Posted on 01/19/2007 11:39:44 AM PST by Halls
Shawn Hornbeck's parents say they may never know the full story as to why their son Shawn never attempted to contact them or to escape during the more than four years he lived with the man police say abducted him in 2002. But they said comments by Fox News Channel's Bill O'Reilly that the boy may have enjoyed living with Michael Devlin more than his family had infuriated the couple.
Shawn's stepfather, Craig Akers, said in an interview with TIME late Thursday evening. "Our son was 11 when he was abducted. A child that age can be mentally manipulated in a very short time. Hearing him say what he said absolutely infuriates me. I can hardly even express how mad it makes me to hear that."
(Excerpt) Read more at time.com ...
bfl
bfl
Why, becuase he publicly stated what a lot of peopel wondered privately (ie: not on a nat'l tv or radio show)?
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oh yes, so classy to do that when a child is in play here. I think the most important thing is to say negative things about the pervert who did this crime, not bash a child! Sorry, but that is disgusting if you ask me and anyone who has that opinion of Shawn Hornbeck is disgusting to me as well.
I have lost all respect for his 'parents' after they showcased him on Oprah, less than a week after his discovery!
Someone still left at Time to write something?
actually that was Shawn's doing, not his parents! He wanted to gp on Oprah and he wanted his story told ASAP so as to help people understand we need to be paying more attn tomissing kids out there and to help if see a strange situation.
Shawn's parents have always been on the media since he went missing. This is nothing new.
I think no one should judge the parents decisions or lack of decisions seeing they have no clue what kind of faily the Aker's are and what they have gone through these past 4 years.
No it;s the child's fault. The perv was just an innocent victim of his enticement. /sqrcasm
Then I suggest you wake up and smell the coffee... There's more than enough "Devlin the Devil" bashing going on, and the questions of how the boy could have great access to email and phones and NOT try to call home are valid...
I saw this boy with his grinning parents on TV this morning. They'll stop smiling when they start to sort out the long term effects of the captivity and abuse this young man has endured. I'm betting it will make a case of PTSD look like a common cold.
It is called fear and unless you know anything about how bad it can be than I suggest your the one who needs to wake up and get yourself educated!
I cannot understand the mindset of some of the ones who question the boy's acts..The perv and others like him are my concern!
Bill is going to feel like a real schmuck if it turns out the boy was molested (and he probably was.)
Stupid thing for O'Reilly to say without knowing more facts.
Stupid for the parents to trot their son out on Oprah...regardless of whether the kid wanted to do it or not.
It's showtime isn't it. These people are condemning Shawn to a life as an object of curiosity. He will never be "Normal" due what has occured to him at the hands of Devlin, and the family has now contributed to making the problem worse.
A welcome home event with family and friends should have been enough if at all.
He's gotten a lot of flack for his comment and had Bernard Goldberg and Jane Hall on his show last night. Both of them suggested to him that he should have handled it differently and I agree with them. It is true that Stockholm Syndrome is rare, which was the point he was trying to make. I sent him an FYI with a book recommendation for "Stop Walking on Eggshells," which was written to help individuals who live with Borderline Personality Disorder (which I am not suggesting the perp has). But the book is useful in understanding how one individual can control another.
People/public are horribly cruel to assume the worst.
People who gossip/busybodie and such when others are in pain and need of Prayer are creepy in a different way but still creepy as is the Devlin types.
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