# Weird pedo distraction **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [August 8, 2020, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-pedo-distraction/917591 "2020-08-08T14:44:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2020, 5:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-pedo-distraction/917591/21 "2020-08-09T05:30:34Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > You can find the exact same type of photos with JFK, Obama, Reagan, etc. I’m sure you can provide similar examples then. Not just of them with kids but with the kids looking creeped out. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2020, 5:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-pedo-distraction/917591/22 "2020-08-09T05:40:36Z")
I dont have the resources of the Bernie Bros, the Kremlin and the GOP to comb the internet for such photos. Nor the ability to subtly alter such photos to make the kids look “creeped out”. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2020, 5:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-pedo-distraction/917591/23 "2020-08-09T05:44:39Z")
[![](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/5/580948ed02c3aee02770703b05124a03a7815bce.jpeg) ](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/5/580948ed02c3aee02770703b05124a03a7815bce.jpeg) ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2020, 5:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-pedo-distraction/917591/24 "2020-08-09T05:45:45Z")
You can do this with an easy Google image search. And yeah, Trump is creepy too. Who’d have guessed? ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2020, 6:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-pedo-distraction/917591/25 "2020-08-09T06:01:54Z")
> **[PolitiFact - An image that appears to show Joe Biden groping a woman is altered](https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2020/feb/14/viral-image/image-appears-show-joe-biden-groping-woman-altered/)** > > Former Vice President Joe Biden’s presidential campaign has been dogged by allegations that he inappropriately touches w > **[Trump Campaign Ad Uses Altered Photos to Smear Biden's 'Radical' Belief in...](https://www.theroot.com/trump-campaign-ad-uses-altered-photos-to-smear-bidens-r-1844635563)** > > Donald Trump’s campaign has finally found a legitimate scandal to pin on Joe Biden. [https://www.poconorecord.com/news/20200808/anti-biden-ad-pictures-have-been-altered-and-other-fact-checks](https://www.poconorecord.com/news/20200808/anti-biden-ad-pictures-have-been-altered-and-other-fact-checks) > **[NOT REAL NEWS: Debunking fake stories about coronavirus, Joe Biden, Kim Jong...](https://abc11.com/coronavirus-joe-biden-kissing-girl-madagascar/6145042/)** > > No, Madagascar is not the first country to succeed in finding a cure for COVID-19. _Photo shows Democratic presidential hopeful Joe Biden kissing a young girl’s cheek._ _### THE FACTS_ _The photo is being misrepresented. The man in the photo is Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador. Posts circulating on social media are using an image of López Obrador kissing a young girl in an effort to cast Biden in a negative light. “Ladies and Gentlemen Let me introduce the Democratic Leader for the Presidency of the United States of America!!! Joe Biden!!!,”_ > **[Twitter labels edited Biden video 'manipulated tweet'](https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-51799366)** > > The misleading video, viewed almost six million times, was retweeted twice by President Trump. But thanks for helping the trump campaign by spreading some of their faked photos. ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2020, 6:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-pedo-distraction/917591/26 "2020-08-09T06:04:57Z")
Absolutely nothing you posted has anything to do with what I posted. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2020, 6:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-pedo-distraction/917591/27 "2020-08-09T06:05:03Z")
Guys, I would prefer if my thread about pedo distractions wouldn’t be hijacked by a pedo distraction. None of the Facebook people are saying that Biden is a pedo, and we all agree he isn’t one, anyways. I can’t tell you what to do, of course. But I would really like my original questions to be answered, and I worry that continuing on this hijack will make that less likely. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2020, 6:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-pedo-distraction/917591/28 "2020-08-09T06:07:40Z")
You said: “There are plenty of photos of Biden being a creep towards children.” Let me phrase that correctly- There are plenty of FAKED photos of Biden being a creep towards children. ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2020, 6:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-pedo-distraction/917591/29 "2020-08-09T06:10:44Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > Let me phrase that correctly- There are plenty of FAKED photos of Biden being a creep towards children. You did not show that the photo I posted was fake. Or any of him creeping on kids/women photos were fake. ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2020, 11:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-pedo-distraction/917591/30 "2020-08-09T11:43:15Z")
