Anyone who stumbles upon that title out of context will probably say "Oh look, the commies support pedophiles. What a shock." and they're free to think that, as wrong as it is. So let me break it down.
In the last few years, To Catch A Predator has had a huge resurrgence in popularity because pedophiles are awful. The one group in America that everyone can agree are bad, now that we're okay with actual Nazis apparently. When you watch a lot of TCAP, a thought thoughts to burrow it's way into your mind "If I were there, this sicko would get what's coming", so naturally a bunch of amatuers decided to start making their own little predator stings. These usually don't work because YouTubers are more concerned about making content than protecting kids. The police aren't involved, a lot of the videos are actually cases of entrapment that aren't actionable in court, and my personal favorite, many of these YouTubers just beat the shit out the suspected predator for a while. On camera.
First off, I think a lot of those are fake because the liklihood that you can attack already mentally unwell people and not be shot or stabbed is pretty low. But secondly, these videos are a degenerative disease. No one is getting helped, no one's being stopped because these cases are thrown out, and things are beginning to escalate. I mentioned that a lot of catchers are physically attacking their marks. One instance where this happened a man was shot and killed because he pretended to be a teenage girl and then punched a 16 year old in the face, who shot him in self defense. Things are also getting out of hand in other ways. Recently a group of college kids abducted a guy because he wanted to date an 18 year old, which is both not illegal and not grounds to kidnap someone for clout.
The most dangerous thing about these people is the feedback loop they've created on social media. Child Molesters are bad, this is an established fact that everyone agrees on. Police aren't doing enough (this is partially true but it's a poor justification). So if you take issue with the idea of guys getting their asses kicked by vigilantes on camera, or that they "accidentally" get the wrong guy, then you're a pedo sympathiser and someone should go kick your teeth in too. A group of people with no accountability or oversight can just decide your guilt and act on it. Why are we creating a world where someone can call you this or that and then send violent thugs after you?
This isn't just about pedophiles either, what I'm getting at is that the definition of the "acceptable target" will only expand until more and more people are caught in the crossfire. That kidnapping I mentioned? That's just the beginning, because that is the logical conclusion of this behavior.
I wasn't aware this was going on, but your analysis makes sense to me. I could understand an organized community approach to assist in such a thing ("we keep us safe" kind of thing rather than depending on cops who are not doing enough), but people outside of a community and turning it into a business? (Making money off of it on the internet.) That's just capitalism doing its thing again, isn't it? And sounds eerily similar to cops who come in from outside of a community to police it, but with even less oversight. I mean, maybe I'm wrong and some of these people are highly focused on their own communities, but if they are, do they really need to do videos? Or do they need to organize and create accountability, so that these things can be stopped before they start?
As for fakeness, I would not be surprised if some of it is. I know there was a period in Youtube history where prank channels were common and it eventually came out that a lot of them were faking them to some degree. But then you have the problem of, not everybody gets the memo and is actually faking. That's one problem with spreading ideas like this without being sincere about what you're really doing.
Funny thing about prank channels is that you can tell when they're fake because the pranksters get beat up. The real ones are all just awkward or nothing happens because real people don't respond like that.
That's like not true. Hopefully not
What part specifically?
There are more than enough videos of predators and catchers awkwardly talking, but there are also a lot where predators do respond violently. People doing evil and stupid shit often don't think rationally
I slightly like what you are saying, but what do you really suggest as an alternative? Most people don't have as much freetime as they should, and I see no problem with people making money by exposing scumbags, as long as they aren't nazi douchebags spreading lies and conspiracy theories.
I know it's by no means easy to do, but people organizing in their communities, developing systems of accountability, checking in on each other, learning who is who and what they get up to, etc., will all go way further than a one-off video "exposing" someone, especially since doing so in a sloppy way won't necessarily result in the person's imprisonment anyway, much less convince them not to try again in the future. And considering that most victims of abuse are someone the victim already knows, not a random stranger they met through online.
This article also makes a point about directing effort toward prevention: https://slate.com/culture/2025/01/to-catch-a-predator-claimed-to-protect-kids-its-real-goal-was-something-else.html
*Note: the article is referencing a documentary called Predators made about the culture surrounding To Catch a Predator and the approach to it.
I think it's worth asking, suppose they do expose an actual scumbag, no doubt about it, evidence is plain and clear and nothing could have been forged easily by the person who made the video: What happens after that? The person who is "exposed" is not going to be relevant in locale to 99% of people watching the video, so it's not like they'll be able to personally avoid them. The "exposed" person might face charges or they might not and if part of the problem is cops not doing enough, then what reason is there to believe such cops will do more when presented with vigilante scenarios, some of which may get thrown out as entrapment? But supposing all of this goes in a "containment" direction, the person is put in prison, are any resources being directed toward reforming them? Or are they just going to be punished and potentially try to re-offend when they get out? And throughout all of this, is a public humiliation and profiting ritual actually needed to reduce the number of people who could go after a child? Does it need to be seen by thousands or millions (I don't know how large the viewership of this stuff is) for containment to be effective?
I know circumstances are often far from perfect and I don't want to give the impression that I think we should be waiting for the ideal world to do anything about problems. But I'm asking these questions because making sure what's being done is effective in some way is an important part of whether it's worth doing in the first place. Finding out if it would be better to direct the energy in a different way toward the problem.
Fair points I guess.