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Does vigilantism and baiting child predators seem immoral to you? (lemmy.world)

submitted 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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I keep seeing videos lately of grown men posing as children online and baiting individuals to public spaces and either assaulting them or recording/exposing them for content. While I don't mind the idea of a predator being outed, the idea of grown adults posing as children online seems unsavory to me. Especially if their end goal isn't to protect children, and is to provide content for views.

Obviously, being a child predator is wildly immoral and illegal and their actions are not what's being debated.

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[–] [email protected] 4 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (1 children)

There's an element of this that feels like it's operating under the assumption that someone will assault a different child if not the adult posing as one that makes me a little uncomfortable. It's a sort of Kantian outlook, but there's a part of me that wonders if those predators would find another target if the decoy "child" wasn't presented to them.

On the other hand, I imagine that the answer to that question is "Yes. This is an abuser actively hunting for a target." and that assuages some of the concern.

Them doing it for views and content is also upsetting, but that's the nature of living in a capitalist world. Everything, even justice, can and will be commodified and sold into a perversion of its original intent and goal.

[–] [email protected] -1 points 4 months ago

there’s a part of me that wonders if those predators would find another target if the decoy “child” wasn’t presented to them

If these idiots are meeting kids to try to abuse at a Wal-Mart, they are more than likely not smart enough to entice actual minors in other settings.