I understand Andrew Vachss' objection to the conventional understanding of
paedophilia (or general abusiveness towards children) as a *sickness* as
exactly right, and moral in both its exactness and its rightness. One should
sympathise with the sufferer of a sickness, and seek to treat him in order
to effect a recovery and cure. In the case of paedophiles and other bullies
and abusers, the sympathy is as misplaced as the therapeutic paradigm. You
stop these people by stopping them: by making them stop. You have to make
them stop. Screw the rest: the rest can't possibly matter until you've made
them stop. So stop them.
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