What are your thoughts on 'pedophile hunters'?

Haha I love Chris Hansen Dateline NBC To Catch a Predator.

 

I have mixed feelings, too.

• On the positive side: there is more pressure on pedophilics and they are aware that they might be tracked, and maybe they will be more likely to seek professional help for themselves.

• On the negative side: People like him are part of the problem. They build up a society of shame and guilt. You cannot feel free in such a society, and as a consequence, you will have more people with psychic problems.

If he catches a criminal, he should report this to police, not to youtube. Uploading to youtube is in fact a violation of privacy which should be prosecuted, too.

 

Although I enjoy watching these child predators get caught, I do feel something ain't right here; If you allow porn in society then it'd obvious addicts will eventually turn to children to get their fix, are you gonna film a 30stone morbidly obese person for going to McDonald's?

It can maybe wake them up but it's hardly fair to shame these people if you allow evil things to be permissible in society.

Anyway I'm going to go watch Chris Hansen now and watch some Pedos get busted.

 

If you watch his videos, he does report his evidence to the police, and put it on YouTube so everyone knows these people's faces and then they can avoid contact with these sickos.
A pedophile shouldn't have the right to privacy if they exploit their right to privacy to prey on children.
As soon as they try to meet up with someone they know is underage then quite frankly they've sacrificed their rights and deserve humiliation, shaming from online exposure and justice from law enforcement.

 

Dude pedophiles are mentally sick. P doesn't cause this.
I've been a P addict for 13 years and seen so much hardcore P it's insane. But never did I think "oh I want to look up the worst of the worst..."
I've still got a moral compass even after all this P usage...because I'm fundamentally I normal human being.
These people are really sick people without any morality or ethical reasoning, the same kind of people who murder cold blooded or rape women/men. These people aren't normal human beings.
P doesn't create this level of sickness.

Adults who prey on children don't deserve a place in society...they should be sent onto a desert island and left to fend for themselves.

 

If it could then it goes to show they have no moral line, and a person with no line of what's right wrong or worst...is not a normal person, they are an animal.

 

I would not say that it's a mental illness since that implies they have no control over themselves. I think it's just a new category for them since there brains are desensitised; as you must know once your brain gets desensitised to one category it goes searching for another and there are many bizarre things out there, just because you yourself have not escalated to that doesn't mean others haven't.
With regards to morals, personally I think all porn is morally wrong.

So to sum up, I think it's caused by an escalation rather than a mental illness.

 

Hmmmmm see I can't even agree to disagree on this.
Treating pedophilia as an escalation of porn induced desensitization is just giving them an excuse for their actions.
You say a mental illness implies they have no control over themselves.
But that is exactly what a pedo is...mentally ill...nobody in their right mind goes after children hence, they have no control.
I agree with you about searching for new categories of P to watch when one doesn't quite cut it anymore but these people are farrrrr beyond that. They are ill there's no denying it. They are beyond saving and a danger to society. They shouldn't be treated like a victim of their own desires, they should be treated like the evil they are/have become.
If they wanted to stop themselves they could but they don't because they are sick.

Anyway my viewpoint won't change on this topic, so to save an argument which I have no time for let's just leave it at that.
Peace be with you.

 

He is taking a risk, but what he does seems to come from a good place. We often leave too much up to law enforcement expecting their finite resources to ALWAYS protect us and keep us safe from EVERYTHING. Not possible.

I'm not saying we all go out with AR15s and Punisher t-shirts and "clean up the streets," but at some point we do have to hold members of our society responsible for their actions when the LEOs get overwhelmed

This isn't a vigilante--he's a concerned citizen who has an obvious hate for pedophiles. He wants to keep kids safe and make people accountable for their actions. He's not trying to arrest them, beat them up or physically hurt them. He's publicly shaming them which is a fitting punishment and probably as (maybe even more) effective than being areated.

Maybe he does get a thrill out of it but everybody's got their thing. He just channels his to help out the shawties.

 

But... isn't someone who is mentally ill someone who we should at least attempt to help, by way of mental health professionals? If it really is a mental health issue, which I believe is most likely the case most of the time, that just makes me even more firm in my belief that they need help, not to be treated like animals. If they were born with a disease that is destroying their brain and their center of moral decision making, that's not their fault. And if that's the case, it's hard for me to even argue that their actions are their fault. That's why we have criminal psychology, which is a career path I've considered many times in my life. They need help. It makes no sense to me to say that they are trash that deserves to be tossed out without trying to help them change. Wouldn't it be better if they changed and could be a functioning part of society, rather than being wasted breath rotting away in a prison? Why not at least attempt to make that happen before deciding for yourself that they are incapable of change?

