Let’s think civil liberties issues here. All the interesting civil liberties issues are about low-status cases—if a group or some idea is popular with the majority, then no one is complaining and the “civil liberties” concept never comes up. Sometimes you might want to override your ordinary feelings about status to consider an oppressed group.
If you think that celibate pedophiles might be more in the category of “leper” than “someone down on his luck”, then this article could be taken as suggesting that celibate pedophiles are the very sort of people you might be trying to help, if you’re so inclined to help anyone. Maybe people in general have poor intuitions about who needs help. People in general have poor intuitions about a whole lot of things, but we don’t throw up our hands and not try to make anything better.
I’m wasn’t implying that they are the loveable loser of the parable, rather than the leper. Indeed if I had to bet I would bet on the latter. I am invoking the article to point out the language of civil rights or social justice will likely not work for them precisely for this reason. Unless the argument is mistaken in some grave way.
Athrelon’s argument Against Social Justice Warrioring seems relevant.
If you think that celibate pedophiles might be more in the category of “leper” than “someone down on his luck”, then this article could be taken as suggesting that celibate pedophiles are the very sort of people you might be trying to help, if you’re so inclined to help anyone. Maybe people in general have poor intuitions about who needs help. People in general have poor intuitions about a whole lot of things, but we don’t throw up our hands and not try to make anything better.
I’m wasn’t implying that they are the loveable loser of the parable, rather than the leper. Indeed if I had to bet I would bet on the latter. I am invoking the article to point out the language of civil rights or social justice will likely not work for them precisely for this reason. Unless the argument is mistaken in some grave way.