Oprah Winfrey y Vicki Polin.

El uno de mayo de 1989, en uno de los programas de la conocida presentadora norteamericana Oprah Winfrey (The Oprah Winfrey Show), participó una mujer a la que se presentó simplemente como "Rachel". Se trataba de Vicki Polin, que en el transcurso de su intervención afirmó que había sufrido abusos sexuales cuando era tan sólo una niña y que sus padres la habían introducido en rituales de adoración del demonio y sacrificios de niños. Y que ella misma había participado en uno de ellos, obligada por la secta.

La polémica surgió cuando Winfrey mencionó que "Rachel" provenía de una familia judía. Minutos más tarde, "Rachel" comentó que residían en Chicago y que el libro místico "Lilith's cave" contenía material relacionado con lo que había tenido que sufrir en su niñez.

Tanto el artículo del "New York Times" en el que se comentan las protestas de la comunidad judía como la transcripción parcial del show de Oprah Winfrey (curiosamente titulado "Mexican cult murders" -crímenes rituales mejicanos-), estaban pendientes de su traducción al castellano para su posterior publicación en un post. Pero, como en tantos otros casos, la actualidad manda y por diversos motivos esta tarea nunca llegó a realizarse.

No sé si alguna vez tendré tiempo de terminarlo. Mientras tanto lo presento a los lectores en su versión original por si fuera de interés. Toda vez que puede que ciertos comentarios del programa nos resulten familiares cuando abordemos un próximo post.

Winfrey Show Evokes Protests

By JEREMY GERARD

Published: May 6, 1989

Hundreds of television viewers and the leaders of several Jewish and civil-liberties organizations have protested allegations on a popular talk show this week that some Jews practice ritual killing of children.

The allegations were made by a guest using the pseudonym Rachel on ''The Oprah Winfrey Show,'' the fifth most widely viewed syndicated talk show in the country.

During the program, broadcast Monday, Ms. Winfrey introduced the guest as someone who was undergoing long-term psychiatric treatment for multiple personality disorder. The woman told Ms. Winfrey that she had witnessed the ritual sacrifice of Jewish children and had been a victim of ritualistic abuse. The guest also said of such practices: ''There's other Jewish families across the country. It's not just my family.'' The assertions were made during a program that focused on the cult murders of at least 13 people whose bodies were found last month near Matamoros, Mexico.

The woman's comments provoked hundreds of angry phone calls and letters to Jewish and civil liberties groups, spokesmen for the groups said in interviews yesterday. They said viewers also contended that Ms. Winfrey did not challenge the woman's statements sufficiently. Inflaming Prejudices

''We have grave concern about both the lack of judgment and the insensitive manipulation of this woman, who is clearly mentally ill, in a manner which can only inflame the basest prejudices of ignorant people,'' said Rabbi David Saperstein, the director of the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism in Washington.

Jeffrey Jacobs, the chief operating officer of Ms. Winfrey's production company, Harpo Productions Inc., denied that Ms. Winfrey had acted irresponsibly in broadcasting the interview since she had emphasized on the show that the guest spoke only for herself. He added that Ms. Winfrey and her producers would meet with representatives of the Jewish and civil liberties groups next week in Chicago, where the show is taped.

Mr. Jacobs said the sole purpose of the program was to call attention to what happened in Mexico. ''Oprah pointed out that this is one particular person talking about her particular situation,'' he said, ''and she was identified at the top of the show as being mentally disturbed.'' Assertions Were Unexpected

''We are aware that the show has struck a nerve,'' Mr. Jacobs said. ''Under no circumstances do we believe there was any attempt to tie what this woman said she witnessed to the Jewish religion.'' Ms. Winfrey was traveling yesterday, Mr. Jacobs said, and was not available to comment.

A spokeswoman for the program, Christine Tardio, said yesterday that the producers were satisfied that the guest's claim that she had been a victim of abuse was true. But Ms. Tardio said that she could not ascertain whether the producers of the show had verified that the guest was Jewish. Ms. Tardio also said that no one could have predicted what other assertions the guest would make on the show.

Early in the interview Ms. Winfrey said, ''This is the first time I heard of any Jewish people sacrificing babies, but anyway - so you witnessed the sacrifice?''

