Newspapers, TV networks, and my Facebook feed are all filled today with stories about Dr. Larry Nassar being sentenced to up to 175 years in prison for abusing patients. As a practical matter it is unclear that there is any significance to this sentence because the 54-year-old was previously sentenced to 60 years in prison (i.e., until he turns 114) for possession of child pornography.
None of the articles mention anything about this 54-year-old guy having parents or having had a childhood and, if so, what he was like as a child and as a teenager. Yet I would have thought that people would be interested to know if there were any signs back then that he was on track to be sentenced to 235 years in prison.
Readers: Have you ever seen anything about Dr. Nassar’s parents? An article interviewing a brother or sister? An article interviewing someone who knew him in high school?
[Separately, it seems unlikely that abused patients can get money out of Dr. Nassar via civil lawsuits. Nassar’s wife sued him in January 2017 and presumably took the house, the cash, etc.]
Related:
- Wikipedia entry on Larry Nassar, which says that he has a brother named Mike (has this brother been interviewed?)
- the post-World War II trial of German doctors who were alleged to have committed war crimes (Nassar has been sentenced to more years in prison than was served by all of the Nazi doctors combined)
He must have had one. He is 54 years old.
It is very strange when a man is well-known to hundreds of people, and they all think he is wonderful, until suddenly they are all sure he is a monster.
They may yet sue USA Gymnastics if they can prove to civil law standards the latter turned a blind eye to Dr Nassar’s depredations. Given the sheer number of victims, it’s hard to believe no one knew, and as with the Penn/Sandusky scandal, more people will end up behind bars.
Ahh, money. Money, money, money. It all makes sense now.
Classy move, encouraging Internet trolls to track down and harass his family.
Nassar is not a person — with parents, a childhood, and a history that has included good and evil. He is a scapegoat and the judge in her Old Testament righteousness has banished him from human society and like God “has signed his death warrant.” And we now for a brief time feel safe because evil has been exorcised, and those who have been disbelieved will now be believed, and life can now go on (Note comments in today’s NYT article on the sentencing). See for background the terrific discussion of the scapegoat in Yuri Slezkine’s “The House of Government” at 701-12.
Most US based papers wouldn’t look too closely about his family background since he has an Arabic last name. In this environment, it could be perceived as racist, especially if it turned out there other family members with similar issues.
It’s unclear why we should be interested in this guy’s childhood. There is a theory that many child molesters were molested themselves when they were kids. Though it might be hard for anyone to determine if that was the case here.
Also, most people would probably think that it’s quite just to lock someone up for five years for molesting a kid. So, if someone molests a few dozen girls, that would add up to 100 or 200 years.
Does anybody know what he actually did?
The allegation is: “He abused me!”
Those are non specific weasel words.
My comment above refers to the claims of “McKayla Maroney”.
I read one NY Times article with a bunch of quotes from accusers, but the most specific thing was that he looked at her pubic bone as part of an assessment of whether she had finished growing. (I have no idea whether that is reasonable or not.)
> it seems unlikely that abused patients can get money out of Dr. Nassar via civil lawsuits
I’m sure that’s true, but that’s small potatoes compared to Michigan State University and USA Gymnastics
Sandusky is probably the victim of another “repressed memory” panic, ala the 1980s day care center panics. Sandusky helped hundreds of kids and a handful were prompted by a psychologist to come forward with hazy, repressed memories of abuse. Search whyevolutionistrue Sandusky.
@bjdubbs I wonder if you know what Sandusky’s son was charged with?
I’m not interested in defending Sandusky, just pointing out that the facts point to the possibility of repressed memory panic, which PG has written about.
I have been trying to look up anything about his childhood and I can’t find anything. I’m interested in know what kind of life he had as a child too. I am working on education to prevent this from happening. Professionals have to look at both sides to help and prevent it from occurring in someone else’s life. Also study why those who may if know didnt speak up. Need to Identify what caused victims to speak up. Need to Identify why Nassar started to do this. What caused him to start this. It’s either he has a mental illness and us either aware or unaware of his consciousness. Or if he intentionally did this is he aware or unaware he is a psychopath. His actions are horrible but I’d like to understand what could be done to prevent this.
