Desires only- no bashing.
Acted on- Still, I say “Good answer!” Maybe I wouldn’t bash his head in, per se. However, he still needs to be sent back to the Manufacturer for repairs.
FriarTed, I find your statements objectionable.
This is pretty much my view on the subject.
My next step would be to have lust4life and FriarTed removed from the community for being dangerous, violent sociopaths.
I was thinking that I would not want to associate with one, but then I remembered that I have in the past willing associated with a man who had a relationship with a seventeen year old. The man was someone that I love and respect to this day. There is more to him than this.
I swear I thought that goat was 18! And female! I’m not gay, not that there is anything wrong with that.
That’s not the same thing, Zoe.
Would I? Hmmm…like others have said, it would depend on whether or not I knew he had committed crimes in the past, or if he’s someone I’d associate with otherwise.
I doubt I’d be his best friend, but I could probably be in polite company.
My answer is close to what pepperlandgirl said.
Someone who had desires he had not acted on and had taken steps to make it difficult to act on those desires–such as removing himself to this adults only community–would be as fair game as anyone to be an associate of mine. Someone who had such desires, had acted on them, and had in some way shown remorse and paid for his crimes before “paying penance” by moving away from all children would also be fair game as a potential associate. Only someone who had committed a crime against a child and refused to face the consequences would be entirely and without recourse cast out of my life.
Someone who seeks to avoid hurting others or is willing to pay for it when they do and shows genuine remorse isn’t a bad neighbor. Under those circumstances, there are few things that are entirely unforgivable. I wouldn’t exactly want that person around my hypothetical children, but in a fantasy all-adult community? Fine.
Sorry. I was genuinely trying to come up with a name that was a recognizable name without insulting anyone, including you and all the Tuggerson family!
What Telcontar said, only more so.
A few years back I found out that a guy I knew had popped off and beat up his girlfriend. When I saw her she had a fat lip, two shiners, and a noticeable limp. That was the last day I ever acknowledged his existence. Since I worked with him I did say a (very) few business related words to him every week. But that’s all, and it stayed that way until the dirtbag elected to apply his talents in a revised corporate setting.
All the guys in the shop went in on a goodbye present. On his last day we pre-loaded all his crap into a recycled cardboard box for convenient carrying out to his punk-ass pimpmobile.
It would depend on what, and how much, he had to offer as an associate when one got beyond his predilections-- like whether or not he interested me intellectually and as a person, how much we shared of an aesthetics and an overall worldview, and whether he had an obnoxious personality in general (or overcompensated for his stigma by overdone good-guy posturing).
In other words, if the dude was more or less the sort of person I’d associate with otherwise, sure, why not? We’ve all got our skeletons and our crimes and our hidden ugly aspects, and he wouldn’t be a position to hurt anyone in the situation the OP has set up. If he was boring or a moron or a creep, I’d shun him like I do those kinds of people regardless of their pariahness or lack of same.
With regards to his specific issues: well, if he went in for breastbeating and self-recriminations, or the reverse – dwelling on attempted self-justifications – I would no doubt start fucking with him for my own amusement. And if he showed a hint of self-righteousness, particularly in the guise of pointing out how he’d gone to such lengths to avoid being a villain and others should do no less – I’d come down on him like a ton of bricks or pigshit because I loathe judgemental self-righteous moralists and whether or not they cop to having major failings of their own makes no difference to me.
I’d willingly associate with the pedophile in question. A person is responsible for their response to temptation not the fact they they are tempted (with certain caveats like if they do things to minimize temptation, etc). In fact I’d willingly associate with pedophile who was doing his best to keep away from children while living in society. I think that isolating them makes them more likely to offend.
I’ll even take it a step further and say that I’d associate with a pedophile who had offended in the past, had repented and made recompense as much as is possible, and is doing their best to avoid offending again.
I could not associate with a non-repent pedophile because the knowledge that they had no remorse or felt their actions to be acceptable would simply make me to angry. The only conversation I think I would be capable of having with them would be why the should repent.
How pedophile are we talking here? Was he a 23 year old who had a drunken one night stand with a 15 year old and got caught? Most certainly.
40 year old, diddling an 8 year old? Not a chance.
