Here's where the parallels with mainstream Western culture the RCC cease
Well, not really. Social control comes in different forms and there's absolutely no doubt that victims of abuse (sexual and otherwise) in thoroughly mainstream Western settings have been systematically silenced over the decades (just look up any care home scandal; there are plenty to choose from). Fundamentally, this sort of thing is awful, but we don't exactly occupy any kind of moral high ground on this issue. Anyone who thinks otherwise is delusional.
Could one not argue that a culture which generally is less hierarchal and preaches less respect for authority and more freedom of the individual should be less likely to display things like this?
Not that I'm saying that all Western culture is like that in a monolithic fashion, but still. Purely anecdotally that's my impression, at least.