I have been looking for the same information and I do think it is relevant and of potential public interest, especially considering how often the media looks into the childhood of other convicted criminals. I will continue to monitor information that may appear in the media on this issue.
I have been looking for the same information and I think it is of public interest considering how widespread the damage of his crimes has been.
Larry Nassar’s surname is listed as Arabic, though he is Catholic.
One commenter pointed out that “most US based papers wouldn’t look too closely about his family background since he has an Arabic last name,” and this is probably true–especially in the xenophobic atmosphere of the Trump era.
However, it should be noted that the majority of high-profile men accused of, and charged with, sexual predation on women and girls are Jews.
Sandusky’s a Jew, Weinstein’s a Jew, Franken’s a Jew, etc., etc, etc.
The fact is that Jewish men have been getting away with so many crimes in the United States of which they’ve been hypocritically accusing their Gentile counterparts–because they can.
Generally speaking, Jews have never held themselves to the same standards as Gentiles. If they are the “Chosen People of God,” why should they?
U.S. based papers never dare say anything about the Jewish background of countless high-profile criminals and scoundrels–because U.S. based papers are owned and edited by Jews, in the first place.
In fact, the most pervasive form of discrimination practiced in the United States today is that of Jews against Gentiles–it truly is occurring in every sector of our society today.
But no one dare calls the Jews out on this discrimination, for the same reason that no one dares mention their ancestral background, when they are accused of, and charged with, crimes–he or she would automatically be labeled anti-Semitic, and shunned by our society, even if he or she is Jewish.
It is time for the Jews to abandon their collective superiority complex–to abandon the ungodly belief, which is drilled into their minds from infancy, that any people has ever been the “Chosen People of God.”
It is time for the Jews to hold themselves accountable for their collective transgressions and atrocities, as an ancestral group–just as every other racial, ethnic, and ancestral group has, and does.
Scott: Part of your point was made on national television by Larry David…
https://www.thedailybeast.com/snl-host-larry-david-roasts-harvey-weinstein-why-do-so-many-sexual-harassers-have-to-be-jews
and also in a specifically Jewish newspaper:
https://www.jta.org/2017/11/21/life-religion/harvey-weinstein-and-al-franken-are-jewish-but-are-they-jewish-news
It would be challenging for Jewish men to be responsible for most of the complaints that American women voice. 60 percent of American women say that they have been sexually harassed (see https://nypost.com/2017/11/21/60-percent-of-women-have-been-sexually-harassed-poll/ ). Jews are roughly 1.8 percent of the population (http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2013/10/02/how-many-jews-are-there-in-the-united-states/ ).
If Jewish men are more likely than non-Jews to be involved in commercial sexual relationships with women, as you’ve suggested, and it is because of something in the Jewish religion, where are the observant Jews on the Great List of the Accused? Harvey Weinstein had a Jewish surname, but was he known for piety? For going to synagogue? For having a Jewish faith?
[If you want to see how deeply religious Jews think about the concept of the “Chosen People”, see http://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/160993/jewish/Are-the-Jews-the-Chosen-People.htm ; it turns out not to be a license to trade career advancement for sex]
Have you considered the possibility that Jews have been disproportionately successful in Hollywood (partly due to other industries not wanting to hire Jewish employees at the time that Hollywood started up) and the public is disproportionately interested in what happens in Hollywood? If you hear that a waitress reports being sexually harassed at her job in a Denny’s in Arkansas, do you think “the manager was probably a Jew?”
On the other hand, maybe an investigation of Larry Nassar’s past will prove your point! He might be Jewish. Or maybe there were Jews telling him what to do when he was in high school and college!
It’s absolutely relevant.
Funny how liberals or people who complain about Trumps
xenophobia, are the biggest bigots and antisemites alive.
Yes it’s important to know his background for many different reasons: history of family abuse, family dysfunction, religious, cultural background, siblings, sibling relationship, background of parents, friends’ interactions, teachers, employers, colleagues, etc. This legal case cries out for more information: So many victims over so many years without complaints or suspicions becoming public?
