Scaremongering

Or kicking a soft target for political advantage, or both. '750000 UK men want child sex', the Mail on Sunday's headline screamed this morning. Well, leaving aside my immediate reaction of 'so few?', born of my conviction that pubescent boys are the most beautiful, desirable creatures on Earth, a little deconstruction of the headline might be instructive. Not the slightest attempt to define 'men', 'want', 'child' or 'sex', in the context of the story, and, surprise, surprise, not the least evidence to support the provenance of the number quoted - which, incidentally, represents less than 3% of the adult male population of the country, even if the claim chanced to be correct. And the first sentence of the actual report tacitly admitting the wild speculation involved, '....up to 750000 may be attracted....(my emphasis)'. The implication of the report, of course, is that there is a veritable army of 'predators' slavering on every street corner, ready to drag any and every little boy or girl into a back alley and rape them, contrary to considerable actual evidence that around 90% of abuse is perpetrated by people already known to the child. And then, the underlying agenda appears, in the shape of a quote from some police functionary, that 'potential abusers' should be targeted 'before they have access to children'. The concentration camp takes a step closer. Maybe I should delete this post, but I've done that too often in comparable circumstances. If I transgress the law, then lock me up. If all I do is to say what I think, informed by who I am, I'd defend to my death, to paraphrase Voltaire, my right to say it.

Love & best wishes to all
Sammy B