I hate having to talk about things like this, but it just happens. Sorry... I also hate that there is about a month between every single one of my posts. Most bloggers post ten times a day... I'll be lucky if I post once every ten days... but I digress.
Here's an article about sexual predators. Well... it might be about sexual predators. It could be, because there are men involved.
Wall Street Journal (I found it via ninme)
Basically... it seems that all men these days are seen as potential sexual predators. It's true... every man is certainly a potential sexual predator, but... well, let me give you a situation.
I'm a man. That's a fact. If I were to walk down the sidewalk downtown and pass by a mother and child, it would be a normal everyday situation, and most likely the mother and/or child would ignore me. The small child would probably look at me curiously, as most children often do, but really wouldn't give me a second thought. The mother also might take a glance, but wouldn't think anything of me besides "Oh, it's a guy walking down the sidewalk."
Now, what would happen if I were to smile and wave to the child as I passed by? Would that just be seen as "It's a nice man walking past us"? In some cases, yes. But in today's society, I submit that many mothers would think, "Sally, stay close to me, this guy might be a pedophile." That's the state that our society is in. That's what this article is saying.
Men are not allowed to be close to children anymore. Any man walking with a child better be walking with his own flesh and blood or he's in trouble. Even then, people might suspect something. I realize this sounds a bit extreme... after reading it over again, the little that I've written does sound quite exaggerated. Still, if Virginia's going to be running ads that simply depict a man holding a child's hand and making that out to be something bad, our society has truly taken things too far.
EDIT: Don't forget to read ninme's other post about the subject. :)
For link #2 of today... I give you this:
GOOD(via digg)
First thoughts: "Yeah... and... so what?"
If anyone wants to tell me so what, please do.
Posted by Shenlon at August 28, 2007 04:40 PM