On Wed, 07 May 2008 20:50:37 GMT, Palindrome wrote:
>Alex Heney wrote:
>> On Wed, 07 May 2008 10:05:46 +0100, Cynic
>> wrote:
>>
>>> On Tue, 06 May 2008 21:42:24 +0100, Alex Heney
>>> wrote:
>>>
>>>>> You would have to show that looking at pictures of *any* group of
>>>>> people is likely to increase the chance of a person attacking a member
>>>>> of that group.
>>>> I would have to show nothing at all. Why do you think I might have to?
>>> Because that is the only justification for banning a person from
>>> carrying such people in a taxi.
>>>
>>
>> So no answer then (not that I was asking you, I was asking the PP, who
>> also gave no answer)
>>
>>
>>>> And I do not for one moment believe that looking at such pictures is
>>>> going to increase the chance of such an attack.
>>>> But I *do* believe that the people who would choose to look at such
>>>> pictures are *on average* people who are more likely to do so.
>>> Only in the same way that men who look at indecent pictures of women
>>> are more likely to attack women than people who do not look at such
>>> images.
>>
>> Not true.
>
>That doesn't ring true to me. Let me explain:
>
>ISTM that the vast majority of men that would attack women would also
>enjoy looking at indecent pictures of them. Thus a woman would be at
>less risk from a person who doesn't, compared to one that does. That
>isn't to say that there is a significant risk of attack from a man
>picked at random from either group.
>
This is true, but irrelevant.
>>
>> No crime is committed by looking at "normal" adult .. Therefore
>> people who do so are not already aware of breaking the law, while
>> those who look at child . undoubtedly are.
>
>The set of those currently looking includes the subset of those that
>would continue to look, even if it was illegal to do so.
>
Again, true but irrelevant.
>>
>> That still does not mean that all (or even remotely close to "all")
>> those who do so will take an "extra step" in illegality, but it does
>> mean that there is a higher chance they will.
>
>The same logic applies. Although it is likely that anyone that indulges
>in any activity would also enjoy looking at pictures depicting that
>activity, it doesn't follow that there must be a significant risk that
>someone that looks will also act.
Again, true but irrelevant.
My *only* point, to which none of yours are relevant, is that if
somebody is already doing something illegal, then it is less of a step
to further (linked) illegality, and therefore it is slightly more
likely that they will commit those further acts.
Having thought about it more, there is actually another aspect which
makes men who look at child . more likely to commit the acts
legally defined as .ual assault against a child than men looking at
adult . would be to commit .ual assault against a woman. Namely
that many acts legally defined as ".ual assault against a child" are
in fact do0ne with the apparent consent of the child, so that the
offender will not feel he is assaulting them at all.
--
Alex Heney, Global Villager
Check book: a book with a unhappy ending.
To reply by email, my address is alexATheneyDOTplusDOTcom |