And as far as not speaking out — the damage caused by this kind of abuse is terrible. Why are you not jumping on all the kids attacked by priests, who kept their silence despite the continuing presence of those priests in their parishes? Or the children allegedly victimized by Jerry Sandusky who didn’t speak up even though he continued to run youth camps with access to more alleged victims?

Absent having been a victim of sexual abuse, I don’t think you can appreciate the pain and shame. You can’t understand where Theo Fleury and all the others like him are coming from, much less be in a position to pass judgment. Shame on you, Mr. Hickey.

As has been pointed out, until you’ve been there you cannot truly understand the power that this kind of abuse has in someone’s life. Those of us who have been there don’t even always understand it. Kennedy took over a year to decide he had to speak out; Fleury says in his autobiography that he had assumed those kids “made the same stupid choice” he’d made as a teenager. No, it’s not a rational thought process, but when you’ve been through what these men went through you don’t think rationally about this subject without some intensive therapy.

Has Hickey read either of their books, or watched any of the interviews Fleury and Kennedy have done in the years since they both spoke publicly? They both react the same way to this question about why they bought in on the Hitmen with James: they knew he wouldn’t leave them alone until they gave in. As a young man, Kennedy was threatened at gunpoint when he tried to get James to leave him alone. Fleury’s best efforts couldn’t save him from James’s persistent advances and mental manipulation. James had controlled their hockey futures as youths; he continued to have an inordinate amount of influence in Kennedy’s life even as a professional. Fleury had barely escaped that same fate. It didn’t matter that those scared kids were now grown men; it didn’t matter that Fleury was a million dollar franchise player in the NHL.He states again and again in his autobiography just how “shit-scared” he was of James as a kid, and that scared kid’s experiences in the futility of resistance mattered far more in that situation than anything else. And wasn’t James still the darling coach of Canada’s Junior Hockey world at that time? Saying “no” could have required explanations that Fleury was nowhere near ready to give at that time.

Sexual abuse is a powerful, pervasive form of damage with a inordinate share of shame and stigma in our culture; to stand outside the issue and point fingers at a survivor who is willing to stand out there and be an advocate for those who can’t yet, accusing him that “you should have done so and so,” is ridiculous at best and demonstrates an inexcusably egotistical and selfish lack of understanding at worst.

As for the ‘enabling’ comment Hickey makes – sexual predators don’t really require the services of enablers. They seem to be able to take part in their depravity without needing anyone to help them do it.

Anyway, blaming this on Theo Fleury is a bit ridiculous. Sure it would be nice if he had been able to come forward sooner and some of the things he did before doing so look very strange to those of us lucky enough to be unable to relate, but the fact of the matter is that we cannot relate.

Idiot.

And here we are, a week later, and I’m already proven wrong. How to top this NEXT week? “Shane Doan is secretly a cannibal!”

Sex abuse victims aren’t always big on stepping up and declaring to the world “I got molested! Look at me!”, particularly when you’re a high-profile person like an NHL star. To claim this crap is just disgusting. For shame on Hickey for printing this.