Guests, police say Carowinds too slow to respond to man allegedly exposing himself

Attributing widespread failure to government is a lot like attributing success to it.

"If you do not think the current US problems are not the fault of the Republicans, then you are delusional."

Which is the same as saying "if you think the current US problems are the fault of the Republicans, then you are delusional."

I applaud Rikard. Any parent that has kids and saw this nut job exposing himself to children would do the same thing Rikard did. The park staff should not have let the guy go. I agree 100% with Majorcut on this one. I have a little niece and if someone did that to her I would kill him.

But you don't know what happened. None of us do.

What the hell is wrong with our culture where now everyone is presumed guilty and the answer is to beat the crap out of people and ask questions later? And we've got the balls to call out other cultures as being barbaric?

And why is the solution to every problem violence? I'm appalled by the common consensus that the way to prevent/handle/treat/punish child sexual abuse is to beat the crap out of the abuser.

Solution being violence? That's not the solution, that's response to sick sick sick behavior. I'm not saying they should be put to death (well some of them should be) but don't act as if this is a property crime. What about the victims of these acts? They are children who will be forever changed and most likely become very sick adults. Are you going to be the one to tell them the line about treating their assaulter with respect and understanding? I'm not saying this individual deserved a beat down because I honestly don't know if he did the crime or not. But to those who do committ these acts who gives a crap if they get their eyes beat shut? I sure don't. And neither should you.

Well, once given a proper trial with evidence and witnesses and whatnot, and if he's found guilty, then bubba will take care of it for you.

^^I shouldn't care if a fellow human being is dehumanized!?!? He's a human being for crying out loud. Of course I understand the damage that is done, but does physical harm of the perpetrator in any way help the situation? What is the goal? Does it help the victim to beat up the perpetrator? Should we beat up anyone who makes a mistake? Are we "normal people" (if there is such a thing) so righteous that we can dehumanize other people because they aren't "normal" like us?

What do you think will prevent these cases in the future? Beating the snot out of anyone we decide "deserves" it and sitting in our self-righteous thrones dehumanizing them or actually trying to get to the emotional and psychological roots of why people abuse children sexually (most often because they themselves were abused) and helping them live a different way? And how do we prevent the victim from becoming the perpetrator? By demonizing and shaming the act and anyone involved or by working through the pain and damage to a point of reconcilliation and forgiveness?

Whatever happened to "Judge not, lest ye be judged"?

I don't think anyone who makes a mistake should be beat. Just simply stating I really don't care if I hear a child molester gets his nuts cracked. I'm not going to shed any tears for them. We could go on and on about all the reasons people touch or rape children and I do agree giving someone a tune up will most likely not prevent that person from repeating what they do. Only thing I am saying is I don't blink an eye when someone takes matters into their own hands. If I have to pick between trying to change ones behavior so they don't do it again or locking them up so they can't do it again I would have to pick locking them up. Only one of those options protects my children from them. I know you can't go around beating everyone up you "think" did something creepy. However, if my son or daughter came to me and told me someone raped or touched him and I was sure it was not any type of misunderstanding it would be lights out for that person. Nothing anyone could say or do would change that from happening. I don't know if many of you have children but I would bet the ones who do would most likely do the same or something very similar.

But for most crimes, which are property crimes, I don't think people should get beat. If someone was stealing my car or something from it, I would just call the cops and let them deal with it. I wouldn't go after them. It's just property. It can be replaced. Now thats what I call a mistake. Touching children is not a mistake. It's sick.

I don't have children but plan on it real soon, but I can promise you that come hell or high water, I'd never take matter into my own hands. Not to say it wouldn't be my first reaction, but:

1) I don't think I could ever be sure it wasn't some misunderstanding - at least not enough to go whoop someone. Especially in a situation like that, I know I wouldn't be able to think clearly.

2) I don't think it would solve anything for me, my children, or the world.

3) At the end of the day, would I be "better" than the person I just beat up? Would I still be able to take the moral high ground?

You're missing the point, Winston. We have a process in this country (someone remind the president).

Believe me, I'm all for the process. I am a firm believer in the bill of rights. I'm not talking about the system dishing out beatings. Just simply stating, you touch my kids and I'm going to reach out and touch you. And just simply putting, I don't shed tears for child molesters when someone pops them.

Apollo - before you go making a promise about not taking matters into your own hands, have some kids. Your views will change. Just try to picture it in your mind, your child being forcibly raped by a fully grown adult. Not saying the system should be dishing out the beatings, just can understand how and why people go after them when someone they love is attacked. I respect your belief and probably would have agreed with you until I had children. However, I am a firm believer that the system should play by the rules.

And yes Jeff, I do see and understand your views about where our system is going as a whole. I know many people in the criminal justice system. I am hearing stories about people being convicted of crimes based on the investigators "professional opinion!" That should scare us all. Not physical evidence. Opinion! I actually have been told by people in the system, never talk to the police. If they think you did something wrong, they will twist your words to make you look bad.

Can I point out a fact: Most child abuse happens from within the family.

Therefore, there are more predators potentially in your own family than there are roaming the streets looking for your children.

Some of you are truly paranoid and should just lock yourselves in your own house. Bravo to Jeff for his comments about our culture presuming people are guilty before being proven so. It's truly a sad state and unfortunately the lives of some innocent people are going to be ruined by some false accusations resulting from this paranoia.

I don't think anyone but one person was saying this person is guilty. I think there's a lot more to the story then reported. You never know. Maybe the park sent someone to watch this guy and saw he wasn't doing anything. If thats the case then shame on the Charles Bronson wannabe. One thing is for sure, this guy did something to piss this guy off. Maybe he eye balled his girlfriend or had words with him. I will say this, if I saw someone messing with a child I would call the cops first then act. You can't just sit and watch something like this happen unless your a complete sissy. I would hope if anyone here saw a child being molested in public you would do something. But egieszl is correct about it usually being a family member who does something like this. That wouldn't matter much to me. Brother or not, your going down if its my kid.

Now, I recently discovered virtualnes and RC Pro Am is calling me.*** This post was edited by Winston 7/21/2008 7:35:34 PM ***

It doesn't take a whole lot of balls to sucker punch someone. It takes a lot more to stand to them face to face, and even more to not throw a punch.

El Gato Coastro gets the tin-foil hat award.