"Cockroach!" "Pervert!" "Paedophile!" More than 50 people have gathered outside a house in the middle of a quiet residential street. Some are yelling insults, some are peering through the living room window. A man with a megaphone whips up the crowd. "If the government can’t - or doesn’t want to - protect our children, then we have to do it ourselves."
That night, a window was smashed, red paint, tomatoes and ammonia were thrown into the house, and the word 'Paedophile' was spray-painted in red letters outside.
This feels familiar. In my native United States, public sentiment against paedophiles and sex offenders can take extreme forms. A federal law requiring sex offenders to be publicly registered almost encourages people to take the law into their own hands. Rehabilitation is widely believed to be impossible, and fear drives a fierce desire to protect children from perceived ‘monsters’.
In Texas and Missouri, judges have sentenced sex offenders to post signs outside their houses saying: ‘Danger: registered sex offender lives here’. A new law in Florida requires sex offenders to wear a GPS tracking device for the rest of their lives, even after serving time in prison. And in all 50 states, the public has the right to know where sex offenders live.
Acceptance
Now this mindset is gaining ground here in the Netherlands. The scene described above took place last weekend in Hengelo, a city not far from the German border. But unlike similar scenes in the US, the crowd was not pursuing a convicted sex offender. The resident of the house says he has never had a sexual relationship with a minor. So why is he being harassed?
Thirty-nine-year-old Marthijn Uittenbogaard is the treasurer and public face of the paedophile association Martijn. For the last 29 years, the group has been trying to gain acceptance for paedophilia in Dutch society.
Unacceptable ideas
The crowd outside his house is after him because of his ideas, which can be shocking. In a recent interview in the newspaper nrc.next, he said:
"Parents treat their children like they own them. But they really belong to everyone… These days, children are way too overprotected. They go to school, play a sport or some other activity - everything is very organised and distant. It makes a paedophile relationship totally impossible."
Mr Uittenbogaard thinks all laws limiting sexuality should be abolished, and that children should be able to be sexual with anyone at any age. Needless to say, his ideas and those of his association have not been accepted by mainstream society.
Hardening attitudes
In its early years, paedophile organisation Martijn had some success in winning social acceptance. Prominent writers, politicians and other public figures openly supported paedophilia. A few prominent figures even admitted to being paedophiles. Justice Minister Korthals Altes submitted a law proposing to lower the age of sexual consent from 16 down to 12 years old. It didn’t pass.
Times have changed, and the organisation is now under fire. The Justice Department may be forced to bring charges against Martijn after it was revealed that eight current or former administrative officers had criminal records involving sex offences. The current chairman is in jail on charges of possession of child pornography.
Other developments have hardened the attitudes of an already sceptical Dutch public against the arguments for paedophilia. Revelations of widespread sexual abuse in the Catholic Church have angered many. So too has the case in Amsterdam in which at least 87 very young children were sexually abused by a day care employee and his life partner.
Rough justice
So now private citizens are increasingly taking matters into their own hands. In addition to the constant barrage of insults and threats directed at Mr Uitenbogaard in Hengelo, another member of Martijn was driven from his home in the northern province of Friesland. And a writer who merely supported Martijn’s right to free speech has also had the windows of his house smashed and ‘Paedophile’ painted on his front door in red letters.
That this country has not embraced Martijn’s view of the world is understandable. But the question is whether the Netherlands really wants to embrace the American example when it comes to vigilante justice.
Photo credits:
1. tunnelarmr
2. sierag
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ood to see some truth come out about these laws. The registry is BLOATED...that's how Garrido got away with keeping Jaycee so long. People have to wake up. The hysteria has been running the show, along with the unscrupulous politicians, drama-driven media, ala Nancy Grace who knows how to run any story about a child into the ground and terrify anyone she can and the overly zealous prosecutors out to make a name for themselves.
If you care about justice, educate yourself:
http://www.thecrimereport.org/news/inside-criminal-justice/2011-05-are-w...
http://ilvoices.com/media/23945d47d1a0fd37ffff810bffffe415.pdf
http://www.reformsexoffenderlaws.org/
Mr Uittenbogaard says, “children should be able to be sexual with anyone at any age” and “Parents treat their children like they own them”, as though he’s championing the rights of children.
