My take on Pat Hickey's column

The world seems a bit more cold-hearted today.

Yesterday, Montreal Gazette sports columnist Pat Hickey published a column that quickly stirred controversy. He called former sex abuse victim and NHL star Theo Fleury an "enabler" and a "hypocrite" for not stepping forward sooner about suffering sexual abuse at the hands of minor league hockey coach Graham James.

Full column can be found at: http://www.montrealgazette.com/news/Fleury+hypocritical+Hickey+says/5848382/story.html#Comments

First off, Hickey doesn't have his facts straight. Fleury was NOT a co-owner of the Hitmen, he was one of 18 investors, which means he didn't work alongside James. And even so, James had a tight control on Fleury for many years. He told Fleury that he would never get anywhere in the NHL without his coach. After being told that so many times, one starts to believe it. Learn the psychology of a victim before you ever DARE to judge. Secondly you NEVER call a victim a hypocrite or an enabler. Every victim is different about when they come out and talk about it. If you have never been through such horrific abuse you have no idea how hard it is to come out and talk about it. To compare Sheldon Kennedy and Fleury is irrelevant as they are two different people who dealt with and reacted to the abuse in ways only they knew how. To blame ANY victim is a heartless act.

Pat Hickey's column is the kind of cruel and arrogant thing that leaves me angrily speechless. Fleury is calling for Hickey to be fired, which I personally think would be appropriate. What gets me though is that columns and articles have to get through the newspaper's editor before it ever gets published. Not only does the column look like wasn't edited with the misspelled words and improper grammar, but what does its message say about the Montreal Gazette as an entire paper? Editorials like such are supposed to represent the opinion of the newspaper. You don't represent yourself when you write for a newspaper.

Shame on Hickey for writing about a topic he knows nothing about and for doing the one thing you NEVER do- blame a sexual abuse victim for what happened to them. And shame on him for being heartless and arrogant towards a group that is already bound by a silence imposed on them by their abuser. It is people like Hickey who keep victims in silence. The old-fashioned and outdated view on sexual abuse has to go. Victims need to be recognized as they are and no longer treated like garbage in the justice system. They must be listened to and compassionately guided through their stages of healing, not degraded and ridiculed like Hickey. Why not call out Graham James for destroying so many innocent lives?

Hickey doesn't understand what victims really go through, that's why. And anyone who doesn't get it needs a cold and harsh reality check.