Chris Hansen Memes

[Rageaholic]

For those who don't know, Chris Hansen is the guy on "To Catch A Preditor". He's the one who does the preditor catching, telling potential preditors "Have a seat right here". I don't have much of an opinion on the show or Hansen as I've never watched it.

But the memes that have spawned from it are annoying as all get out. When even anyone even mentions finding an actress under 18 attractive, posters respond with the "Have a seat right here" with pictures and gifs of Hansen. This is especially prominent on IMDB. Granted, sometimes this is deserved as I have read some utterly horrifying comments that make me wish brain bleach was a real thing. Other times, however, it just seems like an overreaction.

-Someone mentions they find an actress attractive.
-Turns out actress is (at most) a few years younger.
-Cue Chris Hansen memes and reactionaries wanting to castrate the poster for mentioning such.

Here's my issues in list form.

1. How do they know the poster isn't a teenage boy (or girl if they're lesbian) themselves?
2. Even if they are, the pedo label is still inaccurate. There's a specific term for finding teenagers attractive. And even if someone one finds one teenage girl attractive, it does not mean they have a preference for girls that age (That's when they hit puberty)
3. There's a fine line between finding someone attractive and wanting to get in their pants. There are a lot of women I find attractive, but they're married women and I know my bounds (of course it doesn't help that I'm shy as hell).
4. There are some states and other parts of the world where the age of consent is lower than 18 (not really sure the details though).

In addition to all that, I just think it's ridiculous how fast people jump the gun. Does knowing someone that is under 18 magically make them not attractive anymore? The laws were made to protect minors from relationships where adults would exploit them. I'm not going to argue for or against such laws (though I think they're necessary), but what I am trying to say,

FINDING SOMEONE ATTRACTIVE DOES NOT MEAN ACTUALLY BANGING THEM. To equate it as such is thought policing. However, when ever someone tries to explain this to the reactionaries on IMDB or other websites, it goes over their heads.

[s_stabeler]

Honestly, the primary issue with pedophilia is when people want sex with someone who is too young to understand sex- not their appearance as such. (granted, I WOULD look askance at someone sexually attracted to prepubescent kids) For kids that understand exactly what they are getting into, I honestly couldn't care less.

Not to mention, you have people of a lower mental age than their physical age- like my little sister, who has a mental age, as far as I can tell, of 12. Thus, I WOULD care about her having sex, since I doubt she would understand the meaning of the act.

[TheHuckster]

I think the vast majority of the people who post Chris Hansen macro images are either trolls or are making a vastly lame and overused joke that I admit might have garnered a smile the first time I saw it back in '07, but got old really quick.

The only related meme that has invoked an even more negative reaction is that stupid "pedo-bear" thing I see, which I think is limited to the deep caverns of YouTube comments and 4chan, where I think it should remain. That stupid meme is never funny.

[siead_lietrathua]

for the definitions out there...
Pedophilia= attraction to pre-pubescent children. (under 11)
Hebephilia= attraction to young, pubescent teens (under 14-ish)
Ephebophilia= attraction to late-puberty teens (under 18)
these terms have littleto do with their mental states or understanding of sexuality, and more about their apperance.

the issue with Chris Hansen's show is that it's not really targeting pedophiles, they're going after hebe- and ephebo-s. but they only use the term pedo because, frankly, it's both the term people actually know, and it's more visceral. people have a knee-jerk reaction to the word pedophile.

S-stabler:
while i think people being attracted to adults with disabilities falls under paraphilia, many of them are just outright predators who think of them as weak targets. i totally commend you defending your sister due to her personal mental capacity.

[TheHuckster]

the issue with Chris Hansen's show is that it's not really targeting pedophiles, they're going after hebe- and ephebo-s. but they only use the term pedo because, frankly, it's both the term people actually know, and it's more visceral. people have a knee-jerk reaction to the word pedophile.

They are still predators, though, and are people who are seeking vulnerable minors. Due to the nature of the show, the most frequent target of these predators are teenage girls they find on chatrooms.

I'm not sure what the statistics are nowadays, since I think children and parents are more savvy to Internet safety and "stranger danger" when it comes to meeting people online, but when the show started, there were some scary instances of teenagers hooking up with people online and getting seriously harmed or killed.

[Ginger Tea]

I wonder how many of the posts stating how attractive an actor is are based on how they look now in 2014 not when they were young, eg Emma Watson, someone might post that she's hot, maybe calling her by her characters name Hermione (or something like that).

"Natalie Portman is so bangable." IMDB page for Leon

VS

"Natalie Portman is so bangable in this movie." IMDB page for Leon

You can tell which is the wrong statement to make.

The TV show Lazy Town, think that was the name, had a pink haired girl called Stephanie or Sophie and a few years back there was a pic on one of the I can has Cheeseburger websites with "<her name> is now legal in the UK" she might now be 16 (well shes probably 18 19 now), but that doesn't mean pictures of her in character from when she was 14 are safe to fap to now.

[Rageaholic]

the issue with Chris Hansen's show is that it's not really targeting pedophiles, they're going after hebe- and ephebo-s. but they only use the term pedo because, frankly, it's both the term people actually know, and it's more visceral. people have a knee-jerk reaction to the word pedophile.

I suspected as such. Chris Hansen has always struck me as a self righteous reactionary douchebag. Based on the TVtropes article on his show, some of the stuff he does could be considered entrapment.

[Gravekeeper]

I can't recall ever seeing this meme posted in a thread where people were attacking another poster for their comments. Whenever I see it, and the bear, its always as a joke. If that. They're practically just emoticons at this point.

[Rageaholic]

I forgot the pedo bear. Another unfunny meme that needs to die.

[Sleepwalker]

Hansen's show is dependent on (fake) kids that either could feasibly travel by themselves or stay home alone for extended periods. A 3 year old is not going to be contacting strangers on the internet.