Words used stupidly
The above is a headline from The Sun. Hopefully you realise quite how stupid this headline is. We could wonder where the stupid lies, with the editor, with Ms Peacock, but apart from being stupid it is massively unhelpful. No law, Sarah's or otherwise, can tell you if there is a paedophile living on your street because paedophiles are not required to identify where they live. People who offend sexually against children, that's a different matter. The on-going convenient use of language, incorrectly, is common in media. There is a width of difference between a paedophile and someone who offends against children but people are too lazy or too stupid to care. PAEDOPHILE IS NOT A SYNONYM FOR OFFENDER It's unhelpful because it has the potential to drive people underground. Paedophiles who do not offend may be vulnerable to offending, may be vulnerable to harming themselves because of the way that they feel or the way that they feel society will respond to them, they may want h...