Your children aren’t safe. Neither are you.

A few weeks ago, my son went to someone’s birthday party. Some colleague or whatever; I really can’t be bothered to remember every little human who’s currently a part of his life, as they’ll simply be discarded and forgotten in a few years. I won’t bore you with the details. When he returned, he asked if he could join some local “branch” of a “Boy Scouts” type of organization. I really can’t be bothered to remember what that’s called either. He had already spoken with my wife and she thought it might be good idea, but he had to ask me. I said “no”. Initially, it was a clear and concise “no”. But that’s the trouble with children: “why not?”

I could’ve come up with a random (false) reason, of course. God knows there are plenty of logical reasons you could bring up as a parent, like “you can use your phone if you get lost in the woods and what the hell are you doing in the woods in the first place?”. I don’t want to sound like some sort of techno-urban dad, because I’m not, but those days are gone. Nobody’s carefully checking which side of a tree moss grows on to figure out which way is North – not anymore. But one thing my wife and I agreed to do was to avoid lying to him as much as possible. AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE, we avoid lies, white lies, lying by omission, even true lies.

So instead of telling him that it’s a ripoff, that he wouldn’t learn anything useful, that it’s just a waste of time for us (and for him), that technological advances made that kind of knowledge roughly useless (of course, one could always get stranded on a remote island), I decided to tell him the truth. But another thing we do around here is to avoid telling the truth. Instead, we try to help him discover the truth on his own. As such, the following conversation took place:

“Right, tell me something; these guys – boy scouts instructors, football managers, swimming instructors etc – do they make a lot of money?”

“I don’t know”

“They don’t. When do they work?”

“I don’t know”

“Well, when do you go swimming?”

“Weekend?”

“Yes. So would it be fair to say that they work weekends?”

“Yes”

“Do people normally work on weekends?”

“No”

“Why not?”

“I don’t know”

“Does mommy enjoy weekends?”

“OH YES”

“Why is that?”

“Because she relaxes and you take us out” (that’s true; my wallet is constantly depressed about that)

“Right. So these guys…they don’t make a lot of money, they don’t get to spend time with their families on weekends …and they’re responsible for you, right?”

“Responsible?”

“Sure. If one of you idiots gets hurt or worse, they’ll probably suffer the consequences. It could mean losing the job, it could even mean getting jailed. Quite the risk, wouldn’t you say? I mean, you know you’re all as dumb as a brick when it comes to avoiding accidents”

(his lips purse, but there’s not much he can say; he’s had quite a few accidents caused by being oblivious to his surroundings; we’ve had to rush him to a hospital twice … so far; among other things, we also teach accountability around here)

“So let’s recap; they’re paid peanuts, they miss out on spending time with their families, they work weekends, they’re under a lot of stress and they risk quite a bit, don’t they?”

“Yes”

“So who does that? Why do they do that? Clearly it’s not for the money; it’s not a convenient work schedule; it’s not stress-free; with that kind of pay, they could do anything else and they’d make just as much money, possibly more, with no risks involved; why do THAT? Why not, I don’t know…drive a taxi, sell newspapers, sweep the streets, why not do something else?”

“I don’t know”

“Sure, but think about it. What’s the difference?”

He has to think about it for a moment, before going

“…you work with children?”

“Right. So who would take the risks, who would accept that kind of pay, who would accept that schedule…just to be around children?”

The penny finally drops.

“Pedophiles”.

There’s a short silence before he drops the subject and I don’t know what’s more uncomfortable: his silence or the fact that he’s familiar with the word. Fucking internet, man. “I’m just playing Minecraft”. Bullshit.

Now let’s make one thing clear. I’m not saying everyone in that line of work is a pedophile. I am, however, saying that if you can find one line of work that fits the criteria, I’ll find you at least several cases. Find one job that involves working with children and I’ll find you a pedophilia scandal, no problem. Boy Scouts. Priests. Teachers. Various sports. Whatever rocks your boat. Is it particularly risky? I don’t think so. Is it a risk? Definitely. Which brings us to today’s subject: Vincent Chan.

As always, when this sort of thing happens, the media’s all over the same bullshit rhetorical questions: “How could this happen?”, followed by inane suggestions (such as “let’s install CCTV”) with the typical “closing”: NEVER AGAIN.

To this, I simply say: “bullshit!”

Would CCTV help? No. Am I against installing cameras? Also no. As far as I’m concerned, put 100 cameras in those nurseries. The only problem is that it won’t make a difference. Even the most secure buildings have blind spots. Places where, for a number of reasons, cameras are not installed. Some of those blind spots exist because it’s impractical to install a camera there. Others exist because humans don’t want cameras there – staff changing rooms, “bathrooms” etc. Guess who’d know exactly which places fit the “blind spot” category; that’s right, someone who works there.

