In Austria the ‘pedophile hunters’ targeted gay men who were not pedophiles. If ‘pedophile hunters’ would actually care about their cause, they would storm the next church…
This is obviously where this is going and it’s a big part why they’re obsessed with labeling people “groomers.”
I’m going to be honest, I’m suspicious of every single ‘pedophile hunter’. They are going after a demographic that people will not rush to defend, even if innocent.
Also, these ‘hunters’ probably have something shady going on in their own lives, and this is some form of projection that they also profit off of.
I wouldn’t even be surprised if a bunch of them are pedophiles themselves. Projection and such.
‘I sit online all day pretending to be a teen girl and getting into dirty chats with strangers, it’s OK though because I’m doing it to stop the creeps…’
There’s been a ton in the UK outed as predators themselves. It’s projection.
Well, there’s this case.
https://www.brusselstimes.com/373981/fake-pedophile-hunter-convicted-of-child-pornography
100%
In Norway last year we had a case where 5 16-19 yo set up a sextrap for a guy in his 40s.
The teens claimed he’s a pedo, beat him, filmed it and posted it online.
All of the “pedohunters” involved were found guilty on all accounts. The guy is free and getting a big pay out from the teens.
It’s really unfortunate, but these kinds of people aren’t in it to prevent child abuse. They’re in it for themselves.
There was a similar case that happened on a college campus in America. Five 18 year -old students, all of whom can legally consent, lured a guy toward the dorms through a dating app. When he arrived, the students swarmed him with phones out calling him a pedophile. They are now being charged.
but these kinds of people aren’t in it to prevent child abuse. They’re in it for themselves
you just described all republican politicians
100%.
There is an old trope about arsonists, they either become criminals or they become firefighters.
At least with firefighters, we don’t have to worry about if the firefighter is going to get the fire in a room alone later.
There are cases of arsonist fire fighters which is an even stronger analogy.
Those who claim to fight fires are often the ones setting them, so they can be seen as the heroes who extinguish them.
Really good point and in cases like this we should all be a lot more concerned with people who seem obsessive about a given subject. It’s not a coincidence that so many crackpot Q-anon “save the children from the demon vampires” nutcases were actually themselves pedos who were caught, or that Q-anon STARTED on a pedophile message board.
Also, the almost universal knee-jerk response that we have as a society broadly to child predation makes a helluva mask for trampling on the rights of others and making a scapegoat that will be condemned in the public court long before any charges are brought up. The absolute ease and temptation of creative editing and a thirst for views can make the producers of this content work harder to portray events out-of-context.
I’m sure there are plenty of actual predators who are worried about being hit with a sting, but I have seen more than a handful clips of these rogue pedo-hunters going after like, 21-year-old boys and their 17-year-old girlfriends, and people who looked genuinely confused and seemed railroaded into meeting someone.
I know this message will never stick with the wildly reactionary and emotional viewership who needs to hear it, but we make vigilantism illegal for a damn good reason, and just because Dateline managed to stay above the waterline for the most part, that doesn’t mean some operation of randos you know nothing about on youtube have both the best intentions and the legal acumen to actually make a difference. They may well be making the problem worse by setting up situations where stings against child predators could become outlawed.
Vigilantes taking the law into their own hands with violence is always a sign of a healthy society. It also never leads to tragedy.
Vigilantes not fueled by lack of justice, but by views mind you.
Ah, TikTok justice. No way for that to go wrong, nosir.
I’m completely with you on this, and I’m surprised your comment is so highly voted because this community is quick to endorse vigilantism. Just the other day I was scrolling through a thread full of comments about how a guy who was arrested should have been more brutally assaulted by an angry mob.
Vigilantism is just a sign that government has become too corrupt to deal with problems effectively. It can be good or evil, it can be effective or a complete nightmarish excuse to get rid of hated minorities or people the majority simply fell out of favor with.
But if you’re a victim under that corrupt government, it’s the only solution you have, so its hard not to cheer. No one is shedding tears for torched tesla’s in dealerships or the dead ceo Saint Luigi was framed for killing.
Its just harder to trust and justify clout chasers attacking essentially random people they themselves labeled with a crime that no one can reasonably defend themselves against.
Vigilantism is just a sign that government has become too corrupt to deal with problems effectively.
Or a sign that government is the problem as politicians resort more to divisiveness, hatred, bigotry and scapegoating to capture more extreme voters. Politicians stoke the outrage, inflame some groups against others, call for ending the rights of those they’ve marginalized, and even pardon those who committed treason in the name of fake vigilantism, based on manipulation and misrepresentation
That’s the same as corruption. Corruption isn’t just monetary bribes.
I’d make a guess they’re getting violent because the legal system can’t do anything with their compromised evidence. Instead of realizing they’re not the people qualified to do this work, they’re just doubling down and “handling it themselves.”
They’re experiencing positive re-enforcement when they get violent with the people they’ve intrapped. They’re getting more violent because they want more of the positive online feedback they’ve been getting.
There is no lofty thought process about justice.
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They’re getting more violent because they’re getting more views when they get violent.
Well honestly it seems they may be the most qualified to do this work at this point then
You got down voted but all we need to check is how catholic church has been given a blank check for what they do…
Fuck them. I won’t cry when pedo priest is given justice.
