# Pete Townshend: pedophile? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [January 11, 2003, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pete-townshend-pedophile/148003 "2003-01-11T20:08:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2003, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pete-townshend-pedophile/148003/81 "2003-01-14T18:46:47Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by PunditLisa \* > \*\*Fuck you, too, for perpetuating the misguided notion that homosexuality and pedophilia go hand in hand. \*\* Take a few deep breaths, calm down, and please explain how he perpetuated the misguided notion that homosexuality and pedophilia go hand in hand. This assumes that (a) you know Pete Townsend to be homosexual, (b) you know the content of the child porn Web site he visited. ---
**Author:** ![Bearflag70](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Bearflag70](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bearflag70)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2003, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pete-townshend-pedophile/148003/82 "2003-01-14T23:31:04Z")
Just how easy is it to access the stuff? I’ve heard news reports about busting people where you had to have secret passwords and you had to be able to offer images of your own stuff to get to the “goods”. Is kiddie porn really that easily found just by browsing around and searching or subscribing? It just seems odd that he could just log into a site with a credit card very easily without doing anything more that might point to his intent. ---
**Author:** ![Bearflag70](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Bearflag70](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bearflag70)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2003, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pete-townshend-pedophile/148003/83 "2003-01-14T23:33:31Z")
… and if it is THAT easy to find such material, then it seems the people who created the websites would be easily shut down by the authorities in a hurry… ??? ---
**Author:** ![pepperlandgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f17d59/32.png) [@pepperlandgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pepperlandgirl)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2003, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pete-townshend-pedophile/148003/84 "2003-01-15T00:04:58Z")
> [@](#): > > Take a few deep breaths, calm down, and please explain how he perpetuated the misguided notion that homosexuality and pedophilia go hand in hand. This assumes that (a) you know Pete Townsend to be homosexual, (b) you know the content of the child porn Web site he visited. Well, he’s at least bisexual. My all-time favorite commercial is when VH1 was interviewing artists about music or whatever. There were a whole bunch of ads in that campaign. But the one that featured him was when he was talking about the first time he saw the Stones perform and Mick was jumping around the stage in tight leather pants and Pete ended the story with “That’s the first time I knew I wanted to fuck a man.” Ok, I admit, that didn’t add much to the discussion. ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2003, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pete-townshend-pedophile/148003/85 "2003-01-15T01:25:40Z")
**Bearflag** , it’s apparently not as easy to stumble upon it in your sleep as web-alarmists claim, but it seems to not necessarily be a herculean labor either. My source: former DA staffers in San Juan. Generally speaking the interested party _in any clandestine activity_ needs to _know_ where to look and what to look for or he will have to spend long tough hours at it. A search for porn on the net will come up with a million search tags marked “young lolitas” "teens"and even “pedo”… but of the first 999,998 of them half will be to ripoff sites and half to common porn sites where “lolita” is an old picture of 16-y.o. Traci Lords from the 80s. But a motivated perv – or Law Enforcement official – with patience and a sense of what to look for CAN do it. There have been also, through the years, a number of relatively easy-to-find sites… that were usually _sting_ sites set up by the authorities. Last year at least two SDMB members encountered much to our displeasure e-mail spam _containing a sample_ of CP. Examination of the spams revealed that third parties’ mail servers were being 'jacked to send the offending materials. That was a disturbing development, but it may have actually been a malicious attempt to cause trouble to the mailservers. Briefly in the 1994-95 time period there arose some stupidly self-evident CP newsgroups in USENET. Major ISPs eventually axed the obvious ones. When “open” anonymizer servers started getting scarce that venue took another big hit. Some material moved to various less-obvious groups. But since overall the alt.sex.\* and alt.binaries.pictures.erotica.\* hierarchies have been buried alive in spam, they have lost a lot of their usefulness even for regular porn unless you know the filenames and search for them specifically. Still as late as 2000 there were news reports about raids on people exchanging CP thru newsgroups. ---
**Author:** ![Bearflag70](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Bearflag70](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bearflag70)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2003, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pete-townshend-pedophile/148003/86 "2003-01-15T01:54:59Z")
Thanks, **JRDelirious** ---
