and myself.

I have made challenging fake facts as part of my life mission not only because I have learned first hand that the results are devastating beyond imagination, but because smear campaigns based on fake facts undermine dignity of the individual and the sacred nature of their story, the very foundation of our constitution and bill of rights. Through my story, albeit personally painful, I hope to shed light on the prevalence of fake fact telling currently threatening the core essence of our democracy today. We must all stand together to evolve public culture .

national coalition for men

Fake Facts: Unchecked Falsehoods that Destroy Lives

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3 Responses to NCFM Member Marc Gafni, Fake Facts: Unchecked Falsehoods that Destroy Lives

  1. radarman67 on March 19, 2017 at 9:42 PM

    SOUNDS LIKE SOMETHING THAT HAPPENS TO ALL MEN WHO HAVE A RELATIONSHIP WITH A YOUNG WOMAN YOUNGER THAN HIM. I DATED YOUNG WOMAN WHO WAS YOUNGER THAN ME WHEN I WAS IN COLLEGE. SHE WAS IN HIGH SCHOOL AND I WAS IN COLLEGE, AND WE DATED FOR 7 MONTHS, HAD SEX, ALONG WITH HER SISTER AND GIRLFRIEND, AND NOBODY CARED BECAUSE WE WERE HAVING FUN AND NOBODY GOT PG’ED.
    I DATED OTHER GIRLS ALSO AND THEY DIDN’T CARE ABOUT THE AGE DIFFERENCE I TREATED THEM ALL VERY WELL. THEY WERE NEVER LATE FOR SCHOOL, NEVER MISSED CLASS, NEVER WAS SERVED ALCOHOL OR DRUGS.
    THIS ALL WAS BACK IN 1976-79 WHILE I WAS GOING TO COLLEGE BACK EAST, ONE GIRL’S DAD WAS A POLICEMAN, ONE WAS A FIREMAN, SO YOU TELL ME WHO KNEW WHO?.
    THEY WERE TREATED LIKE LADIES, I PAID FOR EATING OUT, MOVIES, CONCERTS, AND I GRADUATED WITH HONORS. SO NOT EVERY MAN IS A RAPIST, CHILD MOLESTER OR CRAZY. YOUNG GIRLS LIKE MEN WHO CAN TREAT THEM WITH RESPECT AND DON’T DEGRADE THEM.
    WHEN I LEFT MY WIFE I WENT ON THE STREETS IN OAKLAND, BERKELEY, AND I HAD A 19 YEAR OLD GIRLFRIEND AND I WAS IN MY 50’S, AGE IS A NUMBER NOT A CRIME. WE LOVED EACH OTHER AND WE HAD RESPECT FOR EACH OTHER SHE TREATED ME BETTER THEN MY WIFE DID AND SHE LEFT AND WENT BACK TO OHIO AND IT DIDN’T MAKE A DIFFERENCE, HER GIRLFRIEND TOOK HER PLACE AND WE WORKED WELL TOGETHER AND ENJOYED EACH OTHERS COMPANY SO THERE YOU GO OUT OF ONE RELATIONSHIP INTO ANOTHER.
    NOBODY CALLED THE POLICE ON ME FOR BATTERY, RAPE, ASSAULT, OR ANYTHING AGAINST A WOMAN. SO I RESPECT WOMEN AND HAVE NEVER DONE ANY HARM TO ANY OF THEM AND THEY NEVER FILED CHARGES AGAINST ME FOR RAPE, BATTERY, ASSAULT, OR ANY SEXUAL BULLSHIT.
    MY X-WIFE ON THE OTHER HAND DIDN’T GET WHAT SHE WANTED SO DO AWAY WITH ME!!!! (PRISON) SHE HAD A NEW BOYFRIEND, DRUGS, YOU NAME IT.

  2. HQR3 on February 13, 2017 at 10:53 AM

    Just curious, were these “political adversaries” by any chance feminista? (Emily as in EMILY’s List?) Any highly visible person who takes a stand against the bogus concept of “rape culture” puts a target on their back. If the political entity is an organization, or affiliated with such, it would be illuminating to reveal them. Good luck.

    • radarman67 on March 19, 2017 at 9:48 PM

      YES THEY ARE FEMINIST!!!! POLITICAL ADVERSARIES WHO WANT KISSY POINTS FOR THEIR SIDE!!!! ORGANIZATIONS WHO SUPPORT WOMEN WHO YELL RAPE AGAINST THE INNOCENT AND GUILTY MEN OR THE OTHER WAY AROUND, YOU JUDGE!!!!???? WOMEN WHO RAPE MEN CAN GET AWAY WITH IT JUST TURN THE TABLES AND YELL RAPE!!!!!

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