Not only SNL, but Joe Pesci and everyone who booed Sinead at that concert owes her an apology. Sinead O’Connor committed truth on this issue in the only way she could. John Paul II WAS complicit in the misery inflicted on children by the Church-he did nothing about the Magdalene Laundries and protected tens of thousands of pedophile priests.

Joe Pesci has had years to educate himself about what went down-what is STILL going down-and he has yet to admit he was wrong to threaten an abuse survivor with violence. This song by Joni Mitchell(accompanied by The Chieftains, the great Irish traditional music ensemble and set to scenes from the brutally honest film THE MAGDALENE SISTERS)should tell him and everyone else all that they need to know.

I post this in memory of my wife, Jan, who educated me about this, who survived abuse in most of the relationships she was in before ours, and who spent years working as an advocate for battered women at the women’s shelter in our town, helping save hundreds of lives in the process. She died before her time from the wear and tear years of trauma inflicted on her body and soul, but her mind and her spirit blazed with intelligence, passion, and humor until the end. Don’t mourn her-believe those today who have gone through or are going through what she went through then.

Believe Survivors. Just Fucking BELIEVE SURVIVORS. Someone you know, someone you care about, could be a survivor.