[AnIdiotOnTheNet]

How am I supposed to feel about this? Someone has sexual fantasies about clearly immoral and horrible acts, but has apparently (I only skimmed the article) never acted on them. I am supposed to, what, think this person is vile? That anyone who associates with them is vile? Why is it any of our business what this guy is into?

[mattnewton]

I guess the outrage is more that someone associated with both him and with her father (who was convicted of acting on those fantasies) was put into a moderation position at Reddit. And people were being banned for calling this out.

[AnIdiotOnTheNet]

Sure, fair, I just don't think anyone dredging up this guy's sexual fantasies up and associating them with actual child molestation is taking the moral high ground. There is a difference between watching John Wick murder people and doing actual murders, and it is the same difference between harboring immoral sexual fantasies and actually committing them.

[mattnewton]

I don't think the John Wick movie is useful analogy. People are "dredging" these up to raise real questions about the judgement of someone who was hired to use that judgement to moderate their social networks.

[koonsolo]

Sure, so why don't you let this person tutor your kids. Nothing wrong with that right?

[koonsolo]

So you want this person working in a school or daycare? Do you want such a person to adopt some kids, or tutor kids in his spare time?

I think it definitely matters when a person has such fantasies.

[rimliu]

Does the same standard apply to crime writers? Movie makers? Why fantasy about gruesome killing is just fine, but fantasy about perversion suddenly is not?

[koonsolo]

If you have sexual fantasies about the opposite sex, you're straight. If you have sexual fantasies about the same sex, you are gay. Even if you never had sex with another person, it would still make you gay. If you have sexual fantasies about both, you are bi. If you have sexual fantasies about young kids, you are a pedophile. If you have sexual fantasies about sex with corpses, you are a necrophiliac.

The same doesn't go for acts of violence. You can quickly think "I'm gonna kill this person", but it doesn't make it so. Most people have such a quick thought, which basically makes all of us killers. This is considered normal, because most of us are that way. Most of us do not fantasize about sex with kids or corpses, which makes it abnormal.

[AnIdiotOnTheNet]

> If you have sexual fantasies about young kids, you are a pedophile. If you have sexual fantasies about sex with corpses, you are a necrophiliac.

Yes, but simply being those things isn't something they chose any more than gay or trans people chose to be what they are. Unlike gay or trans people, acting on those fantasies would be wrong, but there's nothing wrong with just having them. There is a difference between being a pedophile and being a child molester.

Do you have any idea how many people have rape fantasies? The vast majority of them never rape anyone or want to be raped for real, it's just something that excites them sexually. Are we to condemn them as well? How about those who harbor fantasies about slavery like the aforementioned Larry Garfield?

> You can quickly think "I'm gonna kill this person", but it doesn't make it so. Most people have such a quick thought, which basically makes all of us killers.

To you maybe, but to those of us who realize there is a difference between fantasy and reality it doesn't mean much of anything. Also, perfectly normal people often play games about murdering people for hours on end.

> This is considered normal, because most of us are that way.

Is your problem that it is amoral or that it is abnormal? Or are the two the same to you?

[koonsolo]

> but there's nothing wrong with just having them.

It is indeed not a crime to have them. But I would strongly suggest that those people do not work in places where they have power over kids. (teachers, tutors, youth clubs, etc)

We have a saying "putting the cat next to the milk". And that is exactly what is going on here. If you hire a teacher, and you know this person has sexual feelings towards kids, you are really some dumb fuck. You should also be punished for negligence when shit hits the fan.

[AnIdiotOnTheNet]

Would you let a woman you cared about work on a project with Larry Garfield?

I don't know why this concept is so difficult for some people. Fantasy and reality are not the same thing. Millions (if not billions) of people occasionally have fantasies about strangling their boss, or murdering people they don't like, and they never actually do those things because they're abhorrent. Add some "think of the children!" into the mix and otherwise rational people are suddenly very much in favor of lynching.

[jspash]

In a word, yes. This is how society polices itself. Just like dogs. When a dog does something that isn't beneficial for the group, it gets a nip. The entire pack sees and learns from this. And the entire pack also helps in enforcing this behaviour.

However these days Twitter is the pack and "cancelling" is the nip. What's missing is a pack leader or at least a sense of what is truly "right" or "wrong" at this point in humankind's development.

So it might seem heavy-handed or a knee-jerk reaction, but I'm on board with this simply because it aligns with my moral views. It's a choice.

[AnIdiotOnTheNet]

I think it is ridiculous to condemn someone for what happens solely in their imagination. I don't believe in thoughtcrime.

[shaneprrlt]

I appreciate your username, but really, is this the hill to die on? Being morally relativistic about this subject is beyond the pale.

And to make it obvious: yes, yes you should find this and the notion that someone would fantasize about it utterly gut wrenching.

[AnIdiotOnTheNet]

> And to make it obvious: yes, yes you should find this and the notion that someone would fantasize about it utterly gut wrenching.

I don't. Theft is obviously immoral, should I condemn people who enjoy heist fiction? People who enjoy roleplaying soldiers in a Civil War re-enactment? People who murder people in video games?

There is a difference between fantasy and reality.

[shaneprrlt]

Then you are a true nihilist.

[lordgroff]

Guessing said person has no children. I wouldn't have my kids within 10 km of this utter creep.