[no subject]

These witch-hunts are not doing us any good
By Alice Thomson
(Filed: 17/01/2003) 

When I saw the pink fluffy handcuffs on the front of
the Guardian's second section yesterday, I thought
they could only have been discussing terrorism or
paedophilia: whether police should use handcuffs in
asylum cases, or how sex offenders should be treated.
Instead, it was an article on how Ann Summers has made
sex shops respectable for the middle classes.

But it is terrorists and paedophiles that we're all
obsessed with at the moment. Both are making our lives
miserable. Their perceived threat does as much damage
as their perverted actions.

The idea that we could all be attacked by ricin in a
syringe, sarin on the Underground or anthrax through
the post, and that our policemen are now being stabbed
to death, makes everyone edgy and angry.

It's the same with child molesters. With a new
suspected "paedophile" uncovered every day by the
police - whether acting as Captain Hook in Peter Pan,
working as a Catholic priest or fading as a rock
musician - parents are increasingly terrified of
giving their children any freedom. One council tried
to ban the filming of school Nativity plays, and
children aren't any longer allowed to walk home from
classes - it's considered safer to let them become
obese.

In many ways, suspected terrorists and paedophiles are
similar. Both are taking up huge amounts of police
time. Twelve police officers went to arrest the rock
musician Pete Townshend, on suspicion of possessing,
making and inciting the distribution of indecent
images of children; 24 went to investigate the asylum
seekers in Manchester now suspected of involvement in
the ricin terrorist plot.

Terrorists' and paedophiles' actions are also tarring
whole communities. One asylum seeker stabs a
policeman, and every foreigner attempting to enter the
country becomes a suspect. Every Muslim is made to
feel defensive. The Algerian community has to endure
headlines such as the Evening Standard's "Algerian
zealots who take pleasure in slitting the throats of
infidels".

It's the same with paedophiles. We are told that more
than 7,000 British men are on the list of individuals
who have accessed child pornography sites on the
internet. The policemen in the inquiry have promised
that judges, teachers, civil servants, doctors and
clergymen are involved. Police say they are also
investigating dozens of showbusiness stars, a peer and
two DJs after the arrest of the Stars in their Eyes
host, Matthew Kelly, on suspicion of sex abuse carried
out 30 years ago.

In other words, any male (women rarely sexually abuse
children), in any walk of life, could be a threat. MPs
in Westminster are all playing guessing games as to
which of their number is perverted, as are the
judiciary and the entertainment world. It has become a
horrible witch-hunt.

Scout masters are getting a bad name, although many
are selfless, decent volunteers. All Catholic priests
are now treated with suspicion. Any single man who
wants to coach children at sport is suspect. Male
primary school teachers aren't allowed to pick up hurt
children in the playground and hug them.

There are differences. I have a little sympathy for
paedophiles. They are not all inhuman Hannibal Lecters
- they are usually sad, warped, pathetic men who may
have been abused themselves. The majority never touch
a child, but cruise the internet.

They need help. Experts now agree that paedophilia is
a sexual orientation, like heterosexuality or
homosexuality. Extensive research by J K Marques and
his colleagues, published in the journal Criminal
Justice and Behaviour, indicates that a man who is
sexually excited by children always will be. It cannot
be trained out of a person, but it can be managed.

I have even more sympathy for the men condemned before
they've even been convicted. Men like Pete Townshend
have been vilified by the press before anything has
been proved. Even when they're found to be innocent,
the suggestion that they may have been tempted to look
at images of child porn ruins their lives forever, and
their acquittal is unlikely to be reported on anything
like the same scale in the tabloids. Terrorists, by
contrast, are often rehabilitated even if they've
blown up little children.

I feel nothing but contempt for terrorists. They are
not destined to become murderers; they make a
cold-blooded decision. They often prefer to attack
innocent civilians in the pursuit of political or
religious ends. Their smug self-justification over the
bodies of dead children is worse than a paedophile
surfer saying he was just using the net for
"research".

But the way paedophiles and terrorists should be
treated is similar. First, there should be harsh
reprisals for convicted terrorists and paedophiles.
That already happens, you say, but terrorists are
easily glamorised, particularly by Hollywood.

Paedophiles, with the exception of Humbert in
Nabokov's Lolita, have a tougher time. But adult porn
is seen as acceptable and even cool. Richard Desmond's
publication Asian Babes is accepted by the Blairs, who
happily entertain the publisher of pornography. In the
same issue that Rebekah Wade, then editor of the News
of the World, began publishing the names of 110,000
people who had been convicted of sex offences against
children, however minor, she ran a picture of a
topless 16-year-old girl.

Secondly, the police cannot be expected to cope with
terrorists and paedophiles on their own. They need
help from the communities that often harbour them.
With terrorism, it is important that Muslim religious
leaders insist that the Koran should not be
interpreted in a way that justifies terrorism and that
they will not harbour fanatics.

With paedophiles, the international internet
fraternity could do a lot to clean up its act. The
Catholic Church should help in every way to apprehend
any priest who has abused his position towards
children. But if we hound whole communities for the
actions of a few, we will drive paedophiles
underground, making them more dangerous, and persuade
more young immigrants to admire the terrorists.


=====
-Brian in Atlanta
The Who This Month!
http://www.thewhothismonth.com
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