Neglect and Torture. Timothy Ferguson.
Added 2024-06-16 12:17:59 +0000 UTCThanks for being patient on this one. I think this has to be one of the most impactful stories I've worked on. I'll be thinking about it for a long time to come.
Would love to hear all of your thoughts on it.
Take it easy.
Dave
Comments
My comment is late, as I just now scrambled up the courage to watch the video. Child neglect and abuse hit home for me, as I grew up around a father who very surely (but of course not officially diagnosed) has narcissistic personality disorder. The similarity I see with this monster of a mother, and many others, is the way these people feel like everything is a personal challenge or attack on them. Their children are a complete burden to them yes, but even more than that: the mere existence of their children (or usually just one of them) is a big taunt to them. They feel victimized by the situation of having to raise a kid and having to care for them. And then when a child has basic needs, like food and water, this alone can set them off into rage. How dare they make my life miserable by having to supply anything to them? Like a constant battle with their own kids, and having the kid ‘win’ is what they cannot stand to even think about. So they come up with rules that get more and more ridiculous to follow, that in essence are abuse or neglect by itself, and then when the kid fails they can justify for themselves that neglecting is a proper treatment, because they need to be punished. Well, if anyone reads this, I hope it kind of makes sense. Personal tangent: My fathers twisted game was buying foods and drinks we didn’t like, and then as punishment wouldn’t buy anything else (even normal meals) until we had shown gratefulness and until we had consumed it all. We were only with him once every 2 weeks in the end, before breaking off contact completely, But this meant the food was rotten and moldy. He still demanded us to eat it because he ‘had bought it especially for us since we like it so much, and now we were being ungrateful??’. I guess what I want to say is, I am so grateful for having been able to escape my situation at the time, and the treatment is of the same nature as I’ve seen in many of these types of cases, but it’s not even remotely as bad as what Timothy went through. And he was kept prisoner, with no means of escape. It took less than a year since being in his mothers care before they finally killed him. And why? Because she had to torture him just for making her life difficult (as she thinks). But she volunteered to take him in! Why?? It makes me wonder if she planned this from the get go. People like this have to be the victim all the time, and what’s better than to take in a boy who is ‘so difficult’ that she has to put her life on the line to care for him. To keep him out of foster care, ugh. What a hero huh.
Suzie Van der Steeg
2024-07-03 22:03:17 +0000 UTCWith the binding, almost no food and water, extreme exercise and constantly accused of “stealing food” plus the name calling and atrocious name calling/emotional abuse. Punishment for bodily functions. The similarity between Shanda and Ruby Franke are screamingly apparent. I’ve looked through the DSM V and can find nothing that explains these mothers except maybe the super broad diagnosis of antisocial personality disorder. Does anybody have a psychological reason for this deadly behavior? I’m flummoxed Edit: finished the video, psychopathy it is. A double dose. Dave, I’ve followed you from day one. This is by far the best work you have ever put out. I love MANY MANY of your creations, but this was truly inspired and seemed to come from another realm within the heart. You continue to outdo yourself.
Stephanie Gulick
2024-06-22 20:56:19 +0000 UTC
