To Catch a Contradiction

[archangel__7]

I spent much of last Saturday night watching this show hosted by Chris Hansen entitled To Catch a Predator. And unless you've seen the show, chances are you won't fully understand the intensity of my sentiment in this post

Comments

[99catsaway]

In an age that wishes to hand 11 year old girls condoms at school

This is a public health issue as well as something that will keep these girls from getting more abortions. This is different from having an old pervert take advantage of a young kid.

I understand what you're saying: morals evolve with society. And that's fine. I like that gay people aren't arrested for sexing here in the States. What matters is that we have a consistent and logical explanation for why the laws that we have in place are in place. The logical explanation for arresting pederasts is that they victimize people who are too young to consent. The logical reason we don't arrest gay people for being gay is that it is something that does not hurt anybody else. The reasoning behind giving condoms to young adults is that abstinence only education doesn't work and we would prefer fewer people contracting STDs and getting preggers before they're ready.

[t3knomanser]

Quote:The logical explanation for arresting pederasts is that they victimize people who are too young to consent.

True, but in the case of "To Catch a Predator", they did not victimize someone below the age of consent. An agent of the show, in coordination with law enforcement established a false pretense that they were underage and that they were interested in sexual interactions with the adult they were communicating with.

This raises a whole bunch of issues:
1) Without the instigator present (the agent of the show), would the "predator" be attempting sexual interactions with minors?
2) By exposing these individuals on live television, are we not decreasing the jury pool for the sake of ratings?
3) By sensationalizing this crime, do we need to be concerned that we're giving people an unbalanced view of the actual risks of online predators. They form a very small portion of the population, and the odds of any one child falling victim to an online predator are far smaller than the threat posed by family members.

[99catsaway]

True, but in the case of "To Catch a Predator", they did not victimize someone below the age of consent. An agent of the show, in coordination with law enforcement established a false pretense that they were underage and that they were interested in sexual interactions with the adult they were communicating with.

Surely, these are all questions brought up by his show. But I didn't really notice a lot of those issues brought up in the OP. He was more into discussing the evolution of morality and whether boinking kids would be considered moral a few years down the road since we tolerate gays and giving out condoms.

[99catsaway]

And I forgot my italics tag.^

[virtual_anima]

And to excuse it by equating it to homosexuality. I find a lot of people seem to equate homosexuality and pedophelia. It gets under my skin.

[virtual_anima]

Number 3 I have a big problem with(as in I agree with you and think it is very important). There are tons of shows that sensationalize the scariness of day to day living, and I wonder if it doesn't have a negative impact on society and some of the isolation we are experiencing. Its bad for people to be scared of each other.

Second, making people focus on that, as you say might make them ignore other dangers that they might be able to do more to prevent.

[virtual_anima]

hoodiez_own_joo! Did the mother look like Kyle's mom from southpark?