See here for
important background: http://hpanwo-voice.blogspot.co.uk/2012/12/hollie-greig-real-or-fake.html.
Belinda McKenzie and the other members of Hollie Demands Justice were invited
to attend, but declined. She agreed to meet up with some friends of mine before
the event at another location, but she failed to turn up. This did not surprise
me, as I have made similar requests to HDJ in attempt to clear up this issue
with an open debate and I was snidely and sarcastically pushed aside, as you'll
see in the background link. Instead I arranged to host a round table interview
with the Hollie Greig Hoax group on HPANWO Radio and this went ahead in January:
http://hpanwo-radio.blogspot.co.uk/2013/01/programme-28-podcast-hollie-greig-hoax.html.
Since then the HDJ people have still refused to agree to a proper debate and
have only replied in unilateral publications which include a lot of rhetoric
and the same kind of personal nastiness I myself experienced; only it often got
far worse: "paedophile protector" and "MI5 agent" are some
of the epithets hurled at their opponents. Also a few days before, a number of
emails were sent to people, including myself, laced with ludicrous legal
threats, moral blackmail and third party insinuations aimed at dissuading
anybody thinking of attending the event. Luckily it didn't seem to work; the
function room above
The George pub on
The Strand in
London was packed
out. But while we were waiting for the event to begin, a woman sneaked in
furtively and handed out fliers to the audience before hurriedly leaving. These
fliers were a list of questions for the speakers; most of them concern Sylvia
Major's private life, alleged marital strife and her relationship to various
children's charities; how are these relevant to the subject at hand? If they
are relevant then why doesn't HDJ come to the event and explain why? One of the
questions asked why the Hoax Group accepted an invitation to speak at a meeting
in which people believed in "the New World Order",
"shape-shifting lizards" and that "9/11 was an inside job".
I'm surprised to hear this coming from HDJ when they themselves profess to be a
part of the Truth Movement and endorsed a lot of these ideas themselves. I
remember that Belinda McKenzie herself regularly attended the Inspired by David
Icke group a couple of years ago when it was just an informal gathering in the public
bar downstairs. It's a shame because I used to admire Belinda deeply; I
considered her a heroine of the Truth Movement and a saviour of all the
millions of children living lives of Hell on Earth in this world, see:
http://hpanwo.blogspot.co.uk/2011/09/british-humanist-association-conspiracy.html
I can't say too much about the proceedings of the event
because the organizer, Cathy, asked us not to record or film, and to keep any
notes we made confidential. But basically it consisted of a question-and-answer
session from the audience. Of the four members of the group I interviewed on
HPANWO Radio, three of them were there in person, Rachel, Sarah and Sylvia;
Rachel and Sarah did almost all the talking. It immediately became apparent
that many people there were still sympathetic to HDJ and very suspicious of the
Hoax Group's case. There were some well-versed points put forward for the speakers
which Rachel and Sarah answered cogently and in detail. It wasn't long before
the Q and A became a debate between audience members too, and this escalated
into a fairly heated argument. Occasionally the tone became vitriolic. One
female audience-member, enraged to the point of tears, derided Rachel and Sarah
for "betraying their fellow women" by daring to question a rape
allegation. I've spoken before about the political incorrectness of this
subject, see:
http://hpanwo-voice.blogspot.co.uk/2012/08/julian-assange-at-ecuador-embassy.html.
In this case however one of the speakers answered by explaining how she herself
had been sexually abused and knew exactly how Hollie would have felt had she
really been a true victim in this way. At one point the debate descended into
the realms of absurdity. A questioner mispronounced Brian Gerrish's surname
"Garish" and somebody very indignantly challenged them and demanded
that they pronounce it properly. Why? What difference does it make to her
point? I found it strange that such a fuss would be made over the length of a
single vowel. For me, this discussion was the final nail in the coffin for the
Hollie Demands Justice campaign's argument: the use of ad hominem accusations, personal
criticism and appeal to the emotions, together with substituting angry comments
about irrelevant trivia in place of logical persuasion, is a sure sign that
their theory has no foundation to stand on. And I repeat: HDJ will
not sit down and address the Hoax
Group's questions openly and rationally in a public debate.
The speakers said right at the start: "The Hollie Greig
case is dead", and they're right. Rachel and Sarah are not Skeptics
either; they explained that they are Truthers themselves who agree that 9/11
was an inside job and understand that the institutional mass-abuse of children
does indeed go on. What the Hollie Greig case has done is give us a big wake-up
call to our own failings and weaknesses. We've wasted an incalculable amount of
time and energy chasing a mirage. It's painful to imagine what we might have
achieved if we hadn't been so distracted by this delusion and focused on the genuine
victims of abuse. Could we have had the satisfaction of seeing Jimmy Savile apprehended
and disgraced during his lifetime, instead of being rescued by the grave as he
was? And what harm have we done to the reputations of innocent people!? I've
publicly apologized to Sylvia and Wyn, as have the Hoax Group of course, and
those ladies have been very gracious and forgiving. I also apologize to Sheriff
Buchanan and everybody else we've smeared. But there is material permanently preserved
in the caches of the Internet containing these attacks against their
characters. And what about the central figure in this escapade of folly: Hollie
Greig herself? She's a vulnerable young woman with learning difficulties; how
has this affected her? We must not make this mistake again!
I'm very glad to see that the Hollie Greig case does seem to
be slipping away now. Most people in the Truth community just don't talk about
it any more, and a growing number of people are now out of the closet in
agreeing that is was a hoax. As far as HDJ goes, there are today just a small
band of loyalists left, centred around Belinda. At a recent protest Belinda
carried out at the BBC, to mark Hollie's thirtieth birthday, she had eight
people with her; two years ago she'd have rustled up hundreds. The question is
now: how long will it be before it makes its final exit? And what can we do to
protect Sylvia and Wyn while the remnants of the HDJ campaign continue to
publish their propaganda? I think the answer is what we're doing right now;
holding events like the one yesterday. I admired Sarah and Rachel very much for
their brave and dignified stance at this very belligerent and confrontational
meeting; Sylvia too, a relative of Hollie and one of the accused, for
travelling all the way from Scotland to address the group and clear her name. Thanks
also to Cathy and everybody else who organized the event. As I write these
words I'm also preparing to interview Kevin Annett for HPANWO Radio; and that's
another thing we can do: get on with our work in freeing children by exposing
the real truth!
