Thursday, December 01, 2005

It's up there now

... the second part of my "hard-hitting series" on ... "Virtual" child abuse:

"VIRTUAL" CHILD SEX, PART TWO: THE VIGILANTES EXPOSED
FREE MARKET NEWS NETWORK
Wednesday, November 30, 2005

When I wrote the previous column on this topic, I had a sense I might be opening a can of worms. Little did I know I'd be turning over a bunch of rocks, and that all kinds of slimy and unsavory life-forms would crawl out from under.

I'm not talking about the true sexual predators in our society. As any sociologist who's studied the subject will tell you, those are most often NOT some degenerate hanging around a schoolyard, or lurking on the Internet. Far more often, a "molester" turns out to be a family-member, a neighbor … or someone else who has actually known the targeted "child" personally for some time.

In this case I have another target in mind: the group or groups of self-proclaimed "saviors" that have sprung up to exploit the fears of parents, and besmirch the names and lives of peaceful and harmless private citizens, for no purpose (it turns out) beyond their own sick amusement and desire to dominate and destroy others. And the most high-profile and brazen of these self-styled vigilante crusaders calls itself "Perverted Justice" – a moniker that could hardly be more appropriate, since these vicious thugs are indeed perverting the criminal process, while destroying any hope of ever bringing to trial (let alone conviction) those among its "targets" who might actually BE guilty of child endangerment or abuse.

As it turns out, this is also the actual identity of the "Internet nanny-watch group" who convinced an Arizona tv station to join them in entrapping that hapless Arizona State University student, whose saga was laid out in my previous column. (Note: A brief glance at their website (http://www.perverted-justice.com), should convince anyone of their true, much baser intentions – if you can stomach the foul language and gang-banger tactics of the perverted-justice thugs themselves!)

But these are not, as they portray themselves, "saviors of the children" defending young girls from sexual predators.

MORE

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Surprisingly, I have had NO feedback on this one ... Perhaps the next installment ...

Today, in addition to regular summaries & postings, at RRND, MFC and then (after my rewrites) FMNN, I have to deliver an audio piece for FMNN's Weekly World Report -- another thing on the bird flu story. The call is due in about an hour, so I can't stop long here.

Other things in the works: my weekly editorial for MFC; another piece of the "Virtual" series; perhaps another column or two by beginning of next week; some responsed on Yahoo lists ...

SOW, I've figured out that part of why I don't get back here very often (as has been noted by others?) is this: Along with the regular online workload, I also post pretty regularly on at least three Yahoo groups, often several more. Maybe I should start copying from there when I want to start a blog-entry; some of the stuff is actually pretty interesting ... Well, at least it is to me!

Anyway, back to cyberspace .. see you again soon; write often!