Is it common to treat most men as potential perverts/predit

[CCS]

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142 ... 29440.html

Last week, the lieutenant governor of Massachusetts, Timothy Murray, noticed smoke coming out of a minivan in his hometown of Worcester. He raced over and pulled out two small children, moments before the van's tire exploded into flames. At which point, according to the AP account, the kids' grandmother, who had been driving, nearly punched our hero in the face.

Why?

Mr. Murray said she told him she thought he might be a kidnapper.

And so it goes these days, when almost any man who has anything to do with a child can find himself suspected of being a creep. I call it "Worst-First" thinking: Gripped by pedophile panic, we jump to the very worst, even least likely, conclusion first. Then we congratulate ourselves for being so vigilant.

Consider the Iowa daycare center where Nichole Adkins works. The one male aide employed there, she told me in an interview, is not allowed to change diapers. "In fact," Ms. Adkins said, "he has been asked to leave the classroom when diapering was happening."

Now, a guy turned on by diaper changes has got to be even rarer than a guy turned on by Sponge Bob. But "Worst-First" thinking means suspecting the motives of any man who chooses to work around kids.

Maybe the daycare center felt it had to be extra cautious, to avoid lawsuits. But regular folk are suspicious, too. Last February, a woman followed a man around at a store berating him for clutching a pile of girls' panties. "I can't believe this! You're disgusting. This is a public place, you pervert!" she said—until the guy, who posted about the episode on a website, fished out his ID. He was a clerk restocking the underwear department.

Given the level of distrust, is it any wonder that, as the London Telegraph reported last month, the British Musicians' Union warned its members they are no longer to touch a child's fingers, even to position them correctly on the keys? Or that a public pool in Sydney, Australia last fall prohibited boys from changing in the same locker room as the men? (According to the Daily Telegraph in Sydney, the men demanded this, fearing false accusations.)

What's really ironic about all this emphasis on perverts is that it's making us think like them. Remember the story that broke right before Christmas? The FBI warned law-enforcement agencies that the new Video Barbie could be used to make kiddie p**rn. The warning was not intended for the public but it leaked out. TV news celebrated the joy of the season by telling parents that any man nice enough to play dolls with their daughters could really be videotaping "under their little skirts!" as one Fox News reporter said.

This queasy climate is making men think twice about things they used to do unselfconsciously. A friend of mine, Eric Kozak, was working for a while as a courier. Driving around an unfamiliar neighborhood, he says, "I got lost. I saw a couple kids by the side of the road and rolled down my window to ask, 'Where is such-and-such road?' They ran off screaming."

Another dad told me about taking his three-year-old to play football in the local park, where he'd help organize the slightly older kids into a game. Over time, one of the kids started to look up to him. "He wanted to stand close to me, wanted approval, Dad stuff, I guess. And because of this whole 'stranger danger' mentality, I could sense this sort of wary disapproval from the few other parents at the playground. So I just stopped going."

And that's not the worst. In England in 2006, BBC News reported the story of a bricklayer who spotted a toddler at the side of the road. As he later testified at a hearing, he didn't stop to help for fear he'd be accused of trying to abduct her. You know: A man driving around with a little girl in his car? She ended up at a pond and drowned.

We think we're protecting our kids by treating all men as potential predators. But that's not a society that's safe. Just sick.

 

[GeminiX]

Very common indeed.

Sadly, most people like to think like sheep ad just follow the flock; you can see it all the time with people treating as fact some garbage they read on the interwebs one day then passing it around their social group.

Few people really think for themselves and tend to just listen to the loudest person shouting.

 

[oni]

:agree: Bloody sheep!!!!

 

[somone uk]

the fear of pedophilia has risen exponentially in the last 30 years however statistically children today are just as unlikely to be subjected to sexual abuse as they were 30 years ago as they are today

all that has happened is the majority of accusers today are mothers, who are usually intellectually deprived, lynch mob joining, sun reading morons who are obviously deprived of reason and any sense of justice
these people just didn't exist 30 years ago

 

[GeminiX]

Don't forget the Dail Mail

The media knows how effective a "common enemy" is when it comes to selling column inches to their loyal flock. It does not matter if they are international terrorists, cheating boyfriends or bogeymen hiding in the shadows. If no enemies are at hand they will simply creatively exaggerate some facts to construct one.

Using fear is nothing new itself mind, it's been an effective vehicle to make money and gain power for years; just look how effective it is for the various religions which manage to defy all logic and still exist.

