Source: LA Times on Yahoo.com 11/24/23
A unicorn costume, a hammer and a belief that pedophiles are using public schools to destroy democracy: The trial of David DePape for attacking Paul Pelosi was strange and disturbing.
But take away the costume and the hammer, and the reasoning for DePape’s vicious attack is alarmingly mainstream — pedophile panic.
By that, I mean the outrageous effort not just by hate-mongering conspiracy theorists to frame LGBTQ+ individuals as deviant and dangerous, lumping them in with criminals who sexually abuse children. But also a cynical bid by some politicians, clergy and grifters to do the same.
Anti-LGBTQ+ attacks are everywhere, both physical and political. Hysteria about pedophiles, driven by conspiracy theories, has trampled truth.
As DePape explained it on the stand, he is concerned about “groomer schools,” where teachers are “queering the students, pushing transgenderism to confuse children about their identities to make them more vulnerable to abuse and Marxist indoctrination.”
Sound familiar? It could have been a quote from a Huntington Beach City Council meeting, a Republican presidential rally or a debate on the floor of the Florida Legislature, where the controversial “don’t say gay” bill last year was described by an aide to Gov. Ron DeSantis as an “anti-grooming” law.
…
…And Donovan points out that even the KKK focused on children and education in the 1920s, with the same arguments about American values.
So none of this is new.
But we are capable of not repeating the past. Hate and conspiracy aren’t normal. They aren’t American values, to be debated as valid political positions.
David DePape was fighting an enemy conjured by lies. That enemy may not be real, but the danger of those lies is.
The basis of this is the lies being shared which is the same vessel that the Govts, LE, Politicians, Karens & Darrens, et al use to spread misinformation about PFRs in which they build up and spread like the witch trials centuries ago to justify their means to ends that are unjustifiable, except in their own minds, sadly.
I find ironic that this unicorn name David Depape would pursue Paul Pelosi over pedophilia but ignore Matt Gaetz that is actually facing criminal charges of trafficking a minor. Either way political fear mongering is an insidious tool to manipulate the public.
Mixed feelings about this:
On the one hand, I am glad that this journalist is pointing out that there is a Political Agenda that is using exaggeration and outright lies to spread panic in the hopes that they can then use this panic to further their agenda.
That this panic has induced violence, and is likely to produce more. That this agenda has no concern regarding the violence it has spurred, and no intentions of discontinuing their tactics. Fringe elements of this agenda in fact celibate the violence this irrational, lie fueled, panic produces, with no condemnation from the agenda leadership.
On the other hand, I feel that this article fails to address that the panic being spread through lies and exaggeration is in no way new. That this panic inducement has been part of the political landscape for decades, and has been used by the full spectrum of political agendas.
That this iteration of the “Pedo panic” began in the 90’s and os just the latest iteration of an eternal panic that has always been part of every society. That this panic predates, by centuries, the foundations of the City-State of Ur. That every iteration of this panic has always been based on exaggeration and outright lies. That this panic has never had any form of rational basis, nor has it ever matched any form of observable reality.
Also this decades old iteration, has repeatedly ignored any and all attempts to question it. That it has always produced violence, and that no effort to prevent further violence has ever been made. That all attempts to take steps to eliminate the multiple times proven source for targeting individuals for violence up to and including multiple acts of torture and murder in the 1st degree, have been rejected by the full spectrum of political agendas/ideologies/parties in pursuit of political gain for decades.
It would appear to me that this journalist has no issues with the “Pedo panic” itself. No, the only objection this article seems to make is that this ongoing iteration of the universal and eternal
“Pedo Panic” is being successfully utilized by a political agenda the journalist opposes. Oh, and unlike all the other instances of violence this iteration of the universal and eternal “Pedo panic” has produced through the decades, the attack on Mr. Pelosi is, objectionable.
Tempted to post on the article website, but…no way that doesn’t turn into a rant that gets blocked. Man needs to accept his limitations, this is one of mine.
As DePape explained it on the stand, he is concerned about “groomer schools,” where teachers are “queering the students, pushing transgenderism to confuse children about their identities to make them more vulnerable to abuse and Marxist indoctrination.”
What does class struggle and a classless society, advocated by Karl Marx, has to do with public school teachers “queering” students into same sex gender identity? The Marxist term has been twisted and distorted by people (especially uninformed Americans) so many times that they wouldn’t know what it really is if it hit them in the face.