Opinions - Mob Rule 1

Mob Rule 1 - Paedophiles.....

Once upon a time, gentle reader, this fine land of ours was a beautiful place. Blue skies hung over thatched cottages, the sound of willow and leather was heard on the village green, people could sleep safely in their beds at night, their doors were never locked, and children never got abused or murdered.

Like all fairytales, this is a downright lie. Until fairly recently, child prostitution was rife in this country - nothing more than commercial sexual abuse - as it was in ancient Greece and Rome. Children were raped, buggered, battered and murdered. Usually by members of their own family. It is only recently that we have discovered that this is not so. Recently, the News of the World, and other tabloid toilet paper, have informed us that there are paedophiles around who delight in this sort of thing, and we should know who they are so that we can deal with them. So we can feel happy that it is not us who do these dreadful things, but another species entirely. Unfortunately we don't have the intelligence to read properly - we only react to our gut feelings, and so PAEDATRICIANS have had their property attacked! Soon, even PEDESTRIANS might be attacked. We then go on to abuse our own children by teaching them hate rhymes, and making them carry hate placards as we stalk the streets menacing anyone who may be different. We make mistakes, and kill innocent people, we burn their cars, we drive them from their homes. But if we get one of those paedophile things, that justifies it all.

Are we living in 2000, or 1600 when the witch scare was at its peak? Is civilisation such a thin veneer over our thuggery and ignorance? The behaviour of the people in Portsmouth and other cities throughout the country make me ashamed to belong to the same species as them. They are the dangerous ones. They are the followers of Hitler who pushed people into the gas chambers. All the evidence available shows that the risk to children from predators gets lower and lower every year. A murdered child makes the headlines for days, so rare is the event. But these people do not believe it. They featherbed their children, not allowing them to play as normal children need to play, not allowing them to develop properly, through an unjustified fear that is whipped up by the media, who should really know better.

Don't get me wrong, I have no respect for people who abuse children, sexually or physically. They often come from abusive backgrounds, and they feel that such behaviour may be natural. That doesn't justify their actions any more than ignorance doesn't justify the actions of the vigilantes. But, people who have served their sentence, and are genuinely trying not to reoffend, are likely to go underground, and then the risk to the children does increase, as the police and probation services will not know where they are, or be able to continue their treatment.

So let's take the hysteria out of the situation. Maybe the law should be changed, so that paedophilia is recognised as a mental illness, where the 'guilty' can be detained in secure units, and treated, instead of thrown into prison, where because of the attitude of 'normal' prisoners, they have to go into isolation with other paedophiles for their own safety - which only serves to reinforce their feelings that they were behaving naturally. And while we're at it, will someone please arrest the editor of the News of the World for incitement to riot?