On-line sex predators

The title of the article is, "A Tale of Unsavory Justice", on Salon. The story purports to be about a poor child who was stalked by 'on-line sexual predators'. But, without getting into the politics, legalise, and bull in the article, I have a question and a comment pertaining to THIS INDIVIDUAL situation and child.

As the criticism rained down, Berry, a 19-year-old victim of Internet sex predators, watched quietly from the gallery, dressed in an ill-fitting pinstriped suit. He had first come to Capitol Hill on Tuesday to share his startling and horrifying story, which was first chronicled in December by the New York Times. At the age of 13, Berry had been lured by online sex predators into removing his shirt in front of a Web camera in his bedroom. "The seduction was slow," Berry testified on Tuesday, as he sat next to Times reporter Kurt Eichenwald, who had originally told Berry's story. "Each new request went only a bit further than the last."

Before long, Berry was regularly performing online for adult clients who paid him in cash and gifts and met him in person. Some of the predators molested him, he said. One man even rented him an apartment so he could perform for the camera away from his mother's supervision. "My experience is not as isolated as you might hope," Berry told Congress on Tuesday in what can only be described as a heroic act, his voice only occasionally breaking with emotion. "There are hundreds of kids in the United States alone who are right now wrapped up in this horror." source

Question: Where was the mother and father of this 'child'?

Comment: This 'child' was in his own room, in his own home. No one was physically there to force him to do a striptease for the web camera. He did it of his own free will. No one physically forced him to perform sexual acts for the web cam, he was home alone. No one forced him to leave his home and go to hotels and meet these perverts. No one forced him to have sex with them and no one forced him to take up residence in the apartment rented for his personal on-line sex shows. And no one forced him to register a 'wish list' where his johns (oh excuse me, on-line predators) could pay him for his services.

The Republicans are all upset about this because there could be 'thousands' of other children in the same situation. Well, maybe. But do not even try to convince me this is the same thing as a pedophile showing up in the park and luring a kid away. He was safe in his own home when he started prostituting performing.

How about a little personal responsibility here on the part of the child and the parents.

And please understand that I think child molesters should be locked up forever or put to death, because they will never be 'cured'. I have no sympathy for child molesters. But, please, tell me that you also think this particular situation is different.

Comments

[Always On Watch]

Maybe I grew up in the Dinosaur Age, but my room wasn't an inviolable inner sanctum for me. I was never allowed to lock the door and rarely allowed to close the door (unless changing clothes, of course). I never felt that this "invasion of my privacy" was wrong on the part of my parents.

Cyberspace presents another set of problems today. However, I know parents who keep close watch on their children. They check the cache and otherwise supervise their children's computer use. Of course, most parents don't take the time to be such responsible parents.

Furthermore, the story you have here in this article reminds us that young people know better than to bond with evil. This young man had a responsibility to himself and didn't fulfill it.

Let's hear it for "accountability."

Good post!