It’s not really about “protecting the children” at all, is it?
A man who was previously charged with hate crimes for spray-painting the word “groomer” on the front doors of two libraries during Pride Week has now been charged with seven counts of possessing child pornography.
The man charged, Charles Sutherland, is an elementary school librarian in Bowie, Maryland, now on administrative leave.
After his original arrest in June, police searched his home and found some strange items there. As local CBS affiliate WUSA9 reports,
During the search, the [charging] document says officers found numerous diapers, children’s dolls, and a child-sized doll in Sutherland’s bed. According to Sutherland, he has no children or nieces or nephews, the documents say. He also admitted he had child pornography on a laptop in his home.
Lo and behold, when the laptop was examined, investigators said they found the child porn.
I would call this hypocrisy, but that’s not a strong enough word.
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He’s an evil fuckface, that’s for sure, but because he worked as a school librarian I am completely confident that FOX is going to focus more on that than on the fact that he’s a RWNJ.
My neighborhood movie theater does less projecting than Fox.
Every accusation is a confession with these fascist arsehats, eh?
Color me not surprised (sigh).
As Lumipuma pointed out in an earlier thread, evangelicals (and some far-right non-evangelicals) have a very different definition of “confusion” which appears superficially similar to how other people use the term.
In a similar fashion, they have a very different definition of “protect”. Children belong to their parents, adults belong to their communities, in a manner which more closely resembles a livestock/herder relationship than anything else (see the use of “flock” and occasionally “harvest” in religious speeches and sermons). So people need to be protected as a form of property – any outside influence which causes them to abandon their parents and/or their community is a form of theft. This plus the “confusion” thing seems to be where the whole “groomer” nonsense stems from.
Likewise, they sometimes use “protect” in the sense of protecting someone’s soul from corruption – they’re willing to tolerate in-community predation to an extent because said person is still part of the community and still appears to believe most/all of the “correct” things – they strayed, but can be “decorrupted” – that is, brought back on the path and made to atone for their sins. Likewise, it’s easy to believe that the victim must have contributed to the straying, somehow, and must also atone for it. Outsiders, or people who have clearly and utterly abandoned the “correct” beliefs, are outside their influence and thus not similarly tolerated.
That mugshot. He seems to be imploring us, Please understand me. I’m just a nerd with an unfortunate habit.
Meanwhile, everyone’s favourite gun toting idiot, Lauren Boebert, has announced she’s about to become a grandmother. Her oldest son is 17.
Rep. Lauren Boebert Says She ‘Will Be a 36-Year-Old Grandmother’ (people.com)
Hold it right there, Futrelle! You are under arrest for breaking Betteridge’s Law of Headlines.
Well, folks, I’ve got some good news and some bad news:
https://truthout.org/articles/gov-tim-walz-signs-order-to-create-refuge-for-trans-people-in-minnesota/
The good news is, this is basically the opposite of the horrid old Fugitive Slave Act. Though, it may prove fickle under changes in the MN state government.
The bad news is, this is also a serious crack in the integrity of your Republic. It’s a step along a road that can easily lead to secession and potentially another civil war. History may very well mark this legislation as the beginning of the breakup of the United States of America. (Though, there’s at least a decent chance they’ll pick J6 instead.)
“Out of wedlock” teenage pregnancy?! Her son is going to be a “baby daddy” now? (Let’s hope not a deadbeat one). Isn’t all of this just one big mortal sin in her worldview? Has that family no shame?!
@Surplus Yes, very proud of my governor right now.
@Love Don’t be silly. Sin is for other people.
It’s not the progressives fighting to lower the marriage age, or grumbling about how age of consent laws are a feminist conspiracy. It’s also worth remembering that, per Unicorn Riot and other infiltration and disruption groups, pretty much every single far-right Discord has a “loli” or “jailbait” channel. On some of them, child pornography is traded openly.
Every “groomer” and “pedo” accusation is a confession. They’re sure it’s what we secretly want, because it’s what they not-so-secretly want.
You’ve got it all wrong. It’s only “grooming” when the gays do it. That’s the vital difference, you see. Charles Sutherland doesn’t want to lure kids into an unnatural, immoral lifestyle. He just wants to have sex with them.
A long record of “professional” homophobes who turn out to be gay, such as George Rekers and Ted Haggard. We’ll probably see many more high-profile demagogues against “grooming” turn out to be guilty of that behavior.
Betteridge’s Law of Headlines disproven for once!
With the RW, every accusation is a projection. If it’s not what they’re doing, it’s what they’d love to do.
@Chris: All the IMAX theaters in the world do less projecting than fox “news”.
I guess someone who lusts after children thinks everyone else does too. **feels ill**
It’s never about protecting children. If it was, the US would have cracked down on pedophiles, religious indoctrination and installed gun laws worth the name ages ago. What it actually is about is control; of the country, of minorities and of women in general. They want to control everything, shape everything and everyone the way they want. Children are just one of their many strawman arguments and one of their most effective, considering how most people are programmed to protect children.
A bit off topic, but: I have no idea how common it is, but apparently some trans people on Reddit have mentioned that just about any post they make in a subreddit which isn’t about trans-specific topics where they mention themselves being trans gets flagged by multiple people as “self-harm” or “inappropriate conduct with a minor”.
@Snowberry
Flagging people you don’t like as mentally ill seems to be a common harrowing tactic on Reddit. I got a few “There are resources for you” auto-messages because some “concerned” people didn’t like my opinions in a gaming Sub-Reddit before, and flagged my posts as self-harming or deluded or whatever. They usually are just me expressing disagreement with an opinion or dislike of a character (it’s a video game sub) with explanations of why, but apparently some people cannot get over the fact that others might disagree with them. I can imagine that being trans and open about it just gives them more ammo, and invites more assholes to dunk on you.
So a groomer spray painted groomer on his place of work.
@KMB:
I have always wondered just how many parents have children just to have someone to do the housework for free…
Doesn’t compute. Raising children is far, far more expensive than hiring a maid service once a week. Also, the maid service doesn’t lock you into an 18-year contract.