 

I get what your saying, and it's all part of the whole second chance thing.
But it just can't work.
When we look at murder for example, the murderer gets rehab, signed off as "improved" let back into society and they murder again.
Here's an example.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...rderers-given-life-jail-freed-kill-again.html
Pedos are the same. Once a human brain is that disturbed it can never revert back to any sense of normality.
It will just be a waste of tax payer money paying a psychologist to try and fix them.
Just as it's a waste of tax payer money to keep them in jail.
Lose lose situation for society and a drag on the economy in my opinion.
I have no tolerance for people who abuse children, a child is defenceless and innocent.

Consider this hypothetical example too...
You work alongside a ex pedophile (if there was such a thing) and you knew their criminal history (because its has to be known). Say you had kids, would you even want to share that information with a person like that even if they were so called cured of the illness?
Could you look at them and not remember they molested a child?
I know I wouldn't and I would most likely change jobs.
A pedophile can never be accepted into society after being convicted of such a thing.

Can you see my point here

 

I think they just need some help. I know a convicted pedophile but he's not a bad person. He's in jail right now though.

 

That's not for you to decide though. Who are we to decide that someone isn't capable of change? I've seen people change from situations like that. It's not impossible, and I don't believe I, or anyone else, has the right to decide someone can't change before even letting them try. Imagine if everyone you knew wrote you off as some disgusting pervert because of your issues with porn, even after you've been clean for years and trying to change.

We disagree here too. I don't think trying to help someone get free of a mental disorder that they have no control over is a waste of money. In fact, I would gladly pay for that, and it's much more important and a better use of taxpayer money, in my opinion, than many other things we are spending our money on.

We are different people. Yes, I absolutely could look at them and not think about their past, and yes, I would be comfortable telling them I had kids. If they truly have changed and I can see that, I wouldn't hold that over them for the rest of their lives. I would be in deep hell, and so would you, if everyone treated everyone with that level of unforgivness. We've all made mistakes. None of us deserve forgiveness or acceptance, but it's really nice to have. I've experienced so much undeserved grace and forgiveness in my life, so I can't imagine not giving that to others.

Probably goes without saying, but no, I can't see your point. I completely disagree on everything you've said.

To be clear, because it's hard to convey tone online, I'm not annoyed or angry or anything. I'm just being honest that I don't agree with you at all.

 

Well I can see your passion for giving people the benefit of the doubt and it's a great trait steps.
Sadly I'm not so forgiving, I suppose that's where we differ on a topic such as this. I'm not angry either, I'm a little surprised though, I suppose in each individuals eyes forgiveness has personal limits.
Anything else but rape murder/torture and moleststion I can forgive but those 4 to me are just unforgivable.
The suffering it causes the victim either mentally or physically, short and or long term is beyond comprehension of how unfair it is to be able to allow such people forgiveness.
I fear this day and age people feel able to do such things because the system is weak against them.
Maybe I was brought up differently but where I come from such people aren't tolerated at all.

 

Huh, interesting. For me, forgiveness doesn't have any limits. But that's not because of the "system" or anything (I actually think the system is too harsh in a lot of ways), it's because of my belief in Jesus.

 

How far does forgiveness go though...
Ask oneself if I had a child and they were assaulted, could I possibly forgive that person?
It's all well and good forgiving if it's someone else's life or child or whatever but if it were your own can one contemplate the heartache?
I know it would kill me if I had a child who was assaulted...

 

You believe pedophiles would go to hell yes?
So really your aren't forgiving them, you are assuming they will go to hell when they die.
Is that not the opposite of forgiveness if they are damned to eternal suffering for their actions in this life?

I'm curious

And btw we are still friends steps
Even if maybe you don't feel the same at this point hehe.

 

People HAVE forgiven those who have abused them or their children. It happens. Forgiving someone doesn't mean you are saying their actions were okay. In my opinion, based on the following of Jesus as a Christian, there is no limit to forgiveness. Jesus says to forgive your brother "seventy times seven," which essentially means, always. There isn't a limit, and I trust that he knows what he's doing, so that's what I follow.

 

Absolutely not. A lack of sin isn't what "gets you into heaven." If that were the case, we would all be screwed and heaven would be empty. Accepting that you're a sinner and that Jesus died as a sacrifice to wash your slate clean is what guarantees an eternity with God. If a pedophile accepts Jesus' sacrifice and chooses to live for him and have a heart of change, I don't believe he would go to hell.