Concerning Scott Mayo: His anti-Semitic screed on Jews needs to be called out. He’s not the first anti-semite nor the last…but let’s not be afraid to call him out on his abusive words, particularly when this thread is devoted to preventing future abuses and understanding Larry Nassar’s.
Thank you Philip for asking important questions that can help us all prevent abuse of vulnerable people.
Gerson: Do we need people who virtuously “call out” others’ purported bad statements and sentiments? Scott Mayo essentially says, above, “I hate Jews.” What would anyone be adding by saying “Scott Mayo hates Jews and I hate people who are filled with hatred”?
I don’t think it is persuasive to Jew-haters to say “You’re not allowed to hate Jews.” I would rather question their logic. Oftentimes the hatred is not reasonable. Maybe the Jew-hater will change his or her mind if presented with a logical argument or more accurate facts. I would rather persuade than condemn someone with whom I disagree.
I don’t think Scott Mayo is correct, above. Our media loves to cover Hollywood and there are a lot of Jews in Hollywood. Here’s a story from the UK that doesn’t seem to involve any Jews: https://www.thesun.co.uk/archives/news/493245/20-women-slept-with-me-to-get-promotion/
(Here’s a fun modern twist from that article: the advice columnist writes back “You can’t be sure this is your baby. Common sense would demand DNA tests.”)
So I’d rather point stories about non-Jewish sex-in-a-commercial-context to someone who says this is somehow a Jewish thing.
Phil,
You do most important work. In my way I do important work. We need each other.
I have acted and answered as you do during much of my 70+ years.
I now am more direct in my approach.
Thank you for your good work!
Praying that innocents will be safer from abusers because of our efforts.
I, too, have wondered at the lack of attention to Nassar’s background. I am not looking to excuse in any way his horrible behavior, but he did not spring full-blown from Satan’s brow. He was a baby, a toddler, a child, a young man. Where did his early guides fail him? Where did his character twist? I think we have to know what makes a man grow right, as well as go wrong, to prevent more monsters if possible, or at least to identify them early before they do such awful damage.
Nassar is an Arabic name which is most probably Palestinian & Palestinians may be either Christians or Muslims -of all creeds.
When Mr. Nassar first came out big in the news, I read somewhere that his parents were from Syria. However, I have not been able to find a thing about it since then. This blog post is the only thing I find in a Google search anywhere related to this topic. I don’t understand why not, unless there is censorship going on at some level,
It’s important to know his ethnic background because feminazis are using Nassar as an example of white privilege.
If anyone does find out the ethnic background paternal and maternal, and/or the childhood life experiences of Larry Nassar, please forward the info to me… it definitely seems as if there is informal self-censorship going on in this case…
jbosnitch@gmail.com
John Bosnitch
Journalist
What is being called “self-censorship” may be a responsible attempt to protect other members of his family from reprisals.
Wikipedia and others may have weighed “the public’s right to know” against his family’s right to safety.
How much does Nassar’s ethnicity matter here?
We already have malicious morons here trying to make Jerry Sandusky (a rather obvious Polish Surname), whose biography identifies him as Catholic — into a Jew.
Nassar is found as a surname of Christian families in Lebanon and Palestine.
https://surnames.behindthename.com/bb/sur/4205057
Tom, et al: I don’t think his ethnicity is interesting, though in our Identity Politics age when people are featured in the media this is often mentioned. The original post asks “what he was like as a child and as a teenager”. We’ll be watching the Olympics soon and I expect that for many of the athletes there will be little biographical videos. If people are interested in the childhood of a skier, why wouldn’t they be interested in the childhood of a person who has dominated the news for weeks?
I, too, have been wondering about his childhood and family background (and ethnic background too, but only as a curiosity since I have spent quite a while in an Arab country) for a while now, but anytime I search I draw a blank with regards to that. Maybe his background would be in some article buried under the tens of thousands of articles about the court case that come up on Google regardless of what you search for as long as his name is in the search terms?
