Following My Own Advice – Calling Out False Pedophile Stories

I have been on record saying that if you truly believe in a cause, and the importance of it, you need to be the first to call out untruths.

I’ve said it about false rape allegations, false child abuse allegations, fake hate crimes, etc.

If you believe rape, abuse, and hate crimes are big issues that our society needs to be concerned with, and that the victims need to be believed, you need to be the first to call it out when someone undermines the issue by spreading false stories.

So, while it may cost me some followers, let me just say this. If you believe QAnon conspiracy theories about elite pedophile gangs and sex trafficking rings with zero proof aside from some seeming coincidences with a bunch of half-true facts, and go spreading them around, you are undermining the very serious issue we have in society with actual, real pedophiles, elite and otherwise, and real, true to life, sex trafficking.

When it comes to the sexual abuse of children, we are already fighting an uphill battle to get people to pay attention to it, and think about it. It’s not a fun thing to think about. It’s disturbing to consider the possibility of a child we know being raped or sold for sex. People are predisposed to not believing it because it upsets them and we are really, really good at avoiding thinking about things that disturb us. Seeing one of these hoaxes being covered by mainstream media, and exposed for the hoax that it is, because so many people seem to be sharing it as gospel truth, gives all of us another reason to ignore actual victims of sexual abuse. If it’s all a big hoax why should we believe the next person who comes forward as a victim? Why do you think so many people get away with it year after year and victim after victim? Because too many people hear a rumor or see something odd, and instead of thinking about the real possibility of there being an issue, they remember the stories of odd conspiracy theories.

Do you think a gunman rolling up to a pizza joint looking for “the caves” where stolen children were kept makes sex trafficking seem like an issue to take seriously?

Did it help the cause when you tried to tell the world that famous people isolating after testing positive for Coronavirus were really being held by police for trafficking?

Does it make the threat seem real, and credible, when you “find” proof of trafficking in the price point of items for sale on a commercial website?

Do you think people are convinced that you’re credible when you copy and paste claims based on misinformation and random facts tied together to look like something that “isn’t just a coincidence”?

Let me answer for you, no. You’ve taken a serious issue, one that actually does affect millions of real victims all over the world, and turned it into a bizarre, politically based, witch hunt. You “see” trafficking in everything, everywhere. You pass along any tidbit, no matter how ridiculous it is. You’re the internet age’s “boy who cried wolf”. You keep finding evidence and no one outside your own little group believes anything you have to say on the issue, which make the people who are actually trying to say something useful about the issue, easier to ignore.

The truth is, pedophiles are a real danger. Sex trafficking is a real danger. Groups of people working to create and distribute CSAM (child sexual abuse material) online are real. Childhood sexual abuse happens, every day all over the world. Spreading misinformation about famous people with no evidence at all beyond what some anonymous message board tells you, does less than nothing to help us deal with those issues, it actually hurts those efforts. It distracts from the real dangers facing kids and the real investigative work that needs to take place to protect them.

While you’re telling people to look for the rich and famous pedophiles, most children are being abused by family members, coaches, family friends, neighbors, and other people right in their own communities. That’s not QAnon, that’s real life.

So please, if you really care about this issue, spare us the conspiracy theories and the “it could have happened” excuses. It’s not helpful. We are on the right side of truth when it comes to child abuse, there is no reason to voluntarily give that up by not telling the truth.