Hyperbole

 In deciding to publicly speak up about Marc Maron's 30+ years of targeting,  grooming, and re-exploiting young survivors of sexual abuse who have serious mental health issues, I knew I would most likely receive unpleasant communications from adults who see CSA victims as being fair game for predators.  I also knew that Maron fans would probably be hostile toward anyone trying to call Maron out for sexually exploiting and 13-stepping damaged girls.  I have received less negative communication than I originally expected.  And it turns out not all Maron fans are in lockstep with his apologists.  A number of those who follow Maron, or belong to online Maron fan communities, have privately communicated their own discomfort with this predatory behavior Maron has been choosing to do for decades.  A couple of his Reddit followers were instrumental in helping me find information regarding his documented predatory behavior.  The "Girlfriends on the Couch," a group of female fans who regularly interacted with Maron's Instagram Lives during the pandemic, includes some who are currently struggling with how Maron chose to hurt a few of their own members, and how he showed no concern for the pain he caused those members, until after I went public on April 26.  Even then, his blame-shifting is apparent to a few of these members.  His fans are not all blindly loyal.  Some of them know what he has been doing is wrong.   They have hope he will eventually "see the error of his ways."  I had that hope myself, a year ago.  I'm skeptical now.

It turns out that those who are not hard-core Maron fans are the ones who have said some of the things I find most troubling.  A number of people in recovery have said things that truly don't make any sense to me.  Thankfully, there are quite a few people in recovery who let me know they are adamantly against older members 13-stepping young survivors, and are active in trying to protect such survivors within their own recovery circles.   The majority of those in recovery who have communicated with me, though, have shown an appalling sense of apathy toward damaged young CSA survivors.  Such apathy is beyond my ability to comprehend.  A few of them have tried to label me with derogatory terms that don't follow any line of logic in my view.  One such confusing term was "grandstanding."  Here is the first definition of that term that came up in my Google search:

"grandstanding

/ˈɡran(d)ˌstandiNG/

noun  DEROGATORY

the action of behaving in a showy or ostentatious manner in an attempt to attract favorable attention from spectators or the media.

'they accused him of political grandstanding.'"

I am not sure what part of anything I am doing can be termed "showy or ostentatious."  I took time to objectively observe Maron's behavior, because at first I was assuming that such observation would debunk the Millennial's words to me at that gas station just over a year ago.  Once I had to admit his behavior over time did show the truth about what he was doing, I couldn't make the choice to stay silent.   I know what is happening to these girls.  I know their actual lives are at risk.  That's not some hypothetical theory.  It's what's happening right now to CSA survivors who are being harmed by predators like Maron worldwide.  

Those who see a home or business being broken into, may choose to call 911, because they understand what is happening is harmful to other citizens.   That's not grandstanding.   That's someone doing what they can to try and stop others from being harmed by B&E and theft.  I watched 2 of Maron's current victims go thru escalating crises.  I saw an actual weapon in possession of the 2nd victim, and I know her suicidal ideation is very real.  Trying to protect that one endangered life is not some ideological hyperbole.  I saw an actual life in very real danger.  Speaking up for a real endangered life is not grandstanding.  The apathy it takes to try and twist what I am doing into anything derogatory, says a lot about how society continues to view survivors of CSA.