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About this Milo affair.
5 years ago
General
TW: mentions of sexual abuse and prison violence
Okay.
This issue gained quite huge attention across the fandom, especially the babyfur community. So, as partially a member of this community, I feel I need to make some statement about it, especially given that my view slightly differs from most folks here say.
First of all - child abuse, including sexual one, is absolutely unacceptable kind of behavior. It is a crime - and a serious and horrible one. Unfortunately, I know something about it too and believe me I wish I didn't.
Every victim of such a crime has a right to seek justice. The problem is, recently here on FA and Twitter I saw a lot of people who certainly don't look for justice. Only thing they look for is a vent for their pure rage and hatred.
Regardless if MalyMilo did it or not, all these comments wishing him to be raped, beaten, tortured or killed in prison are just ABSOLUTELY DISGUSTING. Spamming his profile with hateful comments doesn't help anyone, neither the commenters nor the kids he might (or might not) abused. The only purpose it serves is dehumanizing him and making the spammers feel virtuous and morally superior. Which is not always the case, I dare to say.
I know I may make a lot of enemies with this statement now. But I don't really care at this point. I just can't stand this angry mob mentality and I find it hard to not fight for certain values I believe in.
If we fight against police brutality, but the next second we wish prisoners to get raped, tortured or killed by inmates (which, let's be honest, are not saints as well) in prison just because they are imprisoned for a crime we despise more, something is not right in my opinion.
And also, if French prison system in any way resembles a modern one, it is not gonna happen - so I would recommend cooling down the emotions. Even here in the wild-eastern largely populist Poland, sexual offenders are kept in separate prison areas for their safety. And for a good reason.
Wrongful convictions exist. And ANYONE can be wrongfully convicted and imprisoned (or executed, in some backward countries) for ANY CRIME, any day. Including me, including you, including those guys spamming about their revenge fantasies now. Think about it, guys.
And tbh, this all comes without really ANYONE of us having access to any solid evidence. I didn't see Milo committing the crime he was accused of, and I assume no one of you saw it happening neither. All we have is a couple of articles in French newspapers.
Yes, they say he pleaded guilty. But did he so because he did it, or because he know almost nobody was going to believe it was not him, and just wanted to get lower sentence for being innocent?...
Let's be honest, situations where the accusation alone was enough for people to destroy someone's life and career happened before, and not long ago. The "MeToo" movement often showed us that no evidence is needed nowadays, the cancel culture crowd screams "trust the victim!" and it's all that matters.
The victim here is a two-year old boy. We don't have more information about this case than his words. And I would say that the only two persons who know if what he told is truth, is MalyMilo and this boy himself.
I'm not saying he didn't commit this crime. What I'm saying that every case, where the only evidence we have is a kid's statement, gives me huge McMartin Preschool trials vibes. And a healthy amount of doubt might be not the dumbest thing to have.
And even if he did it - he is still a human being, for hell's sake. Period.
I also don't agree with FA removing all his artwork from his profile site. A website about art should be only about art - regardless of what said person does in their IRL life. Lewis Carroll had pedophile tendencies too - but he was still a brilliant writer and talented mathematician and we don't ban "Alice in Wonderland" from bookstores and libraries nor his mathematical discoveries from being taught. Michael Jackson was accused of pretty nasty things too, but we don't ban his music. We should separate artist's private life and their art.
What FA did, smells to me a bit like just a virtue signalling, and purely marketing movement to please the enraged folks here.
Finally, as a babyfur - I don't buy this "people like him give us a bad name" argument, which I believe makes a lot of people feel they need to wish him death publicly to show everyone that babyfurs hate pedophilia.
Most people who call us pedophiles do so just because they hate our hobby. They will call us this name no matter if we call Milo out or not. They just FEEL we are like that, and no amount of facts will change their mind - they just don't care about them as these facts go against their feelings.
I was called a pedophile numerous times, and only because I happen to be a babyfur - especially by members of Polish furry community (which is sadly largely a toxic conservative cesspool, though it's not something you would really see if you are just a guest at a furry con in PL and everybody is nice to you because you are a foreigner), but certainly not only. And I'm not the only babyfur who experienced that.
And it's not gonna stop just because now every babyfur and their grandma would start to harass one user and wish him death.
Came here just to say that. Sorry if too much of a wall of text it is.
Peace.
Okay.