I have been periodically doing searches to find his background with no luck, and that’s exactly how I found your blog in the search results (on page 2), “Dr.” Greenspun! In other words, still no luck as none of the commenters have any leads.
There is definitely some media self-censorship going on (why?), since in other cases the criminals’ (big and small) life histories are paraded all over.
Oh well… I guess I will search again in a couple of weeks, again with no luck!
I found the obituary for his brother, Mike. https://www.legacy.com/obituaries/detroitnews/obituary.aspx?page=lifestory&pid=181739542
I agree with Scott Mayo. There is also Anthony Weiner to add to the list. The first thing i thought was Nasser looked like Weiner. He may be fromt he same background as sometimes names are ambiguous. Look at Paula Abdul, I thought she was a muslim but she is same background as Weiner, Weinstein. These people get away with a lot because of their power.
Michigan State endowment was at an all time high based off of its performance by it’s sports departments. The institutions involved likely turned a blind eye 1) because Nasser was a graduate of their system 2) the substantial endowment nest egg would have had its lid blown off by the mere speculation of improptity 3)multiple organizations would have faced class action lawsuits and 4) the climate at both the university and USA gymnastics was to sit on their hands and do nothing over the backs of girls that felt they were being wronged, reported it but saw only inaction by those legally compelled to intervene for the voiceless. As you can see both organizations were interconnected and tasting the highest levels of success and no scandal was permitted to stop the flow of endowment money or potential endorsement contracts open to the best Olympians.
Scott Mayo: I just had the unfortunate experience of reading your stupid, ignorant comments!! Before you write such things, get your facts straight. Sandusky is of irish/polish, catholic decent; not jewish. Nassar is arab/catholic. And,there are many examples of so-called “gentiles” committing similar crimes, many more in fact , as there are simply more gentiles than jews. What about priests who molest little boys (and girls)?? This is the most disgusting abuse of power imaginable as it involves a religious figure abusing his power (over innocent children!!!). I don’t believe that catholic priests are jewish, do you? Your tirade on jews in simple anti-semitism. People such as yourself are the real evil in this world. Thank g-d that every race/ethnic group have their good people who are educated and sane enough to recognize your type!!
Thank you Debbie!
The Jewish people have survived and thrived after every evil empire tried to destroy the Jewish people and nation. The ancient Egyptians, Babylonians, Assyrian/Greeks, Romans, Christian Crusaders, Cossacks, Nazis were all powerful regimes, empires who were destroyed in time, while the Jews survived and thrived again. Yes there are very bad Jews too, but they too will be destroyed unless they change their ways. Only the Almighty is in ultimate control. Human beings have free choice to help or hurt humanity and the world. The Creator of All commands us all to perform deeds of goodness but gives us freedom to choose. We all are held accountable for our deeds.
We hope and pray that this blog will help prevent future abuse of innocents and discourage abuse committed by perpetrators. There is no culture or people free from those who do evil. Every human has the capacity to hurt or heal, and to help or harm others. Even those who harm can change and feel remorse, apologize to those they’ve harmed and commit to the right path. And those who have been harmed can heal and even forgive those who have sincerely changed their ways.
Nassar is a name from Arabic origins, which can include Jewish, Muslim, or Christian creeds. Just making that clear because some comments deliberately leave out information.
In the midst of the current crime spree here in Europe, everyday brutal rape, brutal violence cases etc committed by the so called “migrants” it seems absolutely clear to me that race/ethnicity has a role in the most savage/brutal crime cases, it must be genetic, at least partly. The childhood and upbringing naturally has a role too, comparable to race/ethnicity.
Lufe: Larry Nassar is a christian/catholic with arab ancestry. No one is leaving out anything. The blog is about this particular man and his background. Notwithstanding, race, religion, and ethnic background is of no importance related to his behavior or crime. ANYONE in a a power position has the potential for abusing that power; ANYONE!!
Poika: What genetic reasons are there for Europe’s violent past against innocent people? I’m referring to Romans, Russians, Germans, French, Brits, etc. This includes burning people alive!!! Pick up a history book.