As for “How could this happen?”, that’s laughable. You hear that question all the time. A refugee who got here from a vastly different “culture” attacks and sometimes kills someone. “How could this happen?”. Brother, it was bound to happen, it was just a matter of time, wtf do you mean “how”.

You’ve got lots of professions that are bound to be sought after by pedophiles. Access to children, the possibility of gaining their trust, the possibility of exploiting their shame, having “authority” (that’s another one, by the way: find me one of these professions and I’ll find you some fucking psycho who’s pretty much terrorizing children because that’s why he took the job in the first place; to feel like he matters, like he’s in charge; it’s definitely not a men-only thing either, trust me, I’ve had a couple of female teachers who were just like that). Talk to the people you know and trust, ask them if they’ve had a teacher like that in school; I’ll bet they did.

“How could this happen?”

Brother, the pay is shit. The risk factor? It doesn’t look great either. Some months back we’ve had some sort of instructor jailed because one of their “students” drowned. That’s the sort of risk we’re talking about. The hours are also shit. Who the hell wants to work on a Saturday?

I’ll say it again: no, I don’t think most of them are pedophiles. I think few of them are. But they do exist. What I also think is that a normal human being, when offered such a job, would turn it down. Because, again, there’s no money to be made, the hours are shit and the risks are high. What happens if I fall asleep on the job? Most likely…nothing. Worst case scenario? I get fired. That’s it. What happens if your job involves looking after children and you fail to pay attention for a minute, never mind falling asleep? The idiot might fall and die, slip and break his neck, drown, eat something poisonous, run through a piece of glass and sever an artery…that kind of thing. Offer me that kind of job and I’ll tell you to go fuck yourself in no uncertain terms.

I suspect that most people have perfectly legitimate reasons to do that job. Perhaps it’s just a side gig. Perhaps they genuinely enjoy working with children. Perhaps it’s just a temporary thing. Perhaps the economy is fucked, so they just take what they can get.

But there’s a different kind of human – or a beast, rather – out there. It’s someone who’s willing to take the risks, who doesn’t care about the pay, because that’s not why they’re there. They’re there to watch. They’re there to exploit vulnerable children. They’re there to pounce at the right moment. They’re pedophiles. They’re there to watch, to touch or worse. Nothing else matters to them.

So “how could this happen”? It’s only logical. Of course it happened. Of course it’s going to happen again and again. You don’t ask how could rats be attracted to rubbish. Of course they are. It’s how rats are. It’s WHAT they are, what defines them. In a similar fashion, you don’t ask how could pedophiles be attracted to jobs that put them close to children and possibly in control of children. WTF do you mean “how”. It’s what they do. Jesus…

Which brings us to the final part. “Never again”. Erm, what? WTF do you mean “never again”? Of course it’s going to happen AGAIN. You’ve got people who want to watch, touch and rape children out there. You’re got shit jobs with nasty hours and horrible pay, jobs that put them close to children, in a position of trust and authority over them. Are you saying they’re JUST going to stop being pedophiles? If not, are they going to stop taking the easy route that grants them access to those children? How? Why?

Of course it’s going to happen again. And again. And again. Rats will keep looking for rubbish. Pedophiles will keep looking for children. Bears will keep shitting in the woods. It’s how things work.

“Oh, that’s just doom and gloom, only a few people have ever done that, how can you imply that”

Brother, I’m not implying jack shit, but if we’re seriously talking about it, let me clarify one thing. It’s not that “only a few people have ever done that”. It’s that YOU only know about a few – the few who were caught red-handed.

Oh, by the way, don’t think for a second that this is limited to roles involving children. Find any role that gives you some sort of authority and once again, I’ll find one “scandal” for you. Just ask Sarah Everard. Well, never mind, don’t – because she’s not going to answer, is she?

Find a profession that involves granting someone authority over others and I’ll find you a psycho – possibly a trigger-happy psycho who raped, beat, shot and perhaps even killed someone. It really is that simple.

Is everyone working with children like that? No. Is every policeman bad? Also no. But, as one of my former colleagues used to say “ain’t nobody chanting Fuck the Fire Brigade“

The simple truth is that we’re not safe. Neither are our children. We just like to pretend that this “safety” exists because we need those services. We need teachers because we’ve got jobs to do and we lack the knowledge. We need various instructors because we’re not insert-sport-here champions. We need the police because we can’t do our jobs and patrol the streets at the same time. That’s about it. So we like to think that we’re safe. But we’re not and we never have been. It’s just a matter of luck, really. It could’ve been your child. It could’ve been your girlfriend. Of course, we hope it won’t be. But that’s the best we can get on this kind of budget: hope. As long as these jobs are “no-go” for normal people, pedophiles and psychos will go for them. They don’t mind the pay. They’ll take some pictures of your child and make thousands on the side – if they even care about the money. Under the “right” (or rather wrong) circumstances, they’ll even grant someone else physical access to your child.

“Never again!” they say.

Lol, wanna bet?