
Why Are Right-Wing Conspiracies So Obsessed with Pedophilia? - tosh
https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2019/07/why-are-right-wing-conspiracies-so-obsessed-with-pedophilia/
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hobofan
While the article does a great job outlining the motivations (fear of X, etc.)
from a movement participant, I think there is a far easier answer to the
headline question if looked at from a movement organizer perspective:

It's hard to argue against pedophilia.

If you argue against another conspiracy theory (e.g. flat earth), the worst
thing that will happen is that theorists label you as "part of the system" (or
whatever) and everyone not directly subscribing to the theory will laugh it
off.

If you argue against a pedophilia conspiracy theory, the theorists will
quickly label you as someone defending pedophilia, or a pedophile yourself. If
even people that don't directly subscribe to the theory hear that, there is a
serious risk of social exile. This makes it incredibly risky to argue against
it.

~~~
insickness
Almost all mainstream media outlets label pizzagate as a conspiracy theory
with no repercussions. It's not hard to argue against unsubstantiated
accusations of pedophilia.

~~~
dariusj18
The downfall of that conspiracy was to have it involve pizza. Americans just
won't let such an important part of our life be besmirched.

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nabla9
At the same time child marriage is conservative cause.

Child marriage is "extremely prevalent" in U.S.: "The cycle perpetuates across
generations" [https://www.cbsnews.com/news/child-marriage-united-states-
do...](https://www.cbsnews.com/news/child-marriage-united-states-donna-
pollard/)

>"In Kentucky, we found a 13-year-old girl married off to a 33-year-old man, a
15-year-old girl married off to a 52-year-old man — I could go on and on to
give you these horrific examples of these children who were married off to
their rapist," she said. "It's horrific and it has to stop now."

~~~
docdeek
I'm familiar with teen marriages and the laws/regulations that allow it in the
US, and elsewhere. I know it is possible with a court consent in Australia
(where I grew up) from 16, and it is the same here in France (where I live
now).

I'm unfamiliar with the notion that child marriage is a conservative cause. Do
you mean in the context of religious freedom? Are there conservatives who push
for child marriage in unambiguous terms?

~~~
nabla9
It seems to be evangelical issue.

Op-Ed: Roy Moore’s alleged pursuit of a young girl is the symptom of a larger
problem in evangelical circles [https://www.latimes.com/opinion/op-ed/la-oe-
brightbill-roy-m...](https://www.latimes.com/opinion/op-ed/la-oe-brightbill-
roy-moore-evangelical-culture-20171110-story.html)

Banning child marriage in America: An uphill fight against evangelical
pressure - Kentucky's bill had to change to accommodate religious concerns. A
similar bill is dying in Tennessee. [https://www.salon.com/2018/03/11/banning-
child-marriage-in-a...](https://www.salon.com/2018/03/11/banning-child-
marriage-in-america-an-uphill-fight-against-evangelical-pressure/)

------
roenxi
The headline poses an easy question - as the article notes, between Epstien
and the occasional Catholic Church scandal it looks like there are some very
powerful people around the world who are, bluntly, pedophiles.

Given the lists of names involved, it is safe to assume some sort of
conspiracy is going on. The rumours are fabricated and not plausible, but
there is a real kernel of truth to them.

Pedophilia conspiracies are up there with "Government spying on everyone!" as
quite likely a fact as some level, even if nobody can point to any specific
evidence. It probably isn't that sprawling but really who knows once the
billionaires and politicians get involved. It is plausible, the pedophiles
have the motive, there is circumstantial evidence. Prince Andrew appears to
still be in the naughty corner at the moment.

~~~
spuz
That doesn't really explain why right-wingers would want to focus on it as an
issue. Why not focus on for example the effect of raising minimum wage on job
vacancies or wild fires contributing to climate change? Both have some amount
of evidence for them. I'm not really sure I understand why "there is some
evidence for it so it might be true" should be a criterion that particularly
interests people on the right wing.

