Education does matter, but it isn't sufficient in itself. Admittedly it is rather disappointing to see just how thoughtless and hateful the majority of humanity is. I have seen quite a few comments in recent discussions about pedophilia in which people who I know not to be sock puppets (or at least, long established sock puppets who comment on all sorts of topics) have acknowledged that most pedophiles don't harm children but assert that we should all be killed anyway. It is obvious that no amount of education will help some people.

But it is still a necessary beginning, and these newer articles tend to at least be a bit more accurate than those from ten or twenty years ago, recognizing the difference between a child lover and a child molester, for example, and the difference between rape and mutually desired sex (even if they immediately claim that it makes no difference because a child can never consent). A small degree of nuance and some recognition of reality has been added that was never there before.

And perhaps this is a necessary stage. Did you know that large ships require more than two miles to come to a stop? There's a lot of momentum to shed before we can reverse course.




Baldur