I've been extremely confused this morning. It has seemed to me that the community regards pedophilia as the worst of all crimes. So bad in fact that the common view appears to be that a pedophile is about the only type of criminal who ought to really be locked-up and the key thrown away.

Not only that, but anyone who has had any sort of institutional connection with the pedophile at the time when they committed their crime(s)should be held partly guilty as well.

So not only do we have vigilantes driving pedophiles out of their suburbs when they are released from jail, but we even drove a Governor-General from office because when he was Archbishop he was deemed not to have shown enough empathy with victims of pedophiles in his church.

This morning news comes that Roman Polanski has at long last been arrested for a pedophile offence that he admits committing (although the ABC this morning referred to it as an allegation). To date I have heard no-one suggesting that this is a good thing.

Rather we have had quotes from organisers of a film festival saying they are shocked and a friend of his saying that this is madness. Combined with a rundown of some of his cinematic successes.

Hopefully this reportage will change during the day and the history of a man who preyed on younger women will be laid bare and his arrest welcomed. Or will it? Is my original assessment of the horror in which pedophilia is held wrong? Is it OK in certain circumstances or for certain types of people? Or is there a social statute of limits so that if it happened long enough ago it can be excused?

GrahamY asks:

"Is my original assessment of the horror in which pedophilia is held wrong? Is it OK in certain circumstances or for certain types of people? Or is there a social statute of limits so that if it happened long enough ago it can be excused?"

I think GrahamY's original assessment of the horror in which pedophilia is held by the vast majority of the community is probably fairly accurate. May I suggest there is a commonplace confusion between this widely shared revulsion, and the 'grandstanding' upon this issue on occasions undertaken by would-be leaders of the 'vigilante pack'.

Opposition to pedophilia is such a (no pun intended) 'motherhood issue' that anyone grandstanding upon it must surely instantly acquire recognised moral superiority and exemplary rectitude, isn't that so? The idea is then to ride upon the public recognition of this rectitude, this moral superiority, toward the attainment of some other (generally political) objective.

GrahamY alludes to an excellent example of this grandstanding behaviour in the hounding from public office of former Governor-General Peter Hollingsworth. I would contend that the appropriated 'moral superiority' of those more prominent in the hounding-out was sought primarily to damage the office more so than the man, and to channel understandable and expected revulsion into the cause of changing the polity of the nation, rather than from any more than ordinary concern with the prevention of pedophilia.

The seeming absence, as yet, of any outcry in reportage of the Roman Polanski matter is probably due to no local existing, or would-be, grandstander having yet worked out how to use it in some local political 'cause'.

I seem to recall an event in a society in which adultery was (at least publicly) held in similar revulsion, to the point where a woman caught in the act was up for a stoning. The leaders of that pack were likewise seeking to appropriate unto themselves moral high ground, from which they could then discredit a freelance teacher who was teaching certain other things which perhaps they saw as undermining their political power.

Graham, I don't know why you are confused. Things like this a just all over the place. Always have been. There is an enormous spectrum of views on what constitutes pedophilia, what is acceptable and what is condemnable. And there has always been an enormous variation in the way it has all been dealt with and how different people have been punished.

Do you really expect fairness here?

Look at the condemnation of artist Bill Henson, which was discussed to death in a number of threads on this forum. Was/is he a pedophile? What about his key photo of the underaged girl, with her arm across her breasts but her fanny exposed, over which his exhibition was closed down, being published in full in at least one major newspaper!

Extraordinary duplicity! But that's what we live with.

This sort of thing pervades our system of law and our whole society.

I don't think I need to say much more than this. It is all just a dog's breakfast and that's the end of it!

Why would you ever expect fairness, logic or reason to prevail?

