Roasting Sacred Cows

Hans Gilde writes: "Pedophilia has been a big topic in the UK lately, there have been riots, beatings and vandalism resulting from [pedophile witchhunts]. In an attempt "to ask hard questions about the way society and the media deal with its most difficult problems" and point out "that famous people have a habit of denouncing things without knowing much about them", a comedian in the UK produced a TV show, described in an article in the NY Times, in which he actually got a member of Parliament to say the following, on the air, in all seriousness: "Using an area of the Internet the size of Ireland, pedophiles can make your keyboard release toxic vapors that can make you more suggestible."" This show is frankly hilarious, and the reaction to it is even better. You probably want to see the show, eh? It's available in .avi or Real and DivX.

Comments

Re:Pedophile Hysterics

[SubtleNuance]

...ummm that I believe is the point.

Have a look at this picture - it pretty much sums it up.

Re:Minding each other's own business:you're wrong.

[bernz]

but the difference with child predatory pornography (which is what we're talking about here) is that it is basely wrong because it isn't truly consenual. Say what you will about porn in general, but child pornography IS wrong for many good reasons.

The internet ISN'T taking care of this problem by itself. And people are making money off of the rape of children. This is wrong. and if you think this is acceptable (i don't care what Ginsburg did) then YOU are wrong.

this isn't a "but what about the CHILDREN" sort of thing. We don't let children drive because given the time of development for the human mind, it's a crapshoot risk. we don't allow children to make sexual decisions with adults for the same reason. Yes, in the roman period, women and men were often married in their teens. guess what, this isn't the roman period. deal.

go to andrew vachss site for more info about predatory pedophiles.

Taboos

[mwillems]

Pedophilia is today's taboo, and I think taboos are best investigated and questioned.

Sure, it is a horrible subject: grown people should nothave sex with children. But pedophilia is by no means worse than murder. Yet murder is a legitimate subject for satire, comedy, thrillers, whodunnits: a whole industry has sprung up around it. Ask P.D. James, or read about Kinsey Millhone.

Pedophilia on te other hand is a taboo; today's taboo. Taboo subjects are subjects "not legitimate for discussion". "Taboo" implies a certain amount of irrationality. This should worry free thinking people. Past taboos have included non-Catholic religion, madness, witchcraft, sexuality, nudity, homosexuality (male and female), the earth turning around the sun, women having the same number of teeth as men, and so on.

When a subject is taboo, it is legitimate to investigate it. I would say, it is crucial. It is how progress in society is made.

Yes, sometimes that means investigating distasteful subjects. But the alternative is worse: a society run on the basis of fear, superstition, and unstated interests. That's not where I want to live.

Michael

Re:Taboos

[debrain]

The fascinating thing is that pedophilia is really the last information "taboo", without which I (personally) can think of no information on the internet which would be so illegal as to require regulating the internet in the long term. Of course, bomb recipes and operative lists are certainly dangerous and deadly, but their disclosure is limited by those who really have knowledge, whereas pedophilia is in the area where anyone can create and use it.

Personally, I have a taboo with respect to pedophilia, but I believe it is also culturally based, and this is not something that should necessarily be imposed on other cultures. Much like Afghanistan imposing their beliefs on women in our country, we are equally well armed to justify the ethical position we harbour against pedophilia to those African tribes that firmly believe in female genital mutilations and who would, more often than not, violently oppose the destruction of their beliefs. We will equally oppose the destruction of the belief that children have the inherent right not to be voyeured or put into a sexual context, and many will probably violently oppose any change to that belief. (Ironically, on several levels, children are the ones who would be most open to the idea.)

For my whole life, I will probably fear and revile pedophilia. But that does not mean it is wrong, nor does it say anything about the actual ethics of pedophilia. But perhaps society will evolve through this, as you said - progress is made by confronting such issues (something society is notoriously bad at, I believe), and my children will be more open minded about it.

The specific issue is unimportant

[doce]

I think the idea behind this show is great. The specific issue (in this case, pedophilia) is really rather unimportant. I'd love to see a similar show done in the US, outing celebrities and politicians on both sides of an issue who have absolutely no idea what they're talking about when discussing Intellectual Property and Copyright Law, environmental issues like global warming, internet law, energy concerns, and the like. In fact, I have a fledgeling site running Slash called Simon Jester where I'm trying to do just that... on a smaller scale and in a much less sensational manner. www.simonjester.com

Re:You see...

[Cruciform]

ah, but bank robbery doesn't tend to be a compulsion in people unless you count financial desire.
because he was only 13, when caught and put into counseling I'd be willing to give him the benefit of the doubt... as we did the person who took advantage of the fact that I was 5 when they were 16.
if he were an adult, I'd have no problem beating him to death with a shovel, forget the life-long stigma.
if counselling is able to help him, good. if not, he'd best stay out of my city.

The problem with politicians

[lavaforge]

Beverley Hughes, the child protection minister, said though she had not seen the entire program, on account of being too disgusted, she had read about it and found it "unspeakably sick."

She read about it. How's that for detailed and useful knowledge of a topic you will be deciding on?

For the opposite perspective:

[alewando]

Adequacy.org ran the article Open Letter to Channel 4: Brass Eye Was Unacceptable , denouncing Channel4 and BrassEye for these escapades.

If you want a good summary of the opposition, then I'd suggest reading it. It's a good read in any event.

Re:Pedophilia is Bad How?

[SuiteSisterMary]

Out of curiosity, why do you assume that any sex with a person under the legal age is going to be non-consenting?

Re:You see...

[Ambient Sheep]

Yes, and sadly I think this is the main thing that Chris Morris failed to highlight.

As the woman who wrote a wonderfully Morris-supportive letter to the Guardian website put it (quoting from memory, but not far off): "I too am sick of all this 'paedo-lurking-behind-every-bush' hysteria, when 9 times out of 10 it's actually Daddy diddling his daughter on the sofa while Mum's out at Tesco's[1], but nobody's interested in that."

She then went onto explain how she told both her school and the family doctor, neither of whom believed her. No doubt if some git had leapt on her from behind a bus-stop then they might have shown some concern.

[[1] - Tesco's = major British supermarket chain]