Randolph George Orwell was right, but just a few years out.
Britain is moving ahead with plans to test a US-style law giving parents more information about convicted paedophiles but has made no final decision, government sources said on Tuesday.
Parents will be able to ask if offenders live in their street, on popular school routes or near their playground.
Let me just make it crystal clear that I do not support paedophilia, though I do believe that the age of consent should be dropped to 16 for both genders (up until 2007 it ranged from 16 to 19 in South Africa depending on your sexual orientation).
My beef with this proposed law is that it makes people scared. When you rule with fear as opposed to democracy, people will do anything to feel “safe”.
If someone has been found guilty in law of any criminal act, the punishment meted out by the court should be enough. When the public gets an opportunity to judge people based on their own fears and ignorance, we end up in a society where we can’t trust anyone, and are too busy watching the others to be living our own lives, which is what it’s all about, when you think about it.
Simplistic, maybe, but that’s how I think. Lead by example, not by fear. Otherwise I might have to go back into the closet again because someone might think that queer = paedophile. Given a law that the UK is trying to pass, it’s not a big step.