Debbie: “ANYONE in a a power position has the potential for abusing that power; ANYONE!!”
I think this is the crux of why the childhood, high school, and college history would be so interesting. People consider themselves and their ordinary friends superior to Harvey Weinstein, for example, without asking “How might an ordinary person behave if given the power to decide which actress will star in the next movie?”
So if everyone who knew Larry Nassar 25+ years ago says that he was a great/normal guy it would lend credence to the ancient theory that power corrupts.
Debbie, of course in the historical past all human beings have behaved extremely brutally, all over the world.
But nowadays, before the [pejorative term for Arab/Muslim] invasion into the civilized EU in late 2015, brutal gang raping where the victim is maimed for the rest of her life or tortured and killed, brutal assault and battery where e.g. the victims head is used as a football until paralyzed or killed, sickening sexual abuse of young children, etc etc etc, were very very very rare, if not nonexistent. Nowadays such kind brutal crime happen many times a day.
The moral code and ethics values of muslims are about 1400 years old, they have not developed _at all_. When brutality is the norm of the drove over such an extremely long time, it will affect the genes, brutal behavior becomes indigenous.
You gotta ask what is the primal wound? The clue… betrayal.
Poika: Thank you for your comments. I understand your feelings regarding the influx of migrants into EU, the violence that has occurred, and about foreign moral codes/ethics not in accord to current mores. I get it. People who commit the kind of crimes you described should be caught and punished to the fullest extent of the law and/or deported!
I guess what bothered me about your initial blog was the notion of genetics being, at least in part, behind the behavior. That struck a negative chord in me as it reminiscent of the false theory that people who belong to certain groups are somehow genetically inferior versus others as superior, or somehow certain groups are genetically prone to be bad. We all belong to the family of man having basically the same DNA. The superficial differences that exist among races/ethnic groups are so small that, genetically speaking, they are insignificant.
That being said (or written), I do not disagree with you that there does exist cultural differences. It’s just unfair to blame all members of a group on the behavior of some. In doing so, you strip those good people of their humanity and individuality. There ARE good Muslims ( and no, I am not a Muslim). Again, thank you for your response and I sincerely hope that the violence in EU, the U.S., and in the world at large ends soon.
Debbie, that all mankind are equal in every possible way, the single race fantasy, is a beautiful and polite ideology but it is just an ideology, comparable to the lies upheld by communist regimes. Sure, that fantasy is still being upheld by laws, mainly a sad outcome of the WWII. The truth however is that there are only a few races that built the current developed and civilized world (science, art, technology) and there are races that still live in mud huts or such. Similarly there are races that inherently are much more brutal/savage/barbaric/”oversexual” than some other races. E.g. what is the reason for so many 2nd and 3rd generation alien/immigrant terrorists, if not genetic.
Back to the Arab/Egyptian “Dr” Larry. Indeed there is not much about his childhood on the net. In the above, the entry number 35 by “MJC” holds some info. Apparently the “Dr” has had two brothers (Michael and Fred, both are deceased), has had father (also named as Fred, deceased) and has mother Mary, and also has mother- and father-in-law (Billie and John Diel). According to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Larry_Nassar the “Dr” was born August 16, 1963 in the US. There are several incomplete timelines for the “Dr” e.g. http://interactives.indystar.com/news/standing/OutofBalance/NassarTimeline/LSJ.html but it is quite normal that old beings do not have fully documented life/memoir available online, Facebook was only established until 2004. So what gives. It seems that his two brothers have died at quite young age, who knows why. And it seems that the “Dr” was adopted like “Anne” above hinted.
Poika, perhaps you need to be reminded that while long established civilizations were already progressing in the arts and sciences (the arabs were one of the first great astronomers, way before the time of Jesus), Europe consisted mostly of small tribes, not nearly as evolved. When the Romans set out to conquer western Europe, Germans were little more than barbarians in comparison. And their descendants; those “genetically superior” beings of WW2, so advanced and cultured, brutally tortured and murdered millions of innocents and blindly followed a borderline mad man into self destruction and anarchy. Those superior beings came mostly from catholic or lutheran homes, religions that purport the ethical/moral codes you mentioned, and they committed the most heinous crimes of all time.
