Hold on, weren't you called for his head or have I mixed you with someone else?! At least he puts his opinion out there. And bear in mind DB does a lot for children's charities.
I didn't call for his head, you must have me confused. I don't disagree with his sentiment, I'm also a father, I just don't think that someone of a high a profile as his should be saying things like that on twitter.
Yeah next he'll get done for inciting the rape of a paedo , wouldn't that be just about right in this fucked up world. Good for him I say , Chowder and all them hate clerics don't use their position to preach bile do they ! as a matter of fact I'd like to hear more prominent people say how the majority of us feel.
As much as the rational side of me doesn't want to agree with you, I'm afraid the impulsive side of me does..
Listen I know there has to be law and order ,right and wrong ,good guys and baddies , but cant someone sometime ( like Charlie Bronson) (death wish not the nutter) ride to our aid and bump the peado's (howd you spell it a before e or Vicky versa) murderers and general degenerates off for once. You know just take out a couple of thousand of em ,that'll make the rest of the scum think twice. And then for good measure a judge to say " naughty boy you shouldn't have done that , hears another box of shells".
Crime is a part of human society. As a part of that there will always be people who, for what ever reason, don't adhere to social norms and commit crimes like this. The best we can do is what we are doing; do our best to educate and prevent before the fact and catch these people after the fact. I obviously don't think it's acceptable for any child to be abused, I also don't think it's possible to completely stamp out abuse. No matter how harsh the punishment there will always be someone who will do it any way that won't get caught and those who don't even consider the punishment before the fact that do get caught. So killing off a load of criminals will not stop abuse and killing them would probably cost more in court than just locking them up for good.
There was me thinking free speech was one of this country's assets. Seems not, when everything you say on twitter gets scrutinized every second of the day for fear of being sued. People should speak their minds more often when stuff like this crops up. People like Watkins need to hear what we think of him.
I can't understand why people use Twitter. If I had any kind of profile at all, I wouldn't even be posting on here. There's a lot to be said for just keeping things to yourself and not much to be said for voicing extreme opinions of any nature. If no one cares what you say, sure, go ahead. But public figures? Opening a whole can of worms.
But at the end of the day Glid... Bananaman is just a rich bloke , why shouldn't he have his say , you could say he's a role model ,bollocks so am I . I haven't committed any crimes I'm as honourable as he is ,if not more. I agree about twitter and facebook ,I haven't got an account on either , nor would I want one , friends and friends kids have got themselves into all sorts of pickles because of stupid postings . And Christ one of my mates posts things like I'm off to clean my teeth , time for bed , shall I put my green socks or my red ones on with my mustard cords , ffs I kid you not.
Problem with Twitter or FB, is that it is just soundbites, isn't it? There isn't enough space to explain what you mean or qualify it in any way. So either you're Ogden Nash and extremely funny and witty in a few words, or, more likely, you're not and just sound crass or stupid. I reckon if you've got something worth saying, it probably needs a whole post on a blog or something.
Maybe not quite right on target but , in NZ we have had a program (docco ) "Beyond the darklands "which looks at the life of some of our worst crims be they paedo's or murder's .......whatever . The common thing with most of them is the appalling abuse they themselves suffered from not only the parents but the extended family , and while its true that not all abused kids turn into abusers , you could begin to understand why they are the way they are . It bugs me that these abusive family members ( who are probly victims themselves ) are not bought to justice for their actions . We talk about breaking the cycle but it seems to me that we are only interested in dealing with the latest phase of the cycle , although recently here some 70 year old guy was chucked in jail for what he did to his daughter 40 years ago , and long may that continue . Its hard to see how locking up some granddad is going to help todays victim , but neither should they get away with it. We also say that everyone knows the difference between right and wrong but if you'd been raped and beaten by your father and uncles while your mother and aunties watched , where would the line between right and wrong be. Paedo's arrive at their victim from so many different directions I don't believe there is an overall cure but I do believe that they should be punished to the full extent of the law . Bat wielding vigilante lynch mobs are little better than the sicko's they seek to deliver their "justice " to .
That is all very true, which makes the whole area a minefield. It's the eternal problem between "mad" and "bad" and what makes people bad in the first instance - are they just born like that? (Some are, I reckon). But most "bad" people know full well that their behaviour is unacceptable, but they just don't care (until they are caught, in some instances).
Our local court is full of these cases at the moment. I suppose the only thing that is coming out of all this is that society now has got to a point where victims feel that they will have half a chance of being listened too and taken seriously, even if twenty or thirty years have passed. I remember during my teenage years abuse was something that only was ever reported as having happened to infants, years later hearing from others how certain class mates or people you knew had been victims and only now coming forward. A colleague has just finished doing jury service in winchester on a case of a teacher with twenty charges against him, and I agree with you Glid, he appeared totally unrepentant of his situation by all accounts.
Good point Sev. Maybe the overriding change is people come forward. Makes capture more likely and punishment the same. The only thing on that is it may make murder more attractive too. If this guy had killed a couple too, would he have been given any longer?! Suspect not
My dad's best mate turned out to be a kiddy fiddler; thank god my dad died before the news emerged. 'Uncle' Jerry was a lovely bloke, there's no way in the world you'd guess what was going on in his mind, he was an integral part of our family. When his son broke the news (he'd caught his dad with his year-old daughter - how on earth do you cope with that?) I've never been so shocked in my life. There was nothing about Jerry that was unusual or out of the ordinary, he was a perfectly average bloke. Yet in court he admitted to several other incidents before they came to light. None of his family and none of his friends had the faintest idea; in fact in the lead up to the court case Andy said he had to take a lot of flack from his dad's friends because they assumed it was just a family feud that had gone too far. How wrong they were. The worst bit is how Jerry's family have had to deal with the after effects. Andy is made of stern stuff, and is open and honest about what went on, but the rest of what was once a close family have split to the furthest corners of the country in order to distance themselves from Jerry's name. All of them have changed their names. Andy's older brother tried to kill himself after the court case. He was one of the people who thought Andy was lying; he's now clinically depressed and unemployable. So before you start making assumptions about Watkins' life and family, stop and reconsider, it's highly likely they knew as little as you or I.
When I was younger , 17 to 23 , I was in a group of 4 others , we were all into bikes , ice skating beer .... good friends. I even flatted with Ken for a few months . When I was 36 I moved away from XXXX ( home town ),one day I picked up the local paper and was surprized to see Kens mug on the front page , stunned to find out he had just been convicted of 11 representative charges ( there were over 40 victims ) of molesting, sodomising ,allowing ........ He was a sea scout instructor . This was going on the whole time I knew him. Looking back the only thing I could say was that he never had a girlfriend, but we never knew. I cant believe we never even suspected
Some refreshingly honest posts on here, thanks guys. We should not feel guilty for failing to spot these bastards. They are incredibly devious and manipulative.
