So the question I have it this: Does Reddit have some sort of powerful magnetic attraction to the pedophiles and pedophile defenders of the world, or is pedophilia and/or pedophile defense simply endemic amongst the young male tech geek demographic that’s so heavily overrepresented on Reddit?
This is a question that naturally sprung to my mind after reading a couple of recent posts in ShitRedditSays, documenting Reddit’s strange sympathy with the child porn enthusiasts of the world. A woman stands up on Reddit and declares herself a feminist? She’s a “bad person,” a “female supremacist,” an “utter piece of shit.” A man is jailed for possession of child porn? He’s being unjustly persecuted for a “victimless crime.”
Fxexular on ShitRedditSays has assembled a roundup of some the most disturbing comments in a thread devoted to the aforementioned man jailed for possession of CP. Amongst his finds:
Heavily upvoted comments comparing viewing of child porn to smoking weed and playing Grand Theft Auto.
A comment with 15 upvotes suggesting that the perp should only get “a stiff fine and a few weeks of community service … for a crime the judge himself probably committed half a dozen times on any given weekend.”
A comment with nearly two dozen upvotes lamenting that the child porn possessor is going to have his “life ruined over socially non-normative pictures. … this is a predictable outcome of a corrupt government which is obsessed with its own power.”
But these are just the tip of the pedo-defense iceberg. Take a look at the thread itself, where you will also find heavily upvoted comments from Redditors comparing the “persecution” of pedophiles to past persecution of gays and witches; an unintentionally ironic comment lamenting the cruel treatment of a perp who is “only 26” years old; and a comment making perhaps the strangest argument I think I may have ever seen anywhere about anything:
My core problem here, as a computer scientist, is that any photo he had is really a bunch of zeros and ones… which for anyone who is at all familiar with binary, is a number. Basically, by outlawing the storage of some form of data, we have said that it is illegal be in possession of certain numbers. Yes, these might be huge numbers that you don’t encounter in your daily life, but they are still simply numbers.
In a different thread on the same case, another Redditor gets 75 upvotes for comparing child-porn-possessing pedophiles with African-Americans in the era of the Civil Rights movement. Here’s the comment itself; here’s the ShitRedditSays thread discussing it. And here, for good measure, is the same commenter offering a Redditor who’s confessed to molesting his sister advice on how best to avoid prosecution.
Meanwhile, in an unrelated thread in Reddit’s Videos subreddit, pedophile (sorry, ephebophile) Redditors mount an all-out attack on a girl who had the temerity to complain about skeevy Redditors masturbating to pictures of herself she put in a private album on the internet when she was 14.
In ShitRedditSays, jamie11 collects together some of the creepiest comments, including these:
“Fuck yea she is developed AND judging by her smug smile, she is loving every second of this. Sure she says “OMG, so creepy herp derp” but in reality it is kind of a big EGO boost. EDIT: in b4 misogyny accusations!” [+7]
“She is an attention whore. She is really dumb. She will probably ultimately profit from this in the model/porn/coors girl industry.”[+10]
“Shes much hotter when shes quiet.” [+32]
The numbers in brackets indicate the numbers of upvotes.
Again, tip of the iceberg.
EDITED TO ADD: I hadn’t noticed before, but r/mensrights has its own discussion of the child porn case. It’s pretty much what you’d expect: Possessing child porn is just a “thought crime” that doesn’t hurt anyone.
The creepiest fellow of the lot is probably logrusmage, who offers this defense of the child porn possessors of the world:
consider that a majority of “kiddy porn” are pictures of sexually mature females taken by said females for boyfriends that got leaked on the internet or via text, where the female happens to be under the age of consent.
When someone points out that, um, the fact that these pictures are “leaked” means that the subjects of said pictures didn’t consent to them being put online (and, also, they are below the age of consent), logrusmage offers this rebuttal:
Consent is not needed for something that does not directly effect someone. Like looking at them. … Looking at a picture of someone does not require their consent.
Presumably he’d be fine if someone secretly filmed him picking his nose while taking a crap and put it up on r/creepydudespickingnosesonthecrapper.
Ah, you are blessed by fate as you apparently have never known what the depths one can descend when driven by deprivation. What an envious life you must have had led, with respect to being lucky with the ladies…
im confused, i thought you were all about personal responsibility. why are you suddenly blaming external factors for your actions. is it different when it affects you or something?
“In this case, women have always had a choice vis-a-vis sex in exchange for support. True, it may not be a choice they would prefer, the alternative being to fend for itself, but just because it’s a painful option doesn’t not make it an option.”