The woman responded: ''Right. When I was very young, I was forced to participate in that, and which I had to sacrifice an infant.''

The guest was repeatedly identified by Ms. Winfrey as being Jewish. At one point, the woman asserted that ritual sacrifices occurred in other Jewish families around the country, that they were known to the police and that such sacrifices had taken place in her own family since the 1700's. During the interview, Ms. Winfrey said, ''I want to make it very clear that this is one Jewish person, so don't go around now, saying to people, you know, 'Those Jewish people, they're worshipping...' This is just one person.''

But many viewers felt that the guest made unchallenged assertions of a link between Judaism and ritual sacrifice. Freedom and Responsibility

Jeffrey P. Sinensky, director of the civil rights division of the Anti-Defamation League of B'nai B'rith, called the program ''potentially devastating'' and said his group, which fights anti-Semitism and racism, had received hundreds of calls. The show is seen in 7,680,000 homes around the country, according to the A. C. Nielsen Company.

On Tuesday, Mr. Sinensky wrote to Debra DiMaio, the executive producer of ''The Oprah Winfrey Show,'' and said his organization strenuously objected to the program. He said his letter challenged the appropriateness of the participation of a mentally disturbed person. ''Many people view such a program and may walk away from the show reinforcing negative stereotypes,'' he said.

Arthur J. Kropp, the president of People for the American Way, a civil liberties group, said the board of his organization had discussed the show. ''We're concerned about free expression issues,'' Mr. Kropp said in an interview yesterday. ''I think what happened here demonstrates how the freedom has to be married to responsibility. There's been a lot of concern about so-called trash TV. I think this demonstrates why there's some concern. When these programs get into these issues, they've got be very careful. Oprah was the one who introduced the religion. I don't think she introduced it to convey any correlation between the woman's Jewishness and what she saw, but nevertheless she did do it and that was careless. I don't question her motive. They weren't prepared enough.''

THE OPRAH WINFREY'S SHOW
MEXICAL CULT MURDERS
MAY 1, 1989

[...]

OPRAH: As a child, my next guest was used also in worshipping the devil, participated in human sacrifice rituals and cannibalism. She says her family has been involved in rituals for generations. She is currently in extensive therapy, suffers from multiple personality disorder, meaning she's blocked out many of the terrifying and painful memories of her childhood. Meet "Rachel," who is also in disguise to protect her identity.

[...]

OPRAH: You come from generations of ritualistic abuse?

"RACHEL": Yes, my family has an extensive family tree, and they keep track of who's been involved and who hasn't been involved, and it’s gone back to like 1700.

OPRAH: And so you were ritually abused.

"RACHEL": Right. I was born into a family that believes in this.

OPRAH: Does everyone else think it's a nice Jewish family? From the outside, you appear to be a nice Jewish girl?

"RACHEL": Definitely.

OPRAH: And you all are worshipping the devil inside the home?

"RACHEL": Right. There's other Jewish families across the country. It's not just my own family.

OPRAH: Really? And so who knows about it? Lots of people now.

"RACHEL": Oh, I talked to a police detective in the Chicago area, and several of my friends know, and I've spoke publicly before, and…

OPRAH: So when you were brought up in this kind of evilness, did you just think it was normal?

"RACHEL": I blocked out a lot of the memories I had because of my multiple personality disorder, but, yes. I mean, it's like if you grow up with something, you think it’s normal. I always thought something…

OPRAH: So what kinds of things? You don't have to give us the gory details, but what kinds of things went on in the family?

"RACHEL": Well, there would be rituals in which babies would be sacrificed, and you would have to, you know…

OPRAH: Whose babies?

"RACHEL": There were people who bred babies in our family. No one would know about it. A lot of people were overweight, so you couldn't tell if they were pregnant or not, or they would supposedly go away for awhile and then come back…

[...]

"RACHEL": The other thing I want to point out not all Jewish people sacrifice babies. I mean, it's not a very typical thing.

OPRAH: I think we kind of know that.

"RACHEL": I just want to point that out.

OPRAH: This is the first time I heard of any Jewish people sacrificing babies, but anyway--so you witnessed the sacrifice.

"RACHEL": Right. When I was very young, I was forced to participate in that-- in which I had to sacrifice an infant.