> [@Whack-a-Mole](#): > > I have no idea. It can be totally normal. It can be creepy. I was not there to see you be affectionate to kids. > > You can not make a blanket claim that such things are a-ok or creepy merely by claiming some relationship. You have to look at each case individually. > > Also, I do not think Biden had any familial relationship to any of those kids (and you can find more pics of him doing this). > > Honestly, I do not think Biden is a pedo. I think he is just really weirdly creepy when it comes to this. I think he thinks he is being cool and paternal and parental and a nice guy. It comes off as super-creep though. > > If I did what he did in those pictures I’d probably be arrested. At the least I would have their parents in my face and very upset. The point is that the photos you linked to could be entirely normal and appropriate affection, depending on the relationships between Biden and those families. In the real world, affection between adults and kids is pretty common and usually not creepy. Using such videos or pictures for political attacks, without context or consent from the children and families involved, is pretty creepy, though. ---
**Author:** ![jz78817](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jz78817/32/1028_2.png) [@jz78817](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jz78817)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2020, 12:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-pedo-distraction/917591/31 "2020-08-09T12:56:48Z")
1. it’s the last “boogeyman” they have to scare parents with. they can’t really demonize “the gays” anymore, at least not widely, so they need someone else to claim is out there to snatch their kids away. despite, of course, that if there is someone with any ill intentions towards their child(ren), it’s most likely someone they already know and trust. 2. it’s more proof that the internet was a mistake. it boggles my mind how many people have been sucked in by the QAnon horseshit. ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2020, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-pedo-distraction/917591/32 "2020-08-09T15:12:03Z")
> [@Whack-a-Mole](#): > > I do not think Biden had any familial relationship to any of those kids (and you can find more pics of him doing this) “Baby kissing” used to be a common term for political campaigning. It was considered entirely normal behavior for politicians to hug and kiss (nonsexual kisses) constituents’ kids. They used to wade into crowds and hug just about anybody. Of course, we used to worry less that somebody in the crowd would shoot the politician. I don’t know whether that happened less often, but we certainly worried about it less often. > [@DrDeth](#): > > Ever hear of the term “baby kissing” political tour? It is something parents do with great men. Exactly. And with famous men, whether or not they’re great. And, for that matter, with “Santa Claus” at the mall; or, before malls, at the department store. I agree that kids who don’t want to shouldn’t be pushed into this, as they often used to be. But I find this insistence that any contact between children and adults not their caretakers must be sexual to be, well, creepy. ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2020, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-pedo-distraction/917591/33 "2020-08-09T16:37:51Z")
I’ve noticed this trend lately too. Its usually a meme about something like ‘if pedophilia becomes a sexual orientation can hunting them become an extreme sport’ and most are posted by Trump supporters (darkly ironic considering all the child sex abuse accusations he has). I haven’t seen any accusations against Biden from them though. ---
**Author:** ![k9bfriender](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k9bfriender/32/3283_2.png) [@k9bfriender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/k9bfriender)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2020, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-pedo-distraction/917591/34 "2020-08-09T18:45:55Z")
> [@Whack-a-Mole](#): > > If I did what he did in those pictures I’d probably be arrested. No, you wouldn’t have. No chance. Tell me what law he broke. > [@Whack-a-Mole](#): > > At the least I would have their parents in my face and very upset. Then there would be pictures of parents in his face and very upset, rather than parents standing by and smiling. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2020, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-pedo-distraction/917591/35 "2020-08-09T23:00:41Z")
