Re: Probably not the best way to go about it.

Theres absolutely no plausible deniability with paedophilia. If we donate money to show the wrong-headedness of charities that stoke paedo-hysteria, then people will just dismiss it as an attempt to make ourselves look good.

So what? A high school teacher once asked us if it was right or wrong to do something charitable in order to make yourself better, and the best answer was that it didn't matter, as long as the good deed was done. In the long run, if you're doing something good, your motivations for doing so do not remove from the good that has been done.

And the fact is, we live in the Era of Public Relations. The gays do it, the Christians do it, every organization under the sun does it. Why are we necessarily exempt? And isn't it fundamentally dishonest to deny that we wish to demonstrate our morality in a way that furthers our own goals? For someone so opposed to political correctness, you should not be so quick to write off the obvious public relations angle.

This is just how things are done in this day and age; in fact, I contend that people are less apt to trust you if you DON'T play that angle. At least then they know what you're up to, and there's comfort in that. It's the most honest approach, in that sense, and it's something people can understand and relate to. People know that in general individuals and organizations really care about the causes they donate to, but they also understand that, in this era, there rarely is such a thing as getting something for nothing.

We then dont get any of the benefit of the doubt other people get.

We don't get it anyway, so in the long run the options are, do nothing and be mistrusted and disliked, or do something positive and be mistrusted and disliked. If we do nothing, we most certainly lose. We merely allow the status quo to be perpetuated. But if we do something visibly positive, we at least win a few of the more level-headed people who acknowledge that we are doing something good.

Most people know implicitly that these hysteria charities are more about advancing their own agenda than altruism. They are the witch-hunters, though, and so dont tend to get questioned. We are the witches, and that privilege doesnt filter down to us.

Every category of individuals that have ever been subject to witchhunts historically have eventualy been vindicated, if not necessarily defended. But the tendency amongst most people is only to think as far as things will affect them in their lifetimes. The truly selfless thing to do would be to work towards these goals without worrying about whether we will see a notable impact in our own lifetimes, and to do everything we can to help both ourselves and children, which sometimes means a reasonable compromise such as this.

A better way to undermine those organisations would be to find a charity that doesnt stoke hysteria, and that does a better job as a result. And starting one if there isnt one already out there. But NOT making it a paedophile charity. Itll just never be taken seriously the way things are currently.

If it isn't a ped-oriented charity, there really is no point in spending the time and money to organize it, since anyone could donate to any charity of their choice with virtually the same results.