how often are we the butt of comedy routines, background and foreground characters in dramas, cop shows, america's most wanted - even shoot-em-ups, since we're such popular targets?

Yet there's still a taboo, IMO. If we take the Internet, talking about pedophilia almost always got me banned. Recently, i spoke about my opinions on pedophilia (without saying i was a pedophile) on a popular forum and one of the administrators tried to have me investigated IRL.

In another circumstance, a person requested my ban on the grounds that my discussions on pedophilia desensitized the other users. Said another way, he was demanding that pedophilia remain a taboo that is not supposed to be discussed neither rationally or extensively.

We are demonized like homosexuals were, but they have broken some taboos that we haven't.

In our case, it gets to the point where the average person can't differentiate the sexual orientation (a pedophile) with the acts themselves.

people are funny. you can only villify the enemy so long, before he starts becoming a sympathetic figure, the minor hero. germans used to be the bad guys, when i was a kid, now they're cool, cutting edge drama, and these days they don't lose the war, they wind up bonding with the allies. same goes for the russians, the japanese, even the jews, and america's traditional enemy, the american indian.

i believe this is where we're at - the new avant guarde, appearing on tv next season, if not already.

Interesting statement. It would be amusing if Elias of Clerks 2 turned out to be a child lover in the next Clerks.

that's why we need to get out there - not debating, not defending, not trying to be prove anything, or bitching and whining - just out there, being ourselves, putting a face on the reality.

If someone knows the risks and can assume them, it's their choice. However, it's my opinion that most here don't know the risks and don't seem very ready to assume them, Kevin being one of them.

In fact, pedophobes surprise me every week with what they're capable of. I've personally had a few surprises this year too, just like any year before that.

how do you know?

A lot of experience.