A pedophile is on the loose. And a world-wide call for help from the public has been issued by INTERPOLfrench (International Crime Police Organization). INTERPOLenglish is based in Lyon (France), and this move on its part is unprecedented. A re-constructed photo of the person has been included in this blog-entry. This man has sexually abused at least a dozen children under the age of 12. Although this is not a call for vigilante justice, each of us needs to be on the alert.
Whoever this man is, there will undoubtedly be some tell-tale signs. It is almost certain that he is intensely private and has virtually no adult ties of substance. For it is rather unlikely that he would do anything that would make him memorable in the eyes of others. Yet, it would appear that his manner makes him endearing to children. So we have an intensely private man who does not draw attention to himself but who is quite capable of engaging the trust of children. And he is both callous enough and brazen enough to put some photos of his sex acts with children on the internet.
It is doubtful that he holds a position that puts him in close proximity with children, which underscores the idea that he is masterful at gaining the trust of children.
This pedophile could, I suspect, walk into a crowded room without drawing an ounce of attention to himself and attract a child to him.
Thus, we know that he is masterfully opportunistic.
Like the Nazi, a pedophile strikes me as a paradigm example of someone whose behavior reveals him to be unworthy of moral commitments. There could never be a good reason to trust a pedophile. This is because a pedophile would deceive even God, were that possible, if doing so would give the person access to children.
I share Dr. Laura Schlessinger’s conviction that we must at all cost protect children. For precisely that reason, I am prepared to say that the normal forms of punishment for criminal behavior do not apply. Given a committed pedophile and the choice between chemical castration and putting a child at risk, I hold that we are morally obligated to opt for chemical castration.
At the risk of offending many, I hold that a pedophile is worse than a rapist, which is saying quite significant since I think that rape is very nearly constitutive of what counts as morally heinous behavior. The pedophile, however, preys upon those who are defenseless in every conceivable way. And if that were not enough, his sexual desire can only be described as horrendously grotesque.
Sex is about many things. But at its most basic level, there is the idea that one’s bodily sexual moments are having the intended uptake with respect to the object of one’s sexual behavior. So it is even with the practice of S & M. Each movement is in some warped way intended to please the other. The fact that I cannot obtain a purchase upon sexual pleasure thus construed is irrelevant.
Now, it is precisely this thought that a pedophile simply cannot have. That is, the pedophile cannot think for a moment that his bodily sexual movements are having any kind of desired effect upon the child. There is no possible description under which the pedophile can think that he is “giving” the child pleasure. Not even a sick delusion of this sort is possible. This, I believe, marks a conceptual difference between the act of pedophilia and the rape act.
And it goes without saying, I trust, that there is no connection at all in the typical interest that an adult has in pornography and pedophilia. None. Pornography allows for vicarious participation, which is precisely why there are men in straight pornographic films.
This point is most illuminating, because there is no vicarious participation at all on the part of the pedophile who is engaging in sex with a child.
Pedophilia is a morally dead act committed by a live person.
I have hardly said anything new. I should no doubt have stopped much earlier.
A world-wide call from INTERPOL for help in finding a pedophile merits the attention of all. If there is anything that all of humanity can be in unison about, surely it has to be that apprehending a pedophile is for the good of humankind.
This blog-entry, then, is a display of unity on the part of its author. It is my fervent hope that anyone who reads this entry will, in her or his own way, find a way to display her or his unity with INTERPOL.
The trick is to put this evil man on the run, and then to be sure that there is no place to which he can run and hide.