This clown regime think they can just put something like that under the rug 🤡
Except these guys never go after the Catholic Church
And that’s the real crime here and likely indicative of their bad faith behavior
Oh hey, it’s “won’t somebody please think of the children?” taken to the streets for internet clout! Absolutely nothing wrong can happen there! /s
Only one thing to do: set two pedophile hunters up on a date.
kinda like an inverted version of that Black Mirror episode but instead of making two pedophiles kill each other, we get the hunters to hut each other?
That is fucking genius
Have they tried looking in churches and the Republican party?
That would get them regulated, they’re only going after the “correct” “bad people”
Catholic church is just the tip but it is a low hanging fruit.
Lists are out there.
Reminder, those “Pedophile Hunters” don’t really give a damn about children.
They’re sadists who are out to hurt & kill
Didn’t an entire TV show get into some serious hot water for doing this sort of thing which resulted in someone committing suicide while filming an episode? These people are potentially putting themselves in serious danger if they corner a pedo who feels like they have nowhere to run or anything left to lose.
corner a pedo
And since these are internet vigilante kids with no oversight, they will inevitably corner some non-pedos too.
Put yourself in that situation- a couple teenagers with cameras approach you on the street and start accusing you of some of the sickest crimes imaginable. Even though the accusation is false, this has the potential to ruin your career, your relationships, your entire life.
I’m not sure how anyone would respond, or should respond, but I can definitely see how people might resort to violence when falsely accused of this horrible shit on camera.
Just happened here in Austria. Police took 20 people into custody (13 have since been formally arrested) for luring people to fake dates where they beat them up.
The suspects said they hunted pedophiles, but at least in some of the cases they targeted young adults who expected to come to a date with 16-18 year olds.
Exactly. Vigilante justice is not the solution here, it’s only going to get a lot of people hurt.
If they corner anyone, tbh. This is a pretty ruinous accusation.
That’s what I was thinking of. Thanks!
Bread and circuses
Reddit would be outraged about an 18 yo dating a 16 yo, though. Some people have really weird and unrealistic views on this
Those Redditors are probably 16 year olds themselves upset that the girls they like are always going for 18 - 20 year olds
Is this an angelfire website in the 90’s? Who the hell thought a background amalgamation of moving images was the best way to present printed media?
I just can’t with these websites anymore. I find it almost impossible to read when there’s a embedded video as it is.
Firefox’s reader view (ctrl alt r) is a godsend for cases like these.
This is a symptom. If police won’t do it’s job there will be some guys who will take it into their own hands. The problem is they have even less oversight than police.
Pedophile hunting is among several vigilante movements in the United States. Groups in the South try to catch alleged drug smugglers at the border; others monitor local crime. The new wave of pedophile hunters stands out for adopting the social media influencer model, using real-life violence to build a following online.
This is about clout chasing and being violent monsters
And if anyone calls them out on it, they’re immediately branded as “pedophile sympathizers” if not actual pedophiles themselves. So, not only do they get to be violent monsters, saying that they shouldn’t commit horrible violence without any sort of legal oversight (or at all, really) makes YOU the bad guy!
They can deflect doubt because they are hunting pedophiles.
“You wouldn’t defend a pedophile now, would you?” - clout chasing violence monger
And if you haven’t found any pedophiles yet, well, I guess you’re not trying hard enough. Or maybe… you are one of them… 😠
Can’t believe this needs an /s
Is that really the only problem you see with people taking justice into their own hands? Less oversight?
A person does not need to point out all problems when pointing out one problem.
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That’s not the only problem. They’re making content, so finding “the right person” will inevitably be less important than finding a person. Can’t fall out of the Almighty Algorithm’s favor, amirite?
The government mistakes people for wrong person all the time too though
Sometimes on purpose
Disproportionate punishment is another of course. They probably lump pedophiles (a person with a psychiatric disorder) and child molesters (a person that actually harms children) into the same group and you deserve to die for simply thinking the wrong things.
They lump far more people into the same group. They attack anyone whom they think they can, even if they know that their accusations are BS.
When they go after the wrong person, yes. When they decide to both be the police, judge and executioner, yes.
But if the judiciary system doesn’t do it’s work, what do you expect.
Even if the judiciary system in your country doesn’t do its work, people taking justice in their own hands is a fundamentally bad thing for a society. I don’t pity predators if they get what they deserve, but I pity the society that suddenly has to define boundaries - where do you draw the line? Not all cases are clear cut. Not everyone operates on the same set of morals.
Example: Religious zealots really do believe that abortions kill children. If society doesn’t categorically forbid people to take justice into their own hands but goes “well, in this case, we can all understand”, you will have other people acting in ways they perceive as equally justifiable. And then abortion doctors get murdered.
The users who downvoted me don’t seem to have this understanding, they would rather have revenge. If you people don’t understand that self-justice will ultimately lead to a more violent society, then go ahead, downvote me again. You’re the reason your country isn’t a more civilized place, wherever you live.
“less oversight than police.” A bar so low you need a shovel to get under it.
Great. Just dump anyone you dislike as a “pedophile” and then it’s a free for all.
especially when you have people like elon musk calling people they don’t like paedophiles and winning defamation suits over it by claiming he calls everyone paedophiles.
Israel is a know destination for exposed pedophiles…
