Blagnet.net

Lynch mobs, stones, and glass houses

I urge you to read this column published at Wendy McElroy’s website ifeminists.net, written by one WolfmanMac, about the increasing criminalization of being male: Lynch mobs, stones, and glass houses. The nuanced insight and analysis of one man’s child-porn charges in particular and society’s attitude about sexual predators in general are very impressive. Ignoring all the bad typos, it is a fantastic column. I’ll paste just one paragraph:

So it would appear that Mr. Chan was prosecuted not for what he was doing, and absent a charge that he was conspiring to take actions that would impose himself upon the persons of one of these young ladies it is clear he was not prosecuted for what he was about to do, or intended to do at a later time. He was prosecuted for what he might have been thinking.Or, if one wishes to quibble about the benefit of what appears in this case to be a very small doubt implied by the word “might,” it does no violence to a position that attacks this prosecution as manifestly unjust to say “what he was surely thinking.” In either case, at issue are thoughts and thoughts only, and it is staggering to observe that an argument against punishing people for their thoughts is one that requires elaboration.