Okay, so let's start with the basic premise over which there is no disagreement - pedophiles are scum. How desperate can you be that you can't find a consenting adult for your sex?
But, that's not the point of the post. The other excellent article in Rolling Stone is about this group called Perverted Justice that along with Dateline NBC is trying to trap these sexual predators into situations where they can be arrested and thrown in jail. Now that sounds like a perfectly admirable and laudable effort on the surface. However, the article is unnerving in terms of the lengths these guys go to in order to trap these people. Further, it makes the interesting point of whether all this money and effort is really being targeted at the people most likely to harm children. Ninety percent of the people caught in their nice little made for TV show have no rap sheet for sex offenses or arrest record of any kind. If you watch the show, it almost seems like some of these people have been tempted into these situations by pushy pretenders. Further, interestingly, by focusing on these online stranger encounters, attention is diverted from the real danger - not strangers, but family & friends. Looking at data on reported sex offenses, over ninety percent of perpetrators of child sex abuse are known to the child.
Apparently, there is already some increasing concern about this show that cloaks itself in virtue and morality. And, if the article is to be believed (who knows how biased the reporting is in the article), the leader of the movement is a strange dude himself - not someone I want my kids hanging out with.
You can read the full article by Vanessa Grigoriadis here.
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