Pedophiles Abusing The Internet And Dateline's To Catch A Predator
Judy Ramsook
April 15, 2007
Anything placed in the wrong hands can be damaging. Whether that thing hurts the user of such a device or someone else or both parties for that matter, what might be considered a luxurious source of convenience to me and you might be an instrument for someone with evil intentions so he can nab his next victim.
Take the internet for example. It is so easy to use, just about anyone with a connection can use it to find or send information online, or communicate via instant message or email. But this is where one might separate the good guys from the bad.
And all one has to do is watch Dateline: To Catch A Predator to see how easy it is for a pedophile/child molester to use the internet to nab his next underage victim. Something which further raises the issue of the internet. If placed in the wrong hands, the internet is now seen as the instrument of choice for some of those predators, pedophiles and the like.
Moreover, if one watches enough episodes of Dateline’s To Catch A predator show, it is not difficult to observe that some of these predators do what they do on more than one occasion.
Either such predators never learn what they are doing is wrong or they are so addicted to what they do that once they get their hands on a computer with an internet connection, they cannot help themselves.
It used to be or maybe in some places some predators still lurk in dark corners or alleys for their next victim, but the open road that is the internet is also available. No dark corner to hide behind there.
All it might take is a unique screen name, dotted with a few lies during whatever discussion is taking place between the predator and his pending intended underage victim and voila!
If the minor is taken in by whatever is being told to him/her and has not been warned by a parent/guardian not to set up dates/meetings with older strangers he/she encounters online, then such minor has set him/herself up for what is usually a damaging experience.
On a personal note, I just find it disappointing that some adults among us can do so much damage to kids, whether they find each other in an internet chatroom or around a dark street corner. Or maybe such predators were always around and the internet is the tool that is being used to draw them out of whatever corner of the world they are in.
Take the internet for example. It is so easy to use, just about anyone with a connection can use it to find or send information online, or communicate via instant message or email. But this is where one might separate the good guys from the bad.
And all one has to do is watch Dateline: To Catch A Predator to see how easy it is for a pedophile/child molester to use the internet to nab his next underage victim. Something which further raises the issue of the internet. If placed in the wrong hands, the internet is now seen as the instrument of choice for some of those predators, pedophiles and the like.
Moreover, if one watches enough episodes of Dateline’s To Catch A predator show, it is not difficult to observe that some of these predators do what they do on more than one occasion.
Either such predators never learn what they are doing is wrong or they are so addicted to what they do that once they get their hands on a computer with an internet connection, they cannot help themselves.
It used to be or maybe in some places some predators still lurk in dark corners or alleys for their next victim, but the open road that is the internet is also available. No dark corner to hide behind there.
All it might take is a unique screen name, dotted with a few lies during whatever discussion is taking place between the predator and his pending intended underage victim and voila!
If the minor is taken in by whatever is being told to him/her and has not been warned by a parent/guardian not to set up dates/meetings with older strangers he/she encounters online, then such minor has set him/herself up for what is usually a damaging experience.
On a personal note, I just find it disappointing that some adults among us can do so much damage to kids, whether they find each other in an internet chatroom or around a dark street corner. Or maybe such predators were always around and the internet is the tool that is being used to draw them out of whatever corner of the world they are in.
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