Will The Woke Defend Pedophiles?
Because, apart from the obvious, there’s no reason why they shouldn’t.
Do you want to see what a contradictory mess identity politics can make in the average society? Great. Then I’ll invite you to follow this line of reasoning and logical argument.
The rules of woke
- I believe people can identify however they please as long as doing so causes no harm to others.
- I believe that attacking someone based on this identification or immutable trait is ethically and morally wrong.
- Any group of people who share this trait and experience disadvantage as a result are a marginalised group and are therefore oppressed.
- It is morally unacceptable to oppress people and we must always stand up for marginalised groups.
- Anyone who attempts to stop marginalised group or discuss any changes they demand are oppressive and should be cancelled.
So far so good? Because I’m about to throw a massive spanner into the works. Let me present the most disadvantaged and socially oppressed group of people in the world.
Pedophiles.
Now before you go racing off into the comments full of righteous ire, this isn’t a pro-pedophilia article.
Consider this an argument against the stupidity of wokeness. I am not pro-child abuse. This is a reasoned critique of intolerant liberalism in action. It is not an argument for a more liberal approach to pedophilia.
Got that? Good.
You’ll need to differentiate between people who molest children (child abusers) and people who are sexually attracted to children (pedophiles). In modern western society, the judiciary only punishes people for their actions, not their thoughts.
So whilst you might find it mentally repugnant that someone is sexually attracted to children unless they act on those thoughts there’s a) no way of knowing and b) no crime to prosecute.
I’m not going to get into the rights and wrongs of that here — but rest assured you can commit any crime you like in your head. You can think about punching people, sexually assaulting other people, even murdering people if you like.
Provided you don’t then carry these thoughts onto action you cannot be punished a la Minority Report.
Some people are sexually attracted to children. It can be argued that this is through no fault of their own. Something in their genetic makeup or their brain chemistry has malfunctioned. Perhaps they had an early year’s traumatic experience that played into their sexual development.
Whatever the biological or sociological reason for it, they are not responsible for that aspect of their personality. They are only responsible for any and all actions that follow from it.
Struggling with this?
The same holds true of your sexuality, whatever that may be. You can be attracted to whomever you like, but it is illegal to initiate sex with that person without their consent.
Sexual interaction with children and animals is ALWAYS non-consensual. We have laws that make this very clear. Those laws are often tightly enforced and that’s exactly how a liberal-leaning democracy keeps its children safe.
I’d argue that liberal democracies have some of the safest children in the world.
So what’s the problem?
If we must accept without question the rights of marginalised groups to self-identify however they see fit — then pedophiles (but not child abusers) can have a place at the table of social justice. They are a legitimate niche interest group.
Once more. I’m not saying they SHOULD, I’m saying they COULD.
There is no valid reason why no, aside from a collective emotional repugnance. If we posit non-acceptance of them taking up that place is oppressive, then pedophiles are some of the most oppressed people in western society.
Say what? They’re so oppressed I suspect they’re not even allowed under the Q-banner of LGBTQ+. That’s the most inclusive space in modern society. Doesn’t matter how you identify, or who you fancy, there’s a word being devised for you right now.
So why aren’t SJW waving the banner for paedophiles?
I’d hazard a guess that something about vocalising the validity of adults to be sexually attracted to children doesn’t sit right.
Lucky for us, history always has a learning point.
Throwback to the early 1980s
Society trod this path in the 1970s and early 1980s. One of the quirks of British history is how the movement to legalise gay relationships ran concurrently with the proposed legitimising of adult-child relationships.
Ladies and gentlemen may I present P.I.E (Paedophile Information Exchange)? They’re a lesser-known and very maligned part of UK political history, swept under the carpet of forgetfulness. Back in the 1970s and early 1980s P.I.E stood on a left-leaning platform of acceptance.
A freedom of information request in 2014 showed that they were given £70,000 worth of funding from the Home Office after applying via the National Council of Civic Liberties (NCCL). Well-meaning liberal parts of the British establishment funded pedophiles to make the case for legalising pedophila.
If you feel you can stomach this surreal and dark section of history, look up the P.I.E and their somewhat dubious arguments for acceptance into the mainstream British society
The British public was having none of it.
