2020 Has Peaked: Pedophilia is Political

Photo by Joel Muniz on Unsplash

August 24 2020

If there is one unifying conclusion that is shared despite all of the sources of division that are leaking from above into our society, it is that 2020 has been rough. No getting round it.

I’m sure I’ll miss one of your ‘favourites’.

Australia’s Bushfires.

A viral pandemic.

A racially charged murder snuff film.

The astonishing and suspicious overlap of the seemingly incompatible worldwide events of societal lockdowns and mass protests.

Kanye?

And Epstein and Maxwell.

Of course I’m finishing with them, because they best set the scene for what I see as the new leader in the Peak 2020 stakes.

Pedophilia is political.

Ooh, the cringe at that word. Can’t we just call it child trafficking. Maybe even just child abuse. I mean, they still sound unpleasant, but at least a bit more ambiguous — it doesn’t have that uncomfortably icky edge to it.

Because I didn’t just choose it for the alliteration (as much as I do enjoy it). It’s time to face up to the icky-ness of this shadow that lurks barely out of focus in our world — whether it is the elite pedophile rings at the top of society, or the everyday normalisation of the sexualisation of young people you can see in your Instagram feed.

Of course, you shouldn’t need a white dude to tell you that this stuff is icky. Ya’ll progressive women have been well across the sample of creepy offerings that men are capable of dishing up, even if you are probably going to be as shocked as I was about what women are also capable of.

Because not only is this not political, it is also not about gender. It is about a more profound darkness that exists in humanity as a whole that is in urgent need of illumination.

But right now, the biggest issue seems to be the politics. This is understandable to an extent: the right are notorious Puritans, opposed to sex often in anything but the strictest settings. The left are more, well, liberal: the boundaries to what is acceptable are there to be constantly pushed. So of course they would be more opposed to accepting the extent to which these boundaries have been shattered.

And they have been, to an extent that is so obvious and unambiguous that this issue can now, for all its ickiness and unpleasantness, become a cause that we can all unify around, regardless of our political identity.

So. If you are not right wing, or do not identify as right wing (I’m not sure those two categories perfectly overlap) then my humble advice is to stop being outraged that right wingers have taken ownership of pedophilia and start fighting them for this ownership.

Not as in fight directly, or dirty. But fight fairly, by giving it the time, attention, research and outrage that it deserves when stacked up against the causes that not-right-wingers like to advocate for. Until then, don’t complain that the right wingers are claiming the moral high ground.

One other thing.

When I say that 2020 has peaked with this, I don’t really mean it. Let’s call it more of a false flat.

Of course there is more to come. This is 2020 after all: the conclusion of the great zodiac cycle that yields an historic series of events that countless cultures around the world have been prophesizing for centuries. The end times: whether you interpret this end as a fiery Armageddon, or a transition to an amazing new world. Either way, this ain’t no ordinary time to be alive, in case you were still on the fence.

It might be time to get off the fence and make sure you are on the right side of history on this one.