This issue gained quite huge attention across the fandom, especially the babyfur community. So, as partially a member of this community, I feel I need to make some statement about it, especially given that my view slightly differs from most folks here say.
First of all - child abuse, including sexual one, is absolutely unacceptable kind of behavior. It is a crime - and a serious and horrible one. Unfortunately, I know something about it too and believe me I wish I didn't.
Every victim of such a crime has a right to seek justice. The problem is, recently here on FA and Twitter I saw a lot of people who certainly don't look for justice. Only thing they look for is a vent for their pure rage and hatred.
Regardless if MalyMilo did it or not, all these comments wishing him to be raped, beaten, tortured or killed in prison are just ABSOLUTELY DISGUSTING. Spamming his profile with hateful comments doesn't help anyone, neither the commenters nor the kids he might (or might not) abused. The only purpose it serves is dehumanizing him and making the spammers feel virtuous and morally superior. Which is not always the case, I dare to say.
I know I may make a lot of enemies with this statement now. But I don't really care at this point. I just can't stand this angry mob mentality and I find it hard to not fight for certain values I believe in.
If we fight against police brutality, but the next second we wish prisoners to get raped, tortured or killed by inmates (which, let's be honest, are not saints as well) in prison just because they are imprisoned for a crime we despise more, something is not right in my opinion.
And also, if French prison system in any way resembles a modern one, it is not gonna happen - so I would recommend cooling down the emotions. Even here in the wild-eastern largely populist Poland, sexual offenders are kept in separate prison areas for their safety. And for a good reason.
Wrongful convictions exist. And ANYONE can be wrongfully convicted and imprisoned (or executed, in some backward countries) for ANY CRIME, any day. Including me, including you, including those guys spamming about their revenge fantasies now. Think about it, guys.
And tbh, this all comes without really ANYONE of us having access to any solid evidence. I didn't see Milo committing the crime he was accused of, and I assume no one of you saw it happening neither. All we have is a couple of articles in French newspapers.
Yes, they say he pleaded guilty. But did he so because he did it, or because he know almost nobody was going to believe it was not him, and just wanted to get lower sentence for being innocent?...
Let's be honest, situations where the accusation alone was enough for people to destroy someone's life and career happened before, and not long ago. The "MeToo" movement often showed us that no evidence is needed nowadays, the cancel culture crowd screams "trust the victim!" and it's all that matters.
The victim here is a two-year old boy. We don't have more information about this case than his words. And I would say that the only two persons who know if what he told is truth, is MalyMilo and this boy himself.
I'm not saying he didn't commit this crime. What I'm saying that every case, where the only evidence we have is a kid's statement, gives me huge McMartin Preschool trials vibes. And a healthy amount of doubt might be not the dumbest thing to have.
And even if he did it - he is still a human being, for hell's sake. Period.
I also don't agree with FA removing all his artwork from his profile site. A website about art should be only about art - regardless of what said person does in their IRL life. Lewis Carroll had pedophile tendencies too - but he was still a brilliant writer and talented mathematician and we don't ban "Alice in Wonderland" from bookstores and libraries nor his mathematical discoveries from being taught. Michael Jackson was accused of pretty nasty things too, but we don't ban his music. We should separate artist's private life and their art.
What FA did, smells to me a bit like just a virtue signalling, and purely marketing movement to please the enraged folks here.
Finally, as a babyfur - I don't buy this "people like him give us a bad name" argument, which I believe makes a lot of people feel they need to wish him death publicly to show everyone that babyfurs hate pedophilia.
Most people who call us pedophiles do so just because they hate our hobby. They will call us this name no matter if we call Milo out or not. They just FEEL we are like that, and no amount of facts will change their mind - they just don't care about them as these facts go against their feelings.
I was called a pedophile numerous times, and only because I happen to be a babyfur - especially by members of Polish furry community (which is sadly largely a toxic conservative cesspool, though it's not something you would really see if you are just a guest at a furry con in PL and everybody is nice to you because you are a foreigner), but certainly not only. And I'm not the only babyfur who experienced that.
And it's not gonna stop just because now every babyfur and their grandma would start to harass one user and wish him death.
Came here just to say that. Sorry if too much of a wall of text it is.
Peace.
But pedophiles are with others who committed sex crimes the most despised in prison and it's usually seen as open season on them.
How strictly these regulations are observed by prison guards is another thing though. But if a prison guard knowingly allows for violence against anyone to happen, they should get fired ASAP imho. They just don't do their job properly then.