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2003, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pete-townshend-pedophile/148003/87 "2003-01-15T03:03:52Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by pepperlandgirl \* > **Well, he’s at least bisexual.** Pete Townshend has admitted to some same-sex experimentation in the 1960s, but has said that he considers himself basically heterosexual, has never had anything resembling a romantic relationship with a man, and has never had any interest in it. This came up as recently as this past summer in a _Rolling Stone_ interview. He’s also been married for over 30 years and has had a couple of mistresses. ---
**Author:** ![pepperlandgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f17d59/32.png) [@pepperlandgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pepperlandgirl)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2003, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pete-townshend-pedophile/148003/88 "2003-01-15T03:20:37Z")
Oh well then. Guess getting my information from a VH1 commercial probably isn’t the best idea in the world. Who knew? ---
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2003, 7:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pete-townshend-pedophile/148003/89 "2003-01-15T07:04:18Z")
Don’t feel bad, I’m sure I’ll post something that’s not quite accurate about The Beatles one of these days and you’ll have to call me on it. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![cart](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/3ec8ea/32.png) [@cart](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cart)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2003, 12:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pete-townshend-pedophile/148003/90 "2003-01-15T12:39:48Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Zorro \* > \*\*There is some very good news related to this story, and that’s that they also caught a couple of Government Ministers. I for one am really, _really_ looking forward to the **Great New Labour Kiddie Porn Scandal**. \*\* This would be fantastic. Unfortunately it doesn’t seem to be true - if it was it would presumably be all over the news by now. Anyway, I have every confidence that even if Tony himself _featured_ in the porn, he’d escape somehow. And have everybody accusing Duncan-Smith of “scoring cheap political points”. ---
**Author:** ![owlstretchingtime](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/958977/32.png) [@owlstretchingtime](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/owlstretchingtime)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2003, 12:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pete-townshend-pedophile/148003/91 "2003-01-15T12:50:54Z")
The story is two ex cabinet ministers - Labour of course have been caught. At least that’s what’s going around in London gossip. Also a governor of a prison has been nabbed. He’s in for a nice time in the near future. ---
**Author:** ![rsa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/839c29/32.png) [@rsa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rsa)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2003, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pete-townshend-pedophile/148003/92 "2003-01-15T15:36:10Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Bearflag70 \* > … and if it is THAT easy to find such material, then it seems the people who created the websites would be easily shut down by the authorities in a hurry… ??? In this case they were found and are currently in jail. [Townshend Arrest Has North Texas Ties](http://www.msnbc.com/local/kxas/a1454617.asp) > [@](#): > > The U.S. Postal Inspection Service launched the investigation and partnered with Dallas police to dismantle a multi-million-dollar child porn enterprise. > > Landslide customers from around the world subscribed to child porn Web sites through a Fort Worth post office box address, in addition to subscribing online, officials said. > > The owners of Landslide, a married couple, each received 14 years in prison. ---
**Author:** ![MrThompson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/919ad9/32.png) [@MrThompson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrThompson)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2003, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pete-townshend-pedophile/148003/93 "2003-01-15T18:00:46Z")
Slightly off topic, but I have to say that I find this whole witch hunt ever so slightly disturbing. Yes, making child porn is absolutely disgusting … however, I’m not so ready to go against those who are passive. It may not be the most moral of things to do as you know how the material was produced, but I’m far from convinced that it’s the state’s business. (… prepares probably to get flamed … ) ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2003, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pete-townshend-pedophile/148003/94 "2003-01-16T02:38:12Z")
Y’know, this is one of very, very few subjects where we feel the need to periodically punctuate a rational, sedate discussion about the issue with declarations of our vitirolic despisal of it. Anyway, **MrThompson** , however we look at it the fact is that precisely because of what has to happen for it to be created (exploitation of a child, and very often with the acquiescence of their guardians) the state HAS made it its business to eliminate the demand-side, apparently with the enthusiastic support of the people everywhere it has done so. Too much at stake. Also the authorities like the tactic of “scaring away” _potential_l “casual users” by ever so often letting there be a high-proficle case of a “casual user” getting burned. Scared customers don’t buy. (BTW, I distinguish CP – porn using children – from “eroticised” pictures of a 15-year old. The latter are not intrinsecally _evil_ they are merely _illegal_ because the state says so, so I don’t lose sleep over anyone looking at those) The interesting thing is that back before the ‘net exploded as a mass medium, around 1990, there were commentators saying (overoptimistically) that