> [@jz78817](#): > > 1. it’s more proof that the internet was a mistake. it boggles my mind how many people have been sucked in by the QAnon horseshit. While the Internet plays a part, I think that has more to do with things being shit, and people wanting some sort of comforting explanation. QAnon got its start because of Trump, and him being so bad that people who still hold onto the just world hypothesis looking for some sort of way to deal with it mentally. Then COVID-19 just pumped things up to 11. Oddly enough, I still have a bit of the just world hypothesis. But it’s future based–as in, we can fight to make a just world, but the world right now is not that. I think that’s probably the best way to think about it, since believing in a just world hypothesis is actually helpful psychologically, particularly when dealing with a moral injury like the ones many of us are facing–finding out just how many people have been lying about their moral principles. Anyways, the thing is, when things are going good, no one needs to believe in conspiracy theories. It’s always the bad things, and thinking that something so bad must have been caused by some secret nefarious plot. Or secretly be a good thing. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2020, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-pedo-distraction/917591/36 "2020-08-09T23:13:09Z")
> [@Wesley\_Clark](#): > > I’ve noticed this trend lately too. Its usually a meme about something like ‘if pedophilia becomes a sexual orientation can hunting them become an extreme sport’ and most are posted by Trump supporters (darkly ironic considering all the child sex abuse accusations he has). > > I haven’t seen any accusations against Biden from them though. Ooh. I have noticed those, but I didn’t connect them to the other stuff, since they weren’t necessarily the same people. I wonder if my more liberal friends got caught up with that one. I wondered why people suddenly seemed to think this was a thing again. I just assumed some trolls were going at it–not part of any trend. I could get into the history there, but it would be a distraction. I’ll just say that the DSM-V got a bit too concerned with getting pedophiles to get treatment without worry of being arrested when they hadn’t actually offended (yet), and used some unfortunate wording that was then promptly fixed once it was pointed out to them. Pedophilia is now officially a paraphilia–a maladaptive sexual obsession. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2020, 3:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-pedo-distraction/917591/37 "2020-08-10T03:53:42Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > The first time I noticed it, it seemed almost explicitly about downplaying the dangers of COVID-19. It was a map of the US either sex trafficking or incidents of child molestation. The caption explicitly said something like “No, this isn’t a map of COVID-19 incidents, but of child molestation! Why isn’t anyone talking about this?” The map itself seems to be legit. I think it was John Oliver who pointed out recently that most maps of the US look the same. The covid map, sex trafficking map, number of McDonalds restaurants, number of non-white people…they all look the same because the “heat” is around large cities and/or dense populations. ---
**Author:** ![Drum\_God](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drum_god/32/44_2.png) [@Drum\_God](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drum_God)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2020, 5:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-pedo-distraction/917591/38 "2020-08-10T05:15:29Z")
> [@Morgyn](#): > > Yesterday I booted an acquaintance off my friends list because she’d made a post listing things like the “suicides” of celebrities who were “making documentaries” about elite pedophile rings. I posted debunkings and she said that for her part she believed these ideas were true. > > It is seriously shocking how many people are so gullible. Unfortunately, my own daughter copied and posted what is probably the same list. It included the recent attempted assassination of a federal judge that had nothing to do with pedophilia, Tom Hanks is now a Greek citizen, and Hanks himself has been accused of messing with kids. I told her that the only things true on her list was that Hanks and his wife are Greek (and American) citizens and one other, unrelated thing. She insisted that there is evidence of all this stuff. There is not. However, my daughter is no deep political thinker. She is a mother who loves her kids. So, she has decided that child sex-trafficking is now the most important issue in the world. > [@LSLGuy](#): > > Anything that promotes hysteria is good. Anything that promotes free-floating fear and stranger-danger is even better. All those things are about maximizing the audience’s paranoia and minimizing their sense of togetherness with any other member of the public. I agree that this is really the issue. It has promoted distrust in my daughter. She is certain that Epstein was murdered and Maxwell will perish soon. So, she is attracted to politicians who make her feel “safe” – people like tough-guy Donald Trump, who doesn’t take shit from anyone (even though teens on TikTok terrify him) and is the only one actually doing something about this issue. The fact that Biden currently has no role in government doesn’t seem to dawn on her. The fact that Trump is a likely participant with Epstein/Maxwell doesn’t seem to faze her, even though he is the most likely person to have Maxwell “suicided”. (That’s my word, not hers.) So, what we have is a real issue that has now been elevated to the most important problem currently facing our planet and, between Trump and Biden, Trump is the only one doing anything about the issue at all. So, Trump is her choice. My daughter is not a bad person. She has never been very good at discerning the motivations of people she actually knows very well, let alone the motivations of people she has never met. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2020, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-pedo-distraction/917591/39 "2020-08-10T15:21:27Z")