OPRAH: And the purpose of sacrifice is to what? Is to bring you what? What are you sacrificing for?

"RACHEL": For power...

OPRAH: Power. And so were you ever used? Were you ever used yourself?

"RACHEL": I was molested. I was raped several times.

OPRAH: What's your mother doing in all of this? What's her role in all of this?

"RACHEL": What is-- I'm not exactly- -what her role is-- I haven't, you know, recovered all of my memories, but her family was extremely involved. You know, she brought me to it. Both of my parents brought me to it.

OPRAH: And where is she now?

"RACHEL": She lives in the Chicago metropolitan area. She's on the human relations commission of the town that she lives in, and she's an upstanding citizen. Nobody would suspect her. Nobody would suspect anybody involved in it. There's police officers involved in it. There's, you know, doctors, lawyers, Indiana chiefs involved in it.

OPRAH: Are you kidding?

"RACHEL": I mean, it's not the person, you know, who looks scummy that's involved in it. It's someone who looks normal.…

[...]

OPRAH: Were you raised with a sense of right and wrong, “Rachel?”

“RACHEL": Yes. I mean, it’s like we, I had both. I mean, to the outside world, everything we did was proper and right, and then there were the nights that things changed, that things just got turned around. What was wrong was right, and what was right was wrong. That’s what helps to create some of the… to develop MPD.

OPRAH: Multiple personality disorder.

“RACHEL”: Right, right…

[...]

OPRAH: I know a lot of people are shaking their heads here, and I'm sure that when you go back home, I mean, everyone's going to try to make you look like you're crazy.

"RACHEL": Oh, definitely.

OPRAH: Absolutely.

"RACHEL": They do that all the time.

OPRAH: It's very difficult to believe, so how is it that you come to believe these people, Tina?

Ms. GROSSMAN: Well, I've treated over 40 survivors of ritual abuse. Adult patients with multiple personality disorder, and from many states in this country as well as Canada. What we've seen and heard and gone through in the abreactions which is the remembered experiences of that- we are hearing the identical same things from these adults. Okay. These are not children that are three years old, and you can, as an adult, perhaps rationalize that this is fantasy material. These adults are saying things. They have never met each other before. They are describing identical rituals, just the same as, since I'm Jewish, you could go to New York or California and describe a seder in one state or another and, as a Jew, you would recognize it. This is the belief system in evil and the power that evil gives you, and so it has these certain rituals, so they are very similar with all of the survivors.

OPRAH: See, but I am very surprised because the Jewish faith is the Jewish faith, and worshipping the devil is not a part of the Jewish faith. I mean, Jewish people do not worship the devil.

Ms. GROSSMAN: But before there was Christ and before there was a system of one God, there was Paganism, and it still exists in the world, and in many cultures, you still find the belief that there is strength and power in the actual consumption of human flesh or animals' flesh.

OPRAH: Now in your family, did you all call it worshipping the devil, "Rachel?”

"RACHEL": No.

OPRAH: Or did you…

"RACHEL": I don't know.

OPRAH: It was just evil. These things you did.

"RACHEL": It was right.

OPRAH: Right.

"RACHEL": Well, I said it was evil, and they said it was good. There's a book that I had just come across called Lilith's cave [Lilith's Cave: Jewish Tales of the Supernatural by Howard Schwartz, New York, Oxford University Press, 1988] which is a book of Jewish mysticism and supernatural, and there's a lot in that book that relates to what I endured when I was a child.

OPRAH: I want to stop right here, though. because you know how people build prejudices. I want to make it very clear this is one Jewish person, so don't go around now saying to people, you know, "Those Jewish people, they're worshipping'. This is just one person. Okay.

"RACHEL": Most Jewish people do not do what my family did.

OPRAH: Okay. Thank you very much.

"RACHEL": I mean, I don't know very many other Jewish people who would do what I did.

OPRAH: But you know how people hear one thing, and then go off and they say, "I heard on 'The Oprah Winfrey Show' today that…”

Fuentes:

1. Winfrey Show Evokes Protests: http://www.nytimes.com/1989/05/06/arts/winfrey-show-evokes-protests.html
2. Incest Survivor Exposed Illuminati Satanists: https://www.henrymakow.com/incest_survivor_lifted_veil_on.html
3. http://www.theawarenesscenter.org/