Exonerating "Perverts"

For a long time recently, the worst thing of which one could be accused was a pervert.

However there have been any number of perverts among major contributors, particularly among the world's moral leaders.

King David was a pervert. He took the wife of one of his soldiers and sent him to die in battle.

King Solomon was a pervert. He had 500 concubines.

Socrates was a pervert. He liked little boys.

Mohammad was a pervert. He had sex with a 9-year-old child.

Queen Catherine the Great was a pervert. She died while trying to have sex with a horse.

It is time that hypocrisy on this issue be challenged. I know a man who went to jail and lost everything that he had because he chatted up a 16-year-old. I know a woman whose father raped her constantly since she was 4 and got to remain her father. Probably half the people I know were victims of incest. In very few of these cases was the perpetrator punished. Whereas there are all sorts of people, especially in universities, who get treated as the lowest form of life for the most minor things.

The biggest claim about these people – as well as about “sociopaths” and “narcissists” - is that they never change and can only be evil. That is the most irrational thing I've ever heard. Anything capable of choice is capable of change. Anything capable of choice is capable of rightful behavior. That most certainly include all of the above.

This hysteria has involved even the smartest people. I know a beautiful older lady who is a former teacher and journalist and an MD, and she was telling me that we don't rehabilitate sex offenders. Why on earth not? We owe to sex offenders such as the above our moral guidance. Why would a frat boy who is guilty of date rape be treated worse than King Solomon?

Sex abuse victims do not begin to own traumatization. There are all sorts of ways in which people get traumatized. If you want to do away with traumatization, do away with war. Do away with violent or incestuous parenting. Do away with destruction of countries. Do not fixate upon one potential source of wrongdoing while ignoring all others.

I take issue with demonization of people. That is even the case with people who are genuinely bad. Here we see both demonization and hypocrisy. A group in the population gets singled out for extermination under the claim that they are evil and can only be evil. That is irrational, that is hypocritical, that is cruel and that is wrong.

People in constitutional democracies are meant to be protected from those who would perpetrate witch hunts. That, once again, includes “perverts” and “sociopaths.” And what we have seen with the persecution of both is the worst witch hunt in the history of the United States.

It is time that someone say that enough is enough. Put an end to this inquisition and restore human dignity to all people regardless of whether or not someone may think them to be perverts.