> [@Drum\_God](#): > > > [@Morgyn](#): > > > > Yesterday I booted an acquaintance off my friends list because she’d made a post listing things like the “suicides” of celebrities who were “making documentaries” about elite pedophile rings. I posted debunkings and she said that for her part she believed these ideas were true. > > > > It is seriously shocking how many people are so gullible. > > Unfortunately, my own daughter copied and posted what is probably the same list. It included the recent attempted assassination of a federal judge that had nothing to do with pedophilia, Tom Hanks is now a Greek citizen, and Hanks himself has been accused of messing with kids. > > I told her that the only things true on her list was that Hanks and his wife are Greek (and American) citizens and one other, unrelated thing. > > She insisted that there is evidence of all this stuff. There is not. > > However, my daughter is no deep political thinker. She is a mother who loves her kids. So, she has decided that child sex-trafficking is now the most important issue in the world. > > > [@LSLGuy](#): > > > > Anything that promotes hysteria is good. Anything that promotes free-floating fear and stranger-danger is even better. All those things are about maximizing the audience’s paranoia and minimizing their sense of togetherness with any other member of the public. > > I agree that this is really the issue. It has promoted distrust in my daughter. She is certain that Epstein was murdered and Maxwell will perish soon. So, she is attracted to politicians who make her feel “safe” – people like tough-guy Donald Trump, who doesn’t take shit from anyone (even though teens on TikTok terrify him) and is the only one actually doing something about this issue. The fact that Biden currently has no role in government doesn’t seem to dawn on her. The fact that Trump is a likely participant with Epstein/Maxwell doesn’t seem to faze her, even though he is the most likely person to have Maxwell “suicided”. (That’s my word, not hers.) > > So, what we have is a real issue that has now been elevated to the most important problem currently facing our planet and, between Trump and Biden, Trump is the only one doing anything about the issue at all. So Trump is her choice. > > **My daughter is not a bad person. She has never been very good at discerning the motivations of people she actually knows very well, let alone the motivations of people she has never met.** That part makes me just a little bit sad. I kinda hope your son-in-law has been properly vetted. ---
**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:** [August 10, 2020, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-pedo-distraction/917591/40 "2020-08-10T15:57:24Z")
> [@Drum\_God](#): > > However, my daughter is no deep political thinker. She is a mother who loves her kids. So, she has decided that child sex-trafficking is now the most important issue in the world. > > > [@LSLGuy](#): > > > > Anything that promotes hysteria is good. Anything that promotes free-floating fear and stranger-danger is even better. All those things are about maximizing the audience’s paranoia and minimizing their sense of togetherness with any other member of the public. > > I agree that this is really the issue. It has promoted distrust in my daughter. She is certain that Epstein was murdered and Maxwell will perish soon. So, she is attracted to politicians who make her feel “safe” – people like tough-guy Donald Trump, who doesn’t take shit from anyone (even though teens on TikTok terrify him) and is the only one actually doing something about this issue. Even though his government’s the one misplacing children… But yeah, I’ve seen this stuff or something similar pop up in other venues and channels. And as pointed out, bringing forward debunkings or evidence to the contrary has zero effect. In one location, after a whole page of posts correcting misconceptions the person simply stated that was proof that he was on the right path. And indeed I agree, it’s one more instance in a general trend toward keeping everyone scared of everyone else and dreading an imminent cataclysm. When everyone is at one another’s throats or hunkered down waiting for hardship, and there is no such thing as an acceptable ally (because something will be dug up of him/her failing at some litmus test of right-thinking or right-doing), is the good time for opportunists to get ahead and end on top. (Littlefinger Baylish school of politics: “Chaos is a ladder.”) And of course, chaos-climbers and authoritarians around the world love the idea of pedophile conspiracies because that is so far _THE_ one thing to which **nobody** can say, _“but, wait what about context, and verifiable evidence, doing things through proper channels and…”_ because the middle class parents will completely freak out. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-pedo-distraction/917591.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-pedo-distraction/917591.md?page=3)