Calling All Creepers

Last month, Rolling Stone released the article: “'To Catch a Predator': The New American Witch Hunt for Dangerous Pedophiles”
The article displays a, at the very least, interesting suggestion: Is this wildly-popular program is nothing more than a slimy unethical grab for ratings?
This article dances quite the fine line between objectivity and mere sensationalism, portraying both sides of the coin in the murky grey waters between good and evil. Simply put, by the end of this article, one won’t be able to decide if cheering for Chris Hansen is a bad thing.
They cite the falsified stats used by the show, its fear-mongering techniques, and the harsh life pedophiles have to deal with following their bust (damned forever to a national registry complete with personal information is a typical punishment.)
I have to applaud Rolling Stone for presenting another viewpoint for the millions who’d be so easily to accept that these men are just plain evil, just as Dateline presents them to be.
That said, I really don’t think there’s a single thing that’d make me feel sorry for a pedophile. There is no excuse for being such a sick son-of-a-bitch.
I’ll admit, reading the article made me feel a little sorry for these guys who just fucked up their entire lives within the span of a single afternoon. They can only sit it out now and wait until 10-15 years later when the show is long forgotten if they ever hope to find a decent job or get a girlfriend ever again, and it’ll still haunt them till the day they die.
But I stand by my belief that better their life fucked up than the life of a child, or in some cases, multiple children. There’s no way to spin it otherwise; children who are sexually abused come out with some sort of terrible problem, be it mental or sexual. It’s just unbelievably cruel to deny a child of their innocence like that.
While I think “To Catch A Predator” has run it’s course and should leave such busts to professional law enforcement, I can’t say it that it had a negative effect on our culture. For all the child-lovers out there struggling with their inner desires, the show will probably scare them into silence for many years to come. There are better ways to deal with such a problem then scarring the life of a child forever.