Although there was some support from liberals in the first instance, it quickly petered out. Politicians could feel, as you no doubt can, that grouping pedophile rights with gay rights was a grievous error.
Whereas gay rights gained traction albeit slowly, pedophile rights did not and the P.I.E case was dropped like the repugnant stone it always was.
British society did accept homosexuality (though we still have work to do) — the same demos rejected Adult/Child relationships outright. There was never any question that it would make it into the mainstream culture or gain widespread acceptance.
The conflation of homosexuality and pedophilia took almost two decades to be erased in the minds of the general public. Being gay and being a pedophile were the same in the UK across most of the 1990s. In their bid for inclusivity, liberals set the LGBTQ+ movement back further than they could ever have envisaged.
Inclusivity without question was a huge own goal and here’s where we get back to social justice.
The Right To Dissent
Society and the general public must always have the right to dissent without fear of retribution. Not because this is something-ist or evil but because it is necessary.
Society forms around collective decisions and these are a product of progressive and conservative views clashing in the courts, the political sphere and popular culture. That’s how societies move.
This super-charged narrative of ‘acceptance for all’ mustn’t be fast-tracked by well-meaning liberals weaponising their offence and applying group pressure. Best case scenario you end up in a confused mess. Worst case, you create a genuinely dangerous situation for vulnerable people.
Nuanced discussions like ‘do you accept trans-people?’ and ‘should children be given puberty blockers?’ are not the same question. They shouldn’t be conflated and simplified into ‘transphobia’ because it happens to be expedient.
When you do this, you’re doing both trans-people and children a huge disservice.
Comparing our society with your subjective concept of utopia is myopic and misguided. Doubly so if you haven’t really thought about it.
‘We don’t agree’ is how democracies work. Not agreeing with each other has led to the gradual emergence of the most liberal and tolerant society in the modern world. Don’t believe me? Compare and contrast with other places in the world right now. Compare and contrast with our society a hundred years ago.
We were gradually sashaying ever leftwards until the woke arrived and pushed the demos back into the willing arms of the right.
Woke is a self-defeating childish response to a complex society by people not willing to think about things in detail.
So, there you have it.
Offended? Maybe you are, but that’s a you problem. Remember, this isn’t a case FOR paedophiles having a place at the table of social justice.
It’s a case against accepting prima-facie the demands of a self identified group AND removing recourse to dissent. More so an argument against using public pressure and name calling to achieve your aims.
This is about the ability to a society to say ‘hang on, I’m not sure I agree’ without being screamed down by an unthinking mob.
I’d hate to think about what would happen if P.I.E had emerged in 2018 rather than 1978. What safe spaces would they have been entitled to? Who would’ve defended them? What child protection legislation could they have overturned? What would the new age of consent be?
If it seems self-evident that you, a social justice warrior wouldn’t go into bat for a team of pedophiles, then ask yourself why not? The last lot of well meaning liberals did exactly that.
Re-read those truths at the top of the article and think about it. Really think about it. Don’t just pay lip service to the concept of deep philosophical questioning.
Don’t presume you know the difference between right and wrong simply because you’ve self identified as ‘the good guys’. Making a simple moralistic argument based on your emotion laden version of right and wrong is borderline idiotic. It’s dangerous and it’s negligent.
And here’s why…
It leaves massive holes in your argument that people like me can drive a truck through. A truck with cheerful theoretical pedophiles and their underage partners waving from the cab. And your defence…? You thought you were doing the right thing? So did everyone most Germans between 1933 and 1945. Grow up.
You want to break the world and remake it with your own concepts of right and wrong? Fine. At the very least, do some due diligence before you embark on overthrowing the status quo.
And before you head to the comments to start asking what exactly I’ve done to protect children. The answer is 10 years at the front line of social work. And right now, what children need is protection from the enticing world of woke.
Human beings aren’t supposed to build their sense of self through the myriad reflections of a million vocal judgmental idiots. That’s the sort of pressure in which the sparkling diamond of lifelong crushing anxiety is formed.
Think more. Speak less. Echo chambers are difficult to escape from, but when it comes to the misguided world of woke — I really think you should really try.
Like…. really really.
Hated that? You probably wouldn’t enjoy this one either.