This type of preposterous argument would imply that children should have the same rights as adults, like the right to enter into contracts they don’t understand, and that all laws protecting minors from parasites should be abolished.
Children are not property. His statement “children belong to everyone” reflects his parasitic attitude.
Mr. Uittenbogaard would be wise to recognize that his bid to gain social acceptance has failed (thankfully), because it has no benefit beyond paving the way to legally satisfying his selfish desires at the expense of youngsters.
As a survivor of paedophilia I have experienced the damage caused from the effects of child sexual molestation and the negative toll it places on society. All paedophiles are sick incurables who should be castrated because they cause more damage to human lives and society than feral animals.
These are violent acts of discrimination and are unacceptable no matter what is the excuse, the people who are dealing with things this way are as guilty as the ones they're pointing their fingers at if not more, and are (generally unknowingly) making things worse for society;
Same for violent comments towards the subject;
WAIT A MINUTE! IS THE RAPE AND MURDER OF A YOUNG CHILD/MINOR NOT A VIOLENT ACT COMMITTED BY A DEMON-PREDATOR PEDOPHILE OF THE LOWEST HELL? TO HELL WITH THE PEDOPHILES! CASTRATE AND HANG THEM!
Isn't it amazing how reporters and people like anonymous will stand-up and protest on behalf of "PEDOPHILES" and murderers around the world; but, do absolutely nothing to defend children against PEDOPHILES monsters dresed as humans. Why do the vast majority of Europeans (not all) protest when a murderer of children is executed in places like Texas, North Carolina, and Florida but do nothing for the victims in their own backyard? Why do you Europeans place the welfare of pedophile monster? Is it because you are afraid to be tagged by your sick government of being an extreme-right individual. When you see an injustice, you need to make your concerns known and if the government will not do what is right, you need to start a political party and get rid of those pedophile monsters who hold political office. Ya'll are bunch of sick pups and you know it.
If there was ever a more depressing indication of the sheer level of ignorance and stupidity in this world than these 2 posts...
"after it was revealed that eight current or former administrative officers had criminal records involving sex offences.[emphasis added] The current chairman is in jail on charges of possession of child pornography."
A sex offense involves sex. A pornography-possession offense involves the possession of images deemed pornographic. It does not involve sex. It involves images.
Or, are people having physical relationships with pixels on their screens? Are the monitors of their computers in great danger? Are people raping their computers?
And, by the way, a image of a fully-clothed minor can be deemed "pornographic". And therefore illegal. Or a minor male without a shirt on can be deemed "pornographic". And illegal. Etc.
The so-called "pornographic" image can even be over a hundred years old and be deemed a danger.
Some sense, please. And vigilantism? A true danger - not like imagined dangers from people looking at pictures, whatever kind of picture it happens to be.
Many are profiting from the current "pedo-steria". The news media (greater ad revenue from a larger readership), the so-called "mental health professionals" (more clients), lawyers (more cases), law-enforcement (increased budgets) and the incarceration industry (for-profit and privatized in many places).
If you want to know what is REALLY going on, ALWAYS look at the money trail. It's all about money...
It's NOT about protecting children. Children themselves are now being swept up in the wide "protect the children" scam. And put in prison and forced to register for life. And, since when is a 16 or 17 year old a "child"? Only recently. "Childhood" is a modern myth, created by those who wish to control and dominate others. NOT protect them. Study history. And, yes, history repeats itself, because we never seem to learn from the mistakes we have made. The new Inquisition has begun. We are just beginning to see the fruits of it.
We never learn...
On Monday, the annual 10-day funfair in the southern Dutch city of Tilburg will go pink for 24 hours to mark the event’s Gay Day.
AND WHAT ABOUT THIS?
I wonder if the local Gestapo (elected officials) are going to allow their anti-social citizens, the ones restricted to the Tilburg Concentration Camp, to attend the "funfair"? I am sure they will allow them to pick-up all the trash left by the 'good' citizens of Tilburg?
