[summer]

Did anyone else see this on Dateline last night?

I though this was the best show they've ever done. I hope they turn it into a series.

It was unbelievable to see how many men, from all walks of life, they caught and had arrested by the police, in only 3 days -- something like 50.

One was a high school teacher! Another worked for Homeland Security! And several had criminal histories. VERY frightening to watch what is out there and going on.

[summer]

Here's the mugshot photo of the sex predators police arrested:

[xrp]

It's nice to see the MSM doing some good for a change. I especially liked times where the culprit would try to escape then gets tackled by cops and roughed up.

[Diana in Wisconsin]

Didn't see this one (UW Hockey w/THREE overtime periods absorbed our attention last night; Badgers WON!) but I've seen previous shows they've done.

Very scarey, indeed. Glad my DH is a Computer Engineer. Our kids didn't get away with jack, or wander where they shouldn't have been when they were on-line. DH had us all networked together and we could see what the kids were up to at will. We also limited computer on-line time much moreso than other parents seemed to.

All survived to adulthood with nothing worse than a few downloaded nekkid girly pix found on their computers. ;)

[submarinerswife]

This is the only worth while news programming coming out of NBC for quit some time.

I never miss one of these predator shows.

Very scary wake up call for parents, that's for sure.

[John Robertson]

I suspect I will get sincerely hammered for this, and accused at the least of being a pederast-sympathizer, or at most, a lurker/stalker/abuser myself.

But I really do not like the government "nabbing" people this way. (Even though MSNBC is driving this, they would not have launched their effort without the clear support of the government--ie, law enforcement working in concert with them). Unless caught in flagrante delicto, to me these people have been treated unfairly. They're guilty of having their weaknesses/pathologies probed and tickled and tempted past the point of no return. They show up, and get arrested not for committing heinous acts, but for our presumption of their willingness to commit such acts.

I know of a local man who, years ago, was asked by a neighbor to use his workshop to cut down his double-barrelled 12-gauge. Why? he wanted to know. The guy responded that he didn't have a good vise, and couldn't find his hacksaw. The man smelled something, and said to the neighbor, This isn't a setup, is it? Because it's technically illegal to cut down a shotgun. No, the neighbor insisted, he just wanted to cut it down to keep in his car, for safety.

They went back and forth, back and forth, the man torn between helping out the neighbor and listening to his instincts. Finally, he relented, letting the man use his workshop.

It was an ATF sting. The neighbor was in trouble, and agreed to set up someone who "might" have been doing illegal modifications. The man had never done anything illegal re guns, as it turns out...but for the condoning of the use of his vise and hacksaw for about ten minutes.

The man lost everything. It was a stone cold setup, and it became not about catching a lawbreaker but not backing down from their gambit.

Same kind of temptation/entreaties could be foisted on any one of us: Can I keep my bullion in your safe? Would you store this deer carcasse for me? I need to park this Ford behind your shed.

In this case, MSNBC and the government are going after a universally reviled group, so little thought is ever given to their constitutional rights. Just because it's a (potential) crime that most of us find repugnant, doesn't mean we should endorse entrapment.

As for the "power of TV," and how it's being made good use of...MSNBC would drop this in a nanosecond if it weren't a ratings horse for them. Never forget: They're whores.

[TChris]

I think Dr. Berlin had a good point though, after reading his full interview: Why can't we work on finding a way to treat these deviants before they victimize my daughter? Keep catching and punishing the ones who victimize children, absolutely. But without any treatment options, the best we can hope for is that we'll catch the guy after his first victim. Why accept that there has to be a first victim? Dr. Berlin has conclusively proven that some of them can be treated, that many of them want to be treated, and that doing so would prevent many children from ever becoming some sick man's first victim.

[bigdcaldavis]

Did SpecialGuy29 ever get arrested?

[bigdcaldavis]

Remember the one with SpecialGuy29? One of the pervs was a frickin' rabbi!

[Dinsdale]

Good for the reporters and the police.

But lets give a little credit to the Internet. These F@$@s were no doubt just waiting for an opportunity to molest. The net caught at least some of them before they acted out their fantasies. They were always walking hazards.

40 years ago they would have been much more careful. The same perceived anonymity that leads to, shall we say, uncivil discourse on FR led these pervs right to the police.

[Idisarthur]

Wow, amazing... but what is really interesting is my wife has a co-worker that said that these men were "set up" or coaxed, as in they would not have done anything if the teen wasn't online.

Amazing, and this co-worker is 40 years old... you would think with age.... you would think...

I saw one viewing last year (Dateline) and the men were allowed to go free - as in freed after the interview. Amazing...

**********************

So are things in this world black and white - like the behavior above? Run that by a post modern conformist.

But I wouldn't be suprised if they arged logical Fallacy, false dilemma, false dichotomy.

I would not be surprised.