Far be it from me to advocate for child molestation - there are plenty of other forces in our culture doing that job already.  (Though, really, don't knock it until you've tried it.)  Nonetheless, I am amazed, given the relative prevalence of such crimes versus, say, murder, by how much of our national attention (as measured by the reliable scale of what they are talking about on the TeeVee) is consumed by morbid preoccupation with "sex offenders".

When did "sex offenders" take over from commies, queers, colored people, the Illuminati, and Illinois Nazis (or Jews, if you are an Illinois Nazi) as The Group We All Fear, and OMIGOD There They Are Now!!!1! Oh Wait, False Alarm, That Was Just The Cat?  What is it about us that makes it imperative that this evil, and no other, be pursued even at the risk of promoting vigilantism?  The whole thing is made harder to see because of our instinctive, and justified, hatred of those who would harm children - but this understandable instinct blinds us to what is actually going on here.  Who, for example, is a "sex offender"?  The term encompasses rape and molestation, to be sure, but might include, depending on the state, exposure, sex acts in public places, etc.  That is to say, Pee-Wee Herman and George Michael are probably on the roster.  For all we know, a drunk pissing against a lightpost could be included on the List of Evil, and lynched at some point as a result.  Do you trust the government to keep this from happening?  Do you trust your neighbors to know the difference?

But, quite apart from these practical questions, I am concerned with the spiritual state of this country, where we apparently feel the need to locate and punish evil in others at all costs.  Even if there is justification for such an attitude (and I don't feel that there is) I have to wonder about our need to do so, rather than placing our energy into, say, finding the roots of evil in ourselves, and working on those - or perhaps improving the world, and the upbringing of children, in such a way that fewer of them become monsters.

Let's face it - actually caring about others, and letting go of our own demons is much harder than grabbing the torches and racing out to Kill the Monster.  "Thinking" of the children remains popular - so long as it allows us to do fun things like beating up peculiar loners, and doesn't require us to do boring, hard stuff like spending money and time on food distribution and education.  So it is no surprise that the villagers are, once again, up in arms.