There is something really wrong with most humans about what sex is, it's uses, purposes, and ways of doing it. No one disagrees that it's main reason is to reproduce, but most don't realize it is also for stress release, pure pleasure, and to bong any human with another mentally. If we could just take old fashion ideas out of sex. Everyone of any age could enjoy it with anyone else anytime they wanted. Really their is nothing that needs to be protected against just teach everyone at a young age to decide for themselves what they like and don't like. Take the fear out of sexuality. Keep the media from fanning flames. Be like the 60's hippies, "whatever floats your boat"Let kids be kids let them experiment. Don't become
crazy like Americans. Study how the Gypsy's raise their kids. Do you think anyone could every make a Gypsy kid do anything he did not want to do?
I do kind of agree. It all seems to stem from the Christian idea that sexuality is something dirty and shameful, and has been greatly fuelled by the gutter press in the last 30 years or so. Quite simply, the overwhelming majority of child/adult sexual contact is not forcible or coercive in any way, and is in fact something enjoyed by both participants. So why do we feel the hysterical need to 'protect' them from their own sexuality? It's fine for parents to intimidate and hit their children to the point where they fear their own homes, yet these same parents would fly into a violent, self-righteous rage if they discovered their 13 year old son was indulging in mutual masturbation with a caring older man out of his own volition. I am not a pedo, but do some reading beyond the crap that is spoon-fed to you by the tabloids, and you'll soon realize that our current laws cause untold amounts of human suffering for no good reason.
Who likes his/her child to be raped and then murdered by a sexual-predator demon of the lowest hells? To Hell with those pedophiles! Shoot their dicks off!
"Dutch vigilantes follow the American way"....The lead should read "Dutch vigilantes follow the European way"....Did the French revolution take place in America or in Europe? Research and find out how many humans died at the hands of the vigilantes in France. Do some research on Europe's past practice of treating it's citizens. No, the Europeans and it's American minions, who move there, are masters at striking out at innocent people and then transferring blame to cover-up their crimes. This hogwash of an "opinion" was tripe. If the person who wrote this garbage, would have done some investigative journalism, he would have found numerous sources, i.e, French revolution, as just one of many acts of vigilantism in Europe. He would also know that many of acts of vigilantism in America were committed by people of European stock. They brought their European behaviours with them. Very poor and biased article against America. Please, stay in Europe.
It seems to me that what is happening against the paedophiles is similar to what happened against the Jews in Nazi Germany and before that, the witches.
yes, this is exactly true...there's little distinctions being made between truly dangerous pedophiles and most sex offenses...which are NOT DANGEROUS
AMERICANS ARE GOING NUTS WITH THESE LAWS AND DOING OVERKILL
Welcome to the USSA! Where vigilantism is encouraged by the very laws being passed.
Need proof?
http://tinyurl.com/SOIVigilantism
http://www.youtube.com/user/RSOVigilantism
"Rehabilitation is widely believed to be impossible, and fear drives a fierce desire to protect children from perceived ‘monsters’.".... Oh, what a bleeding heart and defender of "monsters"! A "Monster" is: "any animal or human grotesquely deviating from the normal shape, behavior, or character." When a person commits a sexual crime against a child or un-willing adult, he or she is a sexual-predator monster. Fear does drive people to protect their children from being attacked by sexual "monsters" in human suits. "Question": Wouldn't you like to know if a "convicted" sexual predator lived next to your home or nearby?
. . . but wait, it's already been established here that those who would protect their family are "Nazis"
;-)
Why, oh why does "Nazi" have to fall from the sky in EVERY topic? It really shows an inability to have a reasonable discussion.
Sofaman, what are you saying about nazis? Who said anything about nazis?
pedophiles should be well away from our children in Miami-Dade County ordinance was available where none should live within 1500 feet of a school or daycare for this reason about 100 decided to go for a while to live under one bridge in one of the viaducts leading to the beach, there remained for some time in almost sub-human conditions but the company rejected them and they alone were to blame for their condiones, pedophilia is a heinous crime, which makes must pay the rest of their lives in jail or rejected by the Company that are not limited to having sex with minors in some cases even murder their victims, something truly monstrous.
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