Pedophilia

I'd like to sincerely apologize to my opponent for forfeiting the previous round. (I have been extremely busy trying to balance school, my job, some major personal issues, and my social life. ) In condolence, I forfeit the conduct vote, and I ask Nail_Bat to forgive this doing. "Surely, a pedophile can choose not to act on his or her urges. We might accept that a person be absolved of guilt if there was no other course of action they could have taken, but this only applies if there truly was no room for choice. " Please refer to the introduction. This is a debate about "pedophilia" -- not "active pedophilia. " This point is negated. My opponent's failure to understand the resolution shows a lack of critical reading of this debate. I very clearly stated in my introduction: "In this debate, I make a distinction between 'pedophile' and 'active pedophile. ' I define a 'pedophile' as anyone who has a sexual attraction to children, while I define an 'active pedophile' as someone who actually acts upon those urges through encounters with children. " Clearly this is a debate on pedophiles that want to act on their urges, but choose not to. I question: Is the rest of my opponent's argument then marked by this majorly critical misconception? "In an earlier time, when a 13 year old was considered to be an adult, pedophilia would still be scorned. The only difference is that the age range of a child would be significantly less than it is today. " This is absolutely not true. Prepubescent sex with minors was not only encouraged but also even institutionalized in Ancient Greece (. http://en.wikipedia.org...)! One could argue the point that the Spartans were against pederasty, but that is not the point. The point is: cultures in which pedophilia was not mentally scarring were cultures in which pedophilia was not mentally scarring. These men who loved boys took care of them, the families had oversight, and the boys were made sure of not to get hurt! Pedophilia mentally scars children only in societies that demand such scarring. "We can say 'Boy I'd really like to strangle my boss' and be met with nods of approval. Not so if you said 'Boy I'd really like to take that 8 year old up to my place. ' " You cannot disprove the resolution by stating it! The whole point of this debate is that pedophiles should be more accepted by our modern society; the fact that it is not more accepted is the problem, and it is what we are debating. But to go along with your example, I believe murder to be a much more serious crime. Sex is something beautiful, whereas murder is a horrendous act. "We can then ask, would aversion to pedophilia give one social group enough of a survival advantages over moral systems that didn't take a stance on the issue? If so, we would have our answer as to where the basis for the pedophilia taboo comes from. " Argumentum ad populum. Just because pedophilia isn't more accepted in our current society doesn't mean we shouldn't more accept pedophilia! In fact, that is what we are debating right now. Let us, indeed, do accept more pedophiles! "If we treated the passage from child to adult as a smooth continuum, rather than a set of discrete steps, the words 'child' and 'adult' would lose much of their meaning. " In terms of sex, why should there be a gap? Sex is the most beautiful thing in the world. I find it rather odd that society looks at sex as this evil, sinister thing. "Children would not have the experience, intelligence, and judgment to act as adults. Hence, societies that have strong separations between children and adults would have an advantage over those that don't. " I would argue that children were not taken advantage of in Ancient Greece and that sex is one of things that should be shared by all, but I'd like to remind my opponent and the audience: This is not a debate over active pedophilia but a debate over more accepting pedophiles. The resolution reads "Society should take steps to more accept pedophiles. " "What of more trivial violations of this distinction, for example letting a child become a governor? " Cross this with everything said above. ---- Points the audience should consider while voting ---- + English "I would agree that people do not have much conscious ability to control who they're attracted to. " Directly following the preposition "to control", the appropriate word should be "whom. " "We don't bat an eye when someone voluntarily watches a simulated murder, or plays a video game which simulates theft. " The phrase "simulates theft" is necessary, so the word "which" should be replaced with "that. " "If the cutoff point is well placed, a clear distinction . . . " The word "if" signifies a hypothetical; thus, the word "is" should be replaced with "were. " + Argument My opponent failed to correctly understand the resolution, which negates the majority of his points. I have sufficiently rebutted his other points. + Sources I have been the only one thus far to provide any sources whatsoever.