A surprising number of far-right extremists have been caught with some of the worst content imaginable, is this a trend or is child sexual abuse material just distressingly more commonplace than most realize?
If Jared knows that he himself is a pedophile, then he’s likely to think there are a lot of other pedophiles around — just as the guy who cheats on his taxes thinks that everyone does it (or is a fool not to). He’s busily hiding his condition from his wife, so he’s well acquainted with all the sneaky tricks that pedophiles use to do that.
He’s also possibly into an ideology that says “all men are really pedophiles, and it’s unjust anti-male oppression that they’re not allowed to molest all the kids they want”. So he’s up for defending other pedophiles who are also into his ideology, while also using the social trick of “accusing other people of being pedophiles” to get his way politically.
He thinks this is clever. It turns out that the FBI has heard of it before, though.
What I think it misses is that if he gets arrested he won’t claim being a pedophile is normal for men, or that males are being oppressed. He’ll say: “but I’m white.” In-group membership confers immunity to any crime. And the opposite, that failing to belong to the in-group makes one guilty of any crime, is also true.
Oh sure. But now it’s not just “but I’m white”; it’s also “but I’m conservative.”
And therefore, “the system is supposed to be on my side even when I’m literally trying to tear the system down.”
The January 6 traitors attacked the police so violently because they felt betrayed by the police. After all, the traitors were decent white-supremacist conservatives; and thus were on the side of letting police murder black homeowners or leftist protesters — therefore they’re on the side of the police … right?
If Jared knows that he himself is a pedophile, then he’s likely to think there are a lot of other pedophiles around — just as the guy who cheats on his taxes thinks that everyone does it (or is a fool not to). He’s busily hiding his condition from his wife, so he’s well acquainted with all the sneaky tricks that pedophiles use to do that.
He’s also possibly into an ideology that says “all men are really pedophiles, and it’s unjust anti-male oppression that they’re not allowed to molest all the kids they want”. So he’s up for defending other pedophiles who are also into his ideology, while also using the social trick of “accusing other people of being pedophiles” to get his way politically.
He thinks this is clever. It turns out that the FBI has heard of it before, though.
This is a good analysis.
What I think it misses is that if he gets arrested he won’t claim being a pedophile is normal for men, or that males are being oppressed. He’ll say: “but I’m white.” In-group membership confers immunity to any crime. And the opposite, that failing to belong to the in-group makes one guilty of any crime, is also true.
Oh sure. But now it’s not just “but I’m white”; it’s also “but I’m conservative.”
And therefore, “the system is supposed to be on my side even when I’m literally trying to tear the system down.”
The January 6 traitors attacked the police so violently because they felt betrayed by the police. After all, the traitors were decent white-supremacist conservatives; and thus were on the side of letting police murder black homeowners or leftist protesters — therefore they’re on the side of the police … right?