CP was dying and the primary purveyor had become the Postal Inspectors’ Office – for “stings” . That CP had been driven so far underground that distribution within the US/UK was almost totally underground p-2-p mutual exchanges (meanwhile, of course, in places such as SE Asia the child-exploitation trade continued to prosper) among a very small hardcore who was willing to get into something so high-risk. The explosion of the web may have actually resurrected that “passive” CP consumer. Of course, I have this feeling that the real hardcore pedos out there, after so much time underground, were NOT going to give credit cards and billing addresses out to an absolute stranger. Yet we keep reading about busts based on credit-card lists. I suppose ignorance doesn’t discriminate against pervs ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2003, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pete-townshend-pedophile/148003/95 "2003-01-16T14:08:09Z")
And now [Matthew Kelly](http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/2663189.stm) is in trouble for allegedly sexually abusing boys. The revelations just keep coming… ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2003, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pete-townshend-pedophile/148003/96 "2003-01-16T14:11:48Z")
“Tonight, Matthew, I’m going to be…” ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2003, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pete-townshend-pedophile/148003/97 "2003-01-16T14:15:06Z")
“…arresting you.” ---
**Author:** ![Jojo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ecd19e/32.png) [@Jojo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jojo)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2003, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pete-townshend-pedophile/148003/98 "2003-01-16T14:17:11Z")
The more interesting aspect of cases like this (to me) is whether you can separate the artist from his art. If Lewis Carroll turned out to be a perv, would that make Alice in Wonderland any less fantastic as a book? Apparently, Shakespeare didn’t treat his wife, Anne Hathaway, and their children too well - he buggered off to London quite early in their marriage and didn’t come back for some years. Does this knowledge have any impact on your appreciation of his plays? This list could go on and on, many authors, painters etc may have been less than model citizens in their private lives but does this mean that the thing they created has any less value as a result? Someone, earlier in this thread, said (something like) if Pete was found to be guilty then this would have a serious effect on their album collection. Why? The music is exactly the same as it was a week ago. It wouldn’t suddenly get worse even if Pete turned out to be an axe-murdering, mother-raping, horse-touching maniac. Personally I think there is no connection between the artist and his art. The art exists as an independant entity and each person takes from it what they want. It doesn’t matter what manner of person the artist is (or was). Incidentally, as regards Pete, I’m inclined to believe his story that he was just curious (at this stage). Who amongst us can honestly claim they haven’t searched google for “controversial” stuff just out of curiousity. I’ve looked up info on how to make nuclear bombs and other bombs, not because I have any intention of making a bomb but just out of curiosity. Apparently the minimum punishment he can receive is a formal caution from the police, here’s hoping this all turns out well. ---
**Author:** ![everton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ecb155/32.png) [@everton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/everton)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2003, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pete-townshend-pedophile/148003/99 "2003-01-16T14:21:56Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by jr8 \* > \*\*And now [Matthew Kelly](http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/2663189.stm) is in trouble for allegedly sexually abusing boys. The revelations just keep coming… \*\* What revelations? Innocent until proven guilty etc. In any case, the police have explained that there’s no connection between Kelly’s arrest and Operation Ore. > [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by jjimm & jr8 \* > **"Tonight, Matthew, I’m going to be…" "…arresting you."** Brace yourselves for a rash of e-mail jokes along those lines in the coming weeks. I also suspect that far fewer people are going to begin their comments about Kelly on the SDMB with “I hope these allegations aren’t true”. ---
**Author:** ![KidCharlemagne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ed8c4c/32.png) [@KidCharlemagne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KidCharlemagne)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2003, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pete-townshend-pedophile/148003/100 "2003-01-16T14:54:47Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by PunditLisa \* > \*\*My stance: I don’t care if you’re doing research or if you’re just curious and want a peek, if you register your credit card number with a kiddie porn website, YOU ARE PERPETUATING THE ABUSE. > > Fuck you, Pete. For putting money in some twisted, psychopath’s pocket so he can go find more little kids to abuse. > > Fuck you, too, for perpetuating the misguided notion that homosexuality and pedophilia go hand in hand. \*\* You definately have a point but there is the possiblity that, if he was really doing research, his biography could bring the issue that these sites exist to people’s attention. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pete-townshend-pedophile/148003.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pete-townshend-pedophile/148003.md?page=6)