~~~
MrRiddle
It perfectly explains, but it sounds like you would like explanation why
they’re not focusing on things you think they should focusing on?

~~~
spuz
Uh no not at all. I don't have an opinion on the issues I mentioned. I just
think that if you put an issue into a category and use that as the basis of
your explanation then your argument should also hold for all elements of that
category. For example, if you ask me, why do I like trees and I say, because
they are green, then it would be logical for you to ask if I like green apples
and green cars because they are also green. If my explanation was valid, then
I should also like green apples and green cars.

The point is there are many many many theories out there for which we have
limited evidence for. Given that, it doesn't seem to be enough to explain why
right wing folks latch on to certain of those theories but not others.

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klmadfejno
It's an interesting question. I'm not sure I came away with a clear
understanding of the article's thesis on what the answer is. If I really had
to guess, I'd just say that culturally rapists and sexual predators are the
worst kinds of criminals in the United States. Far worse than murderers. It
permeates media. Not sure I've ever, even once, seen a fictional character
achieve redemption after committing rape. I'm not even sure I've seen a
character consider seeking redemption or expressing remorse after committing
rape. If you do it, you're a monster, and probably have myriad other awful
traits in addition to being physically weird-looking or having a creepy
goblin-esque set of mannerisms that only manifest in the most private moments,
and are prone to quietly staring at someone so they can have a chance to
intuit that you're a sexual predator by appearance alone. And so if you're
trying to make a conspiracy theory that says the libs are just the worst, you
say they're rapists.

Bojack Horseman is the closest example I can think of, in which he is not bad
faith accused of such things, and feels vaguely accountable for them even if
he wasn't actually a rapist.

And just to be clear, I do think rape and sexual exploitation is maximally
bad. I think our cultural understanding and characterization of rapists is
terrible and harmful to everyone, especially victims, and that saying our this
does not in any way diminish the badness of it.

edit: and for completion, it used to be worse to be a witch, or a commie.

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trengorilla
Probably because they're one of the few actually prevelant and real
conspiracies within the conspiracy theory world. So many 100% proven examples
to point at.

Also, although there's correlation between right wing and conspiracy theories
in general, the title is over emphasising that a lot. The interest in the
Epstein scandal for example is pretty much universal.

~~~
raxxorrax
In Germany it was indeed a problem in the past.

The civil rights movements had people that did try to normalize pedophilia.
They were thrown out at some point though. They were mostly active in the
green party of Germany, but the party had a clear and complete break with
them. To say they harbor pedophiles today would indeed be a conspiracy,
although some proponents are still politically active. But also not very
relevant.

I think it appeals to a certain right wing crowd because it is a trivial moral
stance to be against child exploitation and aside from that they have few
other stances that could be called moral. There was this craze in the 70s
about sexual repression that went a bit too far in some directions, so it was
difficult to call them out. It was a necessary movement, but you also had
these crazies that took everything a little too literal and wanted to remove
any form of shame or inhibition.

I think Epstein might have had sex with minors under the law that were
basically teenagers, but I don't think there is evidence that he was a
pedophile. He was just exploitative of young girls and perhaps the trusted
pimp of some of the US and UK political class. Pedophilia is a sexual
disorder. Children are ugly from a sexual perspective for people with a normal
sexuality.

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draugadrotten
Meanwhile, in Africa. [https://www.theguardian.com/global-
development/2020/sep/03/a...](https://www.theguardian.com/global-
development/2020/sep/03/a-race-against-time-the-new-law-putting-somalias-
children-at-risk-of-marriage)

"Child marriage in the country has increased during coronavirus – and now a
newly-tabled bill would allow children as young as 10 to marry"

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kgwxd
Projection

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drcongo
I'd like to know how QAnons manage to froth at the mouth about p(a)edophiles
while simultaneously getting all their nutso "facts" from a site that hosts
child porn.

~~~
krapp
What do you expect from a movement that originated on 4chan, whose culture
considers posting child porn to be a harmless prank?

