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> Pedophiles are are a sociopathic rot, and should be treated as the worthless dangerous filth that they are. I'd feel worse stepping on a spider than I would p

• damoncali 13y ago
  If there is abuse of a child occurring, it is a particularly egregious form of it, and it should be dealt with harshly. Watching cartoons, although disturbing, is not abusing anyone. Making or watching any form of actual kiddie porn is over the the line. I don't think teenagers making out with each other is abusive, and it admittedly gets grey when you have gown men (lets be honest, it's mostly men we're talking about but that is irrelevant) in relationships with teenagers. If I had to draw a line, it would be at 16, with an exception for age + 5 years or something along those lines that goes in the spirit of preventing abuse of children. It is not too much to ask a grown adult to control themselves around a 15 year old.
  • corin_ 13y ago
    > Making or watching any form of actual kiddie porn is over the the line. Where do you draw the line of what counts as porn, and even within that do you not agree there are levels? For example the photos taken by the man described in this blog post, they were nude children, I'm sure plenty of paedophiles would enjoy them. Or is it about intent, if this man had taken those pictures because he wanted to enjoy them sexually later, would that be over the line? Or distribution, if he shared them with paedophiles? Or if someone other than him got hold of them and distributed them? What about very similar pictures to the ones in this blog, but this time they were taken specifically as pornography, and posed as such - but still no specific sexual acts depicted or taking place? I suspect you and I both agree that the man in this blog is completely innocent, morally and legally, but between that and setting up a film studio and forcing children to have sex with each other on camera, there are many levels, both legally in terms of how they'll be punished, and I think morally in terms of how they should be judged. As to 16 being the line, I think that's probably my preference too with regards to the law, but you were talking about moral judgement, specifically that you wouldn't mind "putting a bullet" in them. Do you honestly think that having sex with a 16 year old on their birthday is fine and the day before that would be evil? Of course there needs to be a line drawn for the law, but you don't need to base your judgements on this too. And what about a paedophile who secretly took pictures of a young child in the shower and never shared them with anyone, vs. one who got into the shower and raped that child. Or even within physical abuse, someone who fondles a child vs. someone who penetrates. I'm not saying you should look at it as "well he didn't penetrate, so that's fine", just that your hatred should really be scaled according to the crime, not in a binary state.
    • damoncali 13y ago
      Yes, the edges are a little fuzzy. I would not advocate shooting a 25 year old for sleeping with a 15 364/365 year old. I would advocate shooting a man who raped a 6 year old.
• aasarava 13y ago
  > presume that there's a difference between a young child who doesn't know any better, v.s. a young child who is being forced to do something they hate. Your disclaimer is troubling. Are you saying one is somehow a lesser problem than the other, even if only by a degree? By that logic is it "less" of a rape to sexually assault a 30-year-old with a mental handicap who doesn't understand what's happening vs. assaulting a 30-year-old who fights back? Raping a six-year-old is rape. It doesn't make a difference whether he or she "hates" it or whether situation plays into some vulnerability. The victim is no more or less responsible because he or she had an awareness of what was happening, and the criminal is no less culpable for his or her actions.
  • corin_ 13y ago
    That's a really good question... and I'm not sure. Certainly if, outside of the context of this topic if you asked me your mentally handicap question I would say that no, there's no difference. But think of it from a different angle, and separate each individual action. Let's define "causing physical pain" as a bad thing. Now take an example of child abuse in which physical pain is not caused - let's say fondling, or maybe consensual (ignoring subtle manipulation/etc.) sex with an older child - would you say that adding physical pain into that equation doesn't make it worse? And if adding one bad thing doesn't make it worse, what other things could you add before it does count as making it worse - murder? Now to come back to a more specific example - if an adult has a sexual relationship with a child which the child is, at the time, untroubled by, then is there a chance that they could come out of it without any harm being done? Yes. I've no idea what the stats are, but certainly there are adults who as children had relationships with adults and who, now they are adults, still don't think there was anything wrong with it. So however likely or unlikely that is to be the case, a consensual relationship has a higher than 0% chance of doing no harm. On the other hand, a forced relationship in which the child hates it at the time, already is at 100% doing harm - even if the child gets over it and lives a happy life, there was already some harm (however serious or not serious) caused at the time. So doesn't that mean the odds suggest one is better than the other? Even if only by a tiny amount? edit: Another thought - from a moral judgement point of view, I think it's also possible to see that there might be a difference in motivation from the abuser's point of view, who could look at a consensual relationship with a child as justifiable (i.e. deluded) vs. one who clearly knows the child doesn't want it (i.e. evil). Of course I'm sure that some of the consensual relationships (maybe the vast majority) involve adults who are just scheming and thinking about what makes their abuse easier, but some definitely justify to themselves that it's not OK. (Probably more likely with children older than 6, though.) Mental handicap example: difference between having sex with an adult who you believe to be consenting (but they're not, they just don't tell you because of their handicap) vs. having sex with an adult you know doesn't want to have sex.