I wonder how Whatever feels about male prostitutes? Do they even exist in his world? Are they capable of having voluntary sex for pay, as opposed to always choosing between sex and starvation?
Whatever: It is incredibly misandric to think that men will rape starving children if they can’t get laid.
Also, sex workers are (generally) CHOOSING to do sex work. “Do this or you’ll starve tomorrow’ is not a choice.
As compared to “do this or you’ll have to get another job.”
Shorter Whatever: Why are you even debating that men shouldn’t be able to take advantage of other people for sex in the most humiliating way possible? THAT’S HOW CAPITALISM WORKS!
And here I thought “Do this for or you’ll starve to death. You have no other choice.” was how feudal serfdom worked. Live and learn, I guess.
“…for [me] or…”
If it isn’t coercion to trade food for sex with a starving person, what could possibly count as coercion?
A bank teller demanding sex before you can make a withdrawal?
Poll workers or politicians requiring sex in order to vote?
A judge trading sex with the defendant for an innocent verdict (or, alternately, trading it with the plaintiff for a guilty verdict)?
A mob boss suggesting that if you don’t have sex with him you may have a little accident?
I’m sure folks like Whatever would love to live in an world where nothing they do counts as coercion. So long as that rule only applies to them, of course.
I love how there are only 2 alternatives in Whatever’s mind – romantic, starry eyed true love, and raping homeless children. No gray area in between these two extremes at all.
I mean really, if he’s willing to exchange money for sex and he doesn’t care about the emotional connection aspect or the other person being into him, why not hire an actual sex worker? I guess it’s no fun for him unless he gets to have sex and make someone else miserable at the same time, and boring without that thrill of being able to hold power over a vulnerable younger person.
“No. No “Sayonara, Zetsubou-Sensei” quotes for you.”
I called it the very first time Whatever posted. Angry, amoral male anime geek meets MRA philosophy is a disgusting thing to behold. It’s the opposite of two great things that taste great together – two horrible things that when you combine them produce a vomit-worthy stew.
Starving children are much cheaper.
Katz that’s all just capitalism at work, why do you hate america???
Whatever: And again, as I’ve said, how can it be coercion when the offeror is in no way either responsible for creating the situation in the first place and the offeree is free to take it or leave it?
Um…. because when one person has limited options (no matter the cause) and a second person takes advantage of them to gain something they otherwise couldn’t, that’s coercion.
Lets take a different example.
Snowstorm. Someone who is stranded, miles from the nearest hope of shelter, on a lonely road. Car pulls over, and says that the stranded person can have a ride, if they are willing to sign over the title to the car which has stopped running.
That, or have sex.
No coercion there, right? I mean taking the choice to freeze to death or give up one’e valuable property, or let some stranger have sex with you… not the least bit of coercive behavior.
The guy demanding the title/some ass, didn’t cause the potentially fatal circumstance, he’s just taking advantage of it.
Just as the older person didn’t create the lack of understanding on the part of a person who lacks the experience (not just sexual) to understand the emotional/physical risks of sex with someone who has the experience to be emotionally abusive, the money to be situationally abusive, etc.
Nope, that person didn’t cause it, so it’s perfectly all right to do it. Just as it would be perfectly all right to get that person to sign contracts, become an employee, etc.
So you support exploitation, at any level.
And you said that raping children was just fine, normal in fact, and should be made legal.
Got it.
Is it bad that pedophiles post on reddit? Do you think that certain groups shouldnt be allowed to post, because of their sexual attraction?
I havent read the post you link to. But many pedophile people seem to post on reddit because its the only place on the net where they can talk about their feelings. There are literally hundreds of forums for gay, lesbian and transexual people, and thats really great.
But many pedophiles do not have ANYONE to talk with about their feelings without feeling ostracized/discriminated. I have seen topics great like this:
http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/jkd6i/im_a_pedophile_ama/
I do not support certain opinions that are posted on reddit. I do not support people who say that child pornography OK.
BUT I DONT SUPPORT NEITHER PEOPLE WHO SAY THAT PEDOPHILES ARE CHILD MOLESTERS OR ‘EVIL’. There is a LOT anti-pedophile bias in the world, which you dont seem to mind.
Really, if we are going to be fair, be fair. People say a lot of offensive and ignorant things about pedophile people, which I dont see you complaining. And lastly, many people attracted to children have NO place where they can talk about their feelings. And you want to repress them, even more?
JohnK
It´s true that Pedophiles need places to talk about their problems without being judged. Notice however that I said “to talk about their problems”, not “glorify their problems”. Because that is what many of them seems to be doing. Not the particular thread you sent, but most seem hell-bent on feeling sorry for themselves and lamenting why they can´t “love” children properly.