And, please don’t refer to the belief that all men are equal as a communist notion. You don’t have to be that to possess the ideology. There is no such thing as a communist utopia anyway. Any being, given the right circumstances and environment, has the potential to think, learn, create and progress. In my profession, I work with people from all different backgrounds; black, white, christian, jew, and yes, muslim. These are good, smart people. Culturally different? Somewhat. Genetically inferior? No. We all work at getting along.
As far as Dr. Nassar is concerned, I’ll state it again. Any person who holds a power position has the potential for abusing that power, regardless of race, religion, or ethnicity. There are plenty of examples of white, christian males committing the same crimes. I don’t care about Dr. Nassar’s background, as long as he pays for what he did.
Debbie, yes you are correct, when ever there is an opportunity to commit a crime, the temptation is there equally for everyone.
But, per capita, it _nearly always_ is a muslim or a black, or an arab, or a latino who is unable to resist that temptation, and they usually do it the most barbaric/sadistic/brutal way possible. If you do not agree then you do not know the facts. And you do not know the facts if you only follow the “politically correct” media.
The barbaric conduct of “Dr” Larry really should bring up some serious questions:
How to prevent the next “Dr”? Either only allow white doctors or … have two or more supervisors at the exam rooms of every doctor?
What else happens behind the various closed doors? E.g. what kind of brainwashing are our young children really subjected to at school, and by whom? Either only allow white teachers … or have a group of supervisors in every schoolroom?
We already have a huge amount of security installed due to the genetically inferior beings. There are billions of security cameras all over the civilized world, vast army of security personals, huge police forces, etc. And at airports we are now slowly killing/sterilizing ourselves using the x-rays, we would not need to do that if only civilized people were allowed to fly.
Okay, we’ve hit the 50-comment limit of the Harvard software. I don’t think it is productive to debate the genetic basis of human behavior and ability. About half of Americans simply refuse to believe that there is any so it is really a religious issue rather than a scientific one. For example, a UC professor of Econ can push out a carefully researched book suggesting a genetic basis for “success” and a willingness to invest rather than consume (see
http://philip.greenspun.com/blog/2015/01/16/the-son-also-rises-tips-for-optimizing-your-life/
) and it doesn’t convince anyone.
[The same thing happens with dog breeds. All dogs are part of the same species, but we recognize subgroups or “races” within dogs as “breeds”. People readily accept that there is a genetic basis for breed-specific appearance, structure, and behavior. Then along come the pit bulls and the same people refuse to accept that there is any genetically-influenced tendency toward aggression. The same folks, when presented with Mindy the Crippler (our Golden Retriever), refuse to accept that she can be successfully trained to attack. They cite her Retriever genetic heritage as a basis for why she won’t turn mean.]
In the specific case of Larry Nassar, given that nothing is apparently known about his parents, siblings, or childhood (and maybe he was adopted, as suggested above), it seems especially unproductive to speculate about a genetic basis for his behavior.
[Poika: I think you’d persuade more people if you didn’t use phrases such as “genetically inferior”. People will stop reading when they see this and assume that you’re bigoted. Also, I’m not sure that you’ve done a full analysis of purported genetic inferiority. What does that mean? Reproductive success? There are criminals who have plenty of kids and, since they’re living in prison at taxpayer expense, they’ve often arranged for taxpayers to pick up the cost of housing, feeding, and providing medical care to those kids. A biologist wouldn’t call that “inferior.” The least educated women in the U.S. have the most kids. Shouldn’t that be considered a “genetically superior” life strategy? Check out yesterday’s NYT:
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/06/magazine/the-towers-came-down-and-with-them-the-promise-of-public-housing.html
The woman featured in the article had 13 children, all housed at taxpayer expense (also taxpayer-funded food, health care, etc., no doubt). She had 40 grandchildren. To me that shows great genetic adaption to the actual environment of the U.S. and therefore I think the best characterization of the featured grandmother (unfortunately deceased) is “genetically superior.”]