The pedophiles being attacked are actively hunting, otherwise, they wouldn’t be caught in a trap…
Allero@lemmy.today 6 days ago
There’s one more angle to this - apart from the raise in vigilante violence and messing up with police operations which both are very valid.
Just as we stopped getting TV feeds constantly equating pedophiles to child molesters, those guys stepped in to fill the void.
Pedophiles are not inherently child molesters. This kind of equation is not only wrong, it also adds to promoting dangerous behaviors among them.
Plenty of pedophiles will never abuse a single child, knowing full well it is dangerous and harmful for minors to be engaged in such relationships. However, the more we equate pedophiles to predators, the more people, especially in the emotionally vulnerable groups like teen pedophiles, will actually accept themselves in this role. Among those who stands against this anyway, plenty will become suicidal, not seeing an option to live a non-offending life.
ubergeek@lemmy.today 6 days ago
Doctor_Satan@lemm.ee 6 days ago
Some of these “pedo hunter” groups have attacked completely innocent people where the accusation of someone being a pedo was completely unsubstantiated. This is the problem with monetizing vigilantism: It creates a demand, and if that demand is not being met by a supply of actual criminals, then it will be filled by vigilantes criminalizing innocent people.
ubergeek@lemmy.today 6 days ago
How does one get “tricked” into meeting a child for sex, and then show up?
I’ve never been tricked into meeting a child for a sexual encounter…
Xatolos@reddthat.com 6 days ago
From the article: “In October, students at Assumption University in Massachusetts allegedly lured a 22-year-old man to campus, called him a predator and chased and attacked him when he tried to escape, according to a police report. After reviewing the man’s Tinder messages, officers said the man had thought he was meeting an 18-year-old student, not a 17-year-old, as the students had alleged.”
Thats how. You lie.
Doctor_Satan@lemm.ee 6 days ago
You are working under the assumption that these “pedo hunter” groups are all acting in good faith and on good information. I encourage you to do some reading. There are many cases where these groups pretend to be 18 year olds, lure an unsuspecting person into a meeting, and then lie to their audience about the age they originally claimed to be online, as Xatolos has pointed out.
Lots of them do it to lure in and attack LGBTQ+ folks, while others act on false accusations they receive from third parties::
Innocent dad tortured and killed by group of chainsaw-wielding ‘paedophile hunters’
A gang of vigilantes tortured and killed a father of eight as they tried to force a confession out of him for crimes he didn’t commit.
The case of the brutal torture and murder of Bradley ‘BJ’ Lyons, which shook Australia in December 2018, is once again under the spotlight as a jury has brought to justice the gang leader, Albert Thorn, and some of his mates who helped during the hideous attack.
Mr Lyons was referred to the gang by his wife Jana Hooper, who had falsely accused her husband of sexually assaulting two of her teenage daughters.
Thorn, the leader of the vigilante gang with a specific hatred for paedophiles, was found guilty this month of the torture, imprisonment and murder of Mr Lyons. Later this year, he will face a pre-sentence hearing.
Two other members of the gang who took part in the ordeal, Jordan Bottom and Rikki Smith, were found not guilty last week of the killing of the father.And I can’t tell you how many times they just straight up confront the wrong person. Here’s one example, and here’s another, here’s one more, and here’s yet another.
These are not professionals. They are YouTubers looking for fame and relying on outrage and violence to get it, and they all-too-often don’t care who gets hurt or killed in the process.
Allero@lemmy.today 6 days ago
Sure, but shows of this kind imply that all pedophiles are child abusers and all child abusers are pedophiles, neither of which is true - and such equations are harmful.
jj4211@lemmy.world 6 days ago
In practice, I don’t see how I would even know someone is a pedophile if they didn’t act on their inclinations. I guess they could publicly declare it but that seems unwise.
I would be concerned if the Internet vigilantes ran with unsubstantiated rumors, like if say Elon musk just called someone a pedophile or of the blue.
Allero@lemmy.today 6 days ago
This is one of the most problematic parts about vigilante justice and why it should be gone for good, regardless of what they are trying to achieve.
ubergeek@lemmy.today 6 days ago
You’re getting super close to “well, akshully, it’s epehbophilia not pedophilia” territory.
I give 0 fucks why someone rapes a kid. And I have 0 sympathy for anyone getting beaten to a pulp for raping a kid.
Allero@lemmy.today 6 days ago
Nope, I’m not getting there. Sure, ephebophilia is a thing, and so is hebephilia, but in a given context there’s no point in this distinction.
I’m only saying that many cases of child abuse do not involve pedophiles/hebephiles/ephebophiles/whatever. Children are the easiest to take advantage of, and this is what drives quite a few hypersexual non-pedophiles to become child abusers despite not being predominantly attracted to children/minors to begin with.
Regardless of reasons, whoever abuses children deserves punishment - although I would much prefer for the police, not vigilantes, to be involved in it.
T156@lemmy.world 5 days ago
Not only that, but it both reduces the chance of someone going to get help, because they don’t want to be hunted down, and reporting, because someone who knows of them might not want to see them be lynched, and won’t report them for that reason.
Allero@lemmy.today 5 days ago
Absolutely!
Adderbox76@lemmy.ca 6 days ago
There’s no such thing as a “non-harmful” pedofile.
Either you’re actively molesting children (yes…even teens), or you’re consuming the CP that is the result of OTHER people abusing children by forcing them to participate and worse.
You don’t get to say “its not repulsive to consume the product as long as youre not a creator of it”. Consuming the end result is still participating in it.
I can’t believe that even has to be pointed out.
Lazhward@lemmy.world 6 days ago
You’re clearly missing several possibilities.
Allero@lemmy.today 6 days ago
…or you do neither of those?
fibojoly@sh.itjust.works 6 days ago
That’s an interesting and reasonable take.
I’m actually surprised you are not down voted to oblivion!
Allero@lemmy.today 6 days ago
Guess this is what happens when you meet real people online who are not artificially enraged - a productive conversation!