 

[oni]

Daily Hate, more like............................................................ :jackit:

 

[s.a.f]

I'm always suprised at the reputation the Mail seems to have. For me its nowhere near the worst of the mainstream Daily tabloids. Infact I cant think of a better one.
The Sun, mirror and star dont actually bother reporting any real news whilst the Express is like the mail but much more prone to exaggeration and scaremongering.

 

[GeminiX]

At least the Mail hates everyone equally.

As a rule of thumb, any headline on the Mail which is posted as a question can be answered with a simple "no", or to hedge your bets use "probably not".

Examples:

Are gay black jobless immigrants to blame for swine flu?
Have unemployed cyclists stolen your wife's identity?
Could filth on television make the queen obese?
Are hoodies having unprotected sex with middle Britain?
Are the lefties to blame for cancer in our newborn babies?

etc.

 

[oni]

Are gay black jobless immigrants to blame for swine flu?

Gay and black is an oxymoron, according to some African men I know........ :whistle:

Have unemployed cyclists stolen your wife's identity?

Well some people pay drug addicts for info from rubbish bags to clone an identity......................... :whistle:

Could filth on television make the queen obese?

No way!!! The queen is an alien lizard!

Are hoodies having unprotected sex with middle Britain?

No they are just middle class muppets playing at being gangsta.................. :whistle:

Are the lefties to blame for cancer in our newborn babies?

That and a lot more.................................... :gay:

 

[s.a.f]

Funny I dont see any of them here:

http://www.google.co.uk/images?hair loss=en&xh ... 60&bih=563

 

[GeminiX]

They were not actual Mail headlines, just examples using a similar limited vocabulary as the Mail's

Silly SAF

Edit: Just to be clear, I'm a conservative but the Mail often makes me cringe. I think the reason it gets such a bad reputation even when compared to the red-tops is that at least the Sun and the News of the World etc. don't really bother pretending to be serious news papers.

 

[GeminiX]

[youtube:hu3hnv70]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xPlEIryW8zA[/youtube:hu3hnv70]

 

[s.a.f]

They were not actual Mail headlines, just examples using a similar limited vocabulary as the Mail's

Silly SAF

I was using 'sarcasm'.

At work we get 5 free papers every day, The Mail, the Mirror, the Express, The Sun and the Independant. I read them all and he Daily Mail is easily the best one.

 

[GeminiX]

They were not actual Mail headlines, just examples using a similar limited vocabulary as the Mail's

Silly SAF

I was using 'sarcasm'.

I know, so was I

 

[somone uk]

Typical Daily Mail

a little song for daily mail readers
[youtube:ybu62kij]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5eBT6OSr1TI[/youtube:ybu62kij]

 

[s.a.f]

Typical Daily Mail

And ??????? :dunno:

You manage to find 1 headline (out of the 10'000's that they have made over the years) that could be considered alarmist (even though if you actually read it it is representing the views of a murdered boys parents) and its pretty obvious that papers need a strong headline to attract attention for sales.

And whats wrong with publishing the facts about how much immigration is actually costing - oh let me guess its Racist!!!!
We should all live in a pc world where the facts are kept hidden in case they offend anyone?
Whats wrong with this info being made available to the public?

 

[GeminiX]

I thought the evil video games headline was funnier

Ban them, ban them all now!!!!

All this so called "video game" nonsense; what's wrong with a hoop-on-a-stick?, that's what I want to know!

 

[somone uk]

And ??????? :dunno:

You manage to find 1 headline (out of the 10'000's that they have made over the years) that could be considered alarmist (even though if you actually read it it is representing the views of a murdered boys parents) and its pretty obvious that papers need a strong headline to attract attention for sales.

And whats wrong with publishing the facts about how much immigration is actually costing - oh let me guess its Racist!!!!
We should all live in a pc world where the facts are kept hidden in case they offend anyone?
Whats wrong with this info being made available to the public?

with those images i was actually taking the piss
the video games thing is this irrational bollocks that has been scientifically refuted many times

there is nothing bad about the statistics per se but when it's bundled in an article which is anti immigration justifying this view with a ton of factually wrong bullshit which was either fabricated or misquoted with the intent to demonise people from other countries is however RACIST, i am not saying that because i am a "member of the PC police" but i am saying that because the article itself is obviously written with a strong anti-foreigner agenda and has little regard to the facts

don't get me started on how they write articles in their (psodo-)science column