(October 26, 2016 at 3:29 pm)mlmooney89 Wrote: See the thing is you can say you believe your friend cause they are 'good people' but you don't -know-.
Do you know what it's like to be told you are lying about your rapist because: he is a good man and he wouldn't do that, I'm his best friend and I know he wouldn't do that, he has never shown any bad signs toward that.
Yes, I do.
This conversation is so hard to have because people let their emotions drown out everything else. It's an understandable reaction. I can't do that because I already have to completely block out any emotions on that topic anyway. I think it makes it easier for me to consider the actual discussion at hand.
Try to bear with me here. I'm not suggesting that you should trust someone who tells you they're a pedophile. I don't honestly think you can 100% trust another person anyhow. I'm not suggesting that you do nothing. I'm not suggesting that if you see this person babysitting someone else's kid you should turn a blind eye.
What I am saying is that this person is still a human being. I'm not charging you personally with helping them because obviously some people won't be able to for completely valid reasons. But we as a society should not be demonizing people with something I consider to be a serious mental illness (this is all my opinion still). A general reaction that would be good is to not judge the person for thoughts and desires they cannot control. You give them advice to tell any friends who have kids or if they can't to end all contact with those kids until further notice. You advise them to seek professional help. You be there for them as a friend (if you can). You help them in any way you can, and if you can't help them you at least refrain from destroying them.
It's an entirely different case if a child has reported someone for abuse.
