Mobs, Messiahs, and Markets

On the Self‐Importance of Scribblers

And there you have the typical do‐gooder. From the protection of children to the jailing of grandmothers is a smooth and natural step for him. Children, he thinks, are innocent. From that he infers that children can do no wrong. Which means that if they say their teachers are molesting them, then in fact their teachers must be molesting them. And since an adult who molests children is prima facie a monster of the most monstrous sort, hanging would be too good for him and a proper hearing quite out of the question.

Thus does the neocortex sputter in fits and starts from dubious assumptions to preposterous conclusions with nary a whisper of doubt in between. And only a man capable of committing logic is liable to commit such an absurdity.

Of course, even as logic the thing does not hold together. The innocence of children is more in the nature of a statement of dogma than an assertion that can be falsified. Innocent of what? Innocent compared to what? The demagogues can give no answer between their rants. Nor can they tell us when childhood ends. Are eight‐year‐olds as innocent as two‐year‐olds? And when does the age of innocence end? At 14? 16? 18? And what is it that signifies that adulthood has arrived? Is it the driver's license or the marriage license? Is it making love or making war?

And even if children were as pure as the seraphim and cherubim, how does that make a crime against them any more or less heinous than a crime against, say, ...