Online ‘Pedophile Hunters’ Are Growing More Violent — and Going Viral: With the rise of loosely moderated social media platforms, a fringe vigilante movement is experiencing a dangerous evolution.
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We’ve decided, as a society, that humans cannot consent until 18.
Older criminal laws were based on that idea, usually called "statutory rape". Modern laws about sexual abuse of children usually ignore the concept of consent entirely to allow for more nuance.
One example of nuance is exceptions for people close in age so that non-abusive relationships between teenagers don't suddenly become crimes when someone has a birthday. Another is that consent is often a factor in the severity of the penalty.
Yes and that's completely fair. It's about the imbalance of power. An 18 y.o. and one day, is exactly the same as they were two days prior.
But the cutoff has to be somewhere, and the guy I was replying to was talking about proper adults and 16 y.o.
That's a highschool sophomore. And I think we'd all agree a sophomore dating a college student would be pretty imbalanced.
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They can deflect doubt because they are hunting pedophiles.
"You wouldn't defend a pedophile now, would you?" - clout chasing violence monger
And if you haven't found any pedophiles yet, well, I guess you're not trying hard enough. Or maybe... you are one of them...
Can't believe this needs an /s
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Regardless of how awful the crime is, we cannot accept vigilantes.
Speak for yourself.
MAGA would deport you for having the wrong color skin regardless of your citizenship. I’m find with ruining their lives regardless of any crimes committed. This wouldn’t have been the case a couple years ago- but things have changed.
You sound just like them...
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Is that really the only problem you see with people taking justice into their own hands? Less oversight?
Disproportionate punishment is another of course. They probably lump pedophiles (a person with a psychiatric disorder) and child molesters (a person that actually harms children) into the same group and you deserve to die for simply thinking the wrong things.
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Didn't an entire TV show get into some serious hot water for doing this sort of thing which resulted in someone committing suicide while filming an episode? These people are potentially putting themselves in serious danger if they corner a pedo who feels like they have nowhere to run or anything left to lose.
corner a pedo
And since these are internet vigilante kids with no oversight, they will inevitably corner some non-pedos too.
Put yourself in that situation- a couple teenagers with cameras approach you on the street and start accusing you of some of the sickest crimes imaginable. Even though the accusation is false, this has the potential to ruin your career, your relationships, your entire life.
I'm not sure how anyone would respond, or should respond, but I can definitely see how people might resort to violence when falsely accused of this horrible shit on camera.
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corner a pedo
And since these are internet vigilante kids with no oversight, they will inevitably corner some non-pedos too.
Put yourself in that situation- a couple teenagers with cameras approach you on the street and start accusing you of some of the sickest crimes imaginable. Even though the accusation is false, this has the potential to ruin your career, your relationships, your entire life.
I'm not sure how anyone would respond, or should respond, but I can definitely see how people might resort to violence when falsely accused of this horrible shit on camera.
Exactly. Vigilante justice is not the solution here, it's only going to get a lot of people hurt.
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That's what I was thinking of. Thanks!
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In Austria the 'pedophile hunters' targeted gay men who were not pedophiles. If 'paedophile hunters' would actually care about their care, they would storm the next church...
This is obviously where this is going and it's a big part why they're obsessed with labeling people "groomers."
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Vigilantes not fueled by lack of justice, but by views mind you.
Ah, TikTok justice. No way for that to go wrong, nosir.
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corner a pedo
And since these are internet vigilante kids with no oversight, they will inevitably corner some non-pedos too.
Put yourself in that situation- a couple teenagers with cameras approach you on the street and start accusing you of some of the sickest crimes imaginable. Even though the accusation is false, this has the potential to ruin your career, your relationships, your entire life.
I'm not sure how anyone would respond, or should respond, but I can definitely see how people might resort to violence when falsely accused of this horrible shit on camera.
Just happened here in Austria. Police took 20 people into custody (13 have since been formally arrested) for luring people to fake dates where they beat them up.
The suspects said they hunted pedophiles, but at least in some of the cases they targeted young adults who expected to come to a date with 16-18 year olds.
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Disproportionate punishment is another of course. They probably lump pedophiles (a person with a psychiatric disorder) and child molesters (a person that actually harms children) into the same group and you deserve to die for simply thinking the wrong things.
They lump far more people into the same group. They attack anyone whom they think they can, even if they know that their accusations are BS.
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When they go after the wrong person, yes. When they decide to both be the police, judge and executioner, yes.
But if the judiciary system doesn't do it's work, what do you expect.
I can assure you that the judiciary system in my country does work. It's just that these people either a. just want to beat someone up and need an excuse, or b. don't agree with our laws and think it should be prison time for a 18 year old who wants to date a 16 year old, or a 21 year old who wants to date a 17 year old.
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Really good point and in cases like this we should all be a lot more concerned with people who seem obsessive about a given subject. It's not a coincidence that so many crackpot Q-anon "save the children from the demon vampires" nutcases were actually themselves pedos who were caught, or that Q-anon STARTED on a pedophile message board.
or that Q-anon STARTED on a pedophile message board.
Come again now?
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Children can't consent. Teenagers fucking is without consent. Their brains, on the average, are not capable of making that level of decision.
But that doesn't make it illegal.
The issue here is that most countries define the age of consent differently. I think we can agree that when a 16 year old agrees to sexual contact with another 16 year old, the dynamic is different than if they agree to it with a 40 year old. Absolutely. But that does not mean that the 16 year old doesnt understand what they are doing.
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Exactly. Vigilante justice is not the solution here, it's only going to get a lot of people hurt.
Especially when there are legitimate routes to volunteer under police guidance and jurisdiction. Join one of those groups instead, and let the legal system jail them.
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In UNRELATED NEWS in Free Republican States Trans and Gay people are Legally PEDOPHILES!
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Great. Just dump anyone you dislike as a "pedophile" and then it's a free for all.
These people may be awful and frequently deranged but there is a sick efficiency to their tactics:
Step 1. Pick an issue that everyone agrees with.
Step 2. Claim anyone you don't like is against it.
Doesn't get much simpler than that, as dirty tricks go.
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Great. Just dump anyone you dislike as a "pedophile" and then it's a free for all.
They are already doing that shit.
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I’m going to be honest, I’m suspicious of every single ‘pedophile hunter’. They are going after a demographic that people will not rush to defend, even if innocent.
Also, these ‘hunters’ probably have something shady going on in their own lives, and this is some form of projection that they also profit off of.
Normal healthy people don't plan to commit violent offenses on other people, unless there is a direct connection to the 3rd parties actions. Hunting people they have no connection to for fame and fortune is sickening.
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or that Q-anon STARTED on a pedophile message board.
Come again now?
8-chan was a "less moderated" version of 4-chan where the founders of Q-anon got started, it was a notorious forum for trading child abuse material.
