Rationalization – Can Paedophiles Argue For Children’s Sexual Rights?
“[G]o to one of the pro-contacter boards and read the posts of the people there who are arguing for legalization of adult-child sex. It is chock full of just these kinds of rationalizations.“ (Todd Nickerson)
Rationalization: “… a rational bolstering up of a belief held on irrational grounds […] When our desires lead us to believe something, our minds construct a rational set of reasons for supposing that belief to be true. The belief does not, however, follow from the reasons; the reasons follow from the belief.”
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The accusation of ‘rationalization’ is frequently levelled against paedophiles advocating children’s sexual rights and can often be effective in diminishing a speaker/writer's credibility.
This essay takes a look at the nature of Rationalization - the limits of its validity and how rationalization can often be mistaken for bias arising from of experience and can be something which enriches debates.
It also defangs a couple of the commonest forms that accusations of rationalization can take against paedophiles arguing for children's rights.
Oh, and it ends with a Calvin and Hobbes cartoon.
https://consentinghumans.wordpress.com/2016/01/13/rationalization-can-paedophiles-argue-for-childrens-sexual-rights/