Hi to all the Forgotten Australians

A Topic That brings another one of society's prominent people out from the closet of their rapes on a child 30 years ago ,

G.Y, I noted you state About peter Hollings Worth , Why did You Not State george Pell , , The Whole Former Labour And liberal Goverments Hell Even our former Prime Ministers Were aware Of Us victims The Forgotten Australians, whom were raped and abused in their state and territories instutional homes ,orphanages girls homes , boys homes . state ward homes , foster homes , out of home care State church homes , ,church homes ,And Many More , of Australia's states And Territory's of which we vicitms were raped and abused , , and have now started to been heard by only a few in our new Goverment , of australia ,

Do You Think It Is exectable for D.O.C.S lawyers to stand up in front of 3 judges and say these log book records have been destroyed lost, misplaced ,

when the victims has no idea this ever happend ,

then the courts say to the victim see ya later with no justice just rape you over by the court system ,

those very documents i stated , of which N.S.W. lawyers for D.O.C.S. stated in court last year has now allowed for 2 pedophiles to roam our society , and the law won't touch them because D.O.C.S. destroyed the evidence that proved a case ,

the victims word was the truth but was denide justice , yet those records prove the victims truth , so the courts their self have covered for the state of N.S.W, D.O.C.S.

You Tell me is this coruption within the court system and D.O.C.S. their self ,

And The Former leaders Of N.S.W. And Our prime ministers And premiers , and Welfare And Juvenille justice System .

So Will A.C.I.C , Be Just as Corupt When The Complaint Is Handed to them ,

and cover up the same past and that of the truth ,

From A Real Forgotten Australian,

made a mistake in Last Post It Should I.C.A.C.

Independant.Commission.Against.Courption

Why Not Talk about What is Giong On In our own Country

In Victoria last month their Is A known Pedophile raising another Lot of Children how Do we not Know Those children will be Abused like His Former Victims

Also Thses People Who harm our Children How About Everyone Get behind me And submitt To all politicians that They Are Never To be Released From gaol period

lets Have Some guts In this Country and stop the Protection Of Pedophiles In Australia They Have more rights Than us Victims

And The Previous goveremnts Who were In Charge of Everything They Should Be All Brought into a royal commission as In Asking have They Ever Been Notified by Anyone That They were a victims Of rapes And abuse In the states and territories Institutional children Homes of Australia because i can Assure You they all knew About us victims The Forgotten Australians

Thats One Of The Reasons bob carr changed The Limitation acts of a victim of a crime or Injury

So How About all you people out their with the brains put pen to paper and ask for these laws to be changed , and mainly for Pedophiles Never to be released and yes the death penalty

so what stopping australia from doing any of this we are supose to be the fair county the lucky country well thats fair for the death penalty and yes they are lucky they have been caught so the death penalty can be granted

i reckon if mr rudd put that as a vote for him to stay in power next election he would win a land slide victory

stop the cover ups and coruption of destroying victims truth fisrtly and if as stated these have been destroyed those in those departments should be guilty of such crimes as destroying evidence as they are just as worse as the pedophiles who raped us when were children

so much for the word justice in our country when our goverment departments destroy victims trut

I don't see any confusion here, though I know many will. My view remains consistent, at least in my eyes :), and holds for each of the four examples that have been named here so far - Polanski, Henson, Hollingsworth and Ferguson.

Polanski, IF guilty of these accusations, should unquestionably face consequences for his actions. No doubt, if the allegations are true, his young victim, or victims, will have had some difficult memories to deal with throughout their lives, as a result of encounters that occurred largely because of their own immaturity at the time, and the vast age and power imbalance between them and Polanski. These issues need to be redressed, irrespective of the time lapse and the status and respect Polanski might have achieved since.

Henson was wrong, in my view, to photograph children of the age and maturity levels that he did and in the manner in which he did. I had my say on that at the time on OLO, and put myself at odds with many posters I normally find myself agreeing with. :)

Hollingsworth was wrong to turn the blind eye that he did and, in my view, needed to be removed from high office as he was.

Ferguson was wrong to molest children and quite correctly needed to face severe consequences, which he has done. Having said that, I deplore the vigilantism that is hounding him now, long after he's paid for his crimes, and way out of all proportion to the threat he now presents.

To me, these four men (and Polanski of course only falls into this category if the allegations are correct) are all culpable of sexually exploiting children or (as in Hollingsworth's case) condoning it, and are all deserving of condemnation and severe penalty as a result.