If the unlikely situation arose where a guy confessed to me desires towards prepubescent children, but was steadfast in his resolve to never act upon then, yep. I just wouldn’t ever ask him to babysit. Its weird and disturbing, of course, but then I’m sure I have fantasies that would set many peoples teeth on edge as well, which I would never confess to or dare to act upon.
If a guy confessed that he loved looking at stacked 14 year olds, well… I would probably agree with him that they are fun to look at. Nature goes out of its way to make sure us guys look.
So my answer, summed up, would be, absolutely, unless he had actually done so on a kid that was far too young.
I would associate with him.
A real-life example of this is Robert Crumb’s brother Charles. He was sexually attracted to young boys and never acted on his impulses. He isolated himself from society, never leaving their mother’s house. The simple and easy response is to say “Good! Fuck him!” but the reality is that he was a bright, witty and talented guy who sacrificed any contact with society for fear of his own impulses. He couldn’t help being attracted to young boys any more than I can help being attracted to adult women. He could, and did, avoid acting on those impulses.
I have a friend who was caught in a sting operation with an ISP. He downloaded images from a Usenet group, alt.binaries.pictures.erotica.younggirls (I think). The police raided his home and seized his computer. It cost him his career as a teacher. I’m one of his few friends to stick buy him because, as far as I know, all those pictures are promotional pictures for legal web sites that feature young-looking women at least 18 years old. The police are going through the images at their leisure. He was unaware of the Title 18, Section 2257 record-keeping requirements for all adult web sites and video production companies, which will prove that all the images are legal. Even if he is ultimately exonerated, he’s never going to be able to teach again. Which is a crying shame, as he was a brilliant teacher.
I don’t think you’ll get any pitchforks after you here, CyclopticXander, because that was one very thought-provoking response. Thank you for sharing your particular insight.
As to the OP, I’m on the same page as several others… just urges, I’d have no problems associating (in whatever context I would under normal circumstances). If they’d committed the crime and re-payed their debt to society, ditto the above. It they’d done the same thing, but had just removed themselves from all future temptation and were honestly repentant and trying to rehabilitate themselves quietly (as might happen with, say, a one-time only ephebephile who fucked up due to a mental illness or something), I’d certainly try to and applaud their attempts to do so. I’m sure for specifics, it’d be on a case-by-case basis, but ultimately, I believe in second (and sometimes more) chances. So no matter how uncomfortable it might make me feel, I’d have to at least give them a shot.
The only thing I’d have severe reservations about would be a repeat offender of small children, that had gone without repercussions and was now in our midst for what reason? I just can’t imagine being able to get past these sorts of problems if the person isn’t bearing any culpability.
I’ve yet to comment in this thread on what I actually think but faithfool has said it perfectly so I’ll simply add “me too”.
Is he a pedophile in terms of his desires, or in terms of his behavior? Is it actually prepubescent children, or are we counting teenagers? If I didn’t know about this aspect of him, wouldhe otherwise seem normal and likeable?
Oh jack stop being so reasonable and just pick up a pitchfork, they’re totally *de rigeur * at the moment. 
Despite having a two-page-long first draft of this post, I’m going to spare my usual verbosity here. I think I can sum it up accurately enough while still being fairly concise.
People fuck up. As long as they’re not going to do it again, I don’t care. What matters is that no one comes to harm through the direct actions of another, and this man has gone to the utmost lengths to ensure that he’ll never harm anybody again. For that alone, whatever he may have done in the past, whatever he used to be…I’d hold that who he is now is a better person than most.
I’ve truncated my rant about the morality of punishment for punishment’s sake, but I couldn’t possibly care less about such things as “justice” and “debt to society”. I care whether this man is going to hurt other people through his actions. To the best of my assessment, he isn’t. Why in hell, then, would I bother to pass judgement on things that can never be undone, when I could focus instead on what might be still to come?*
*Were this in the Pit as I originally thought, I’d state exactly why I think a person might behave in such a way. As it stands, though, I’ll leave it rhetorical, and trust this footnote to impart the proper gist of my feelings on the issue.
I prefer my pitchspork thankyouverymuch 
For some reason I’m imagining you with a pitch fork for which each spear is replaced by a cylindrical shaft of rubber in the shape of… 
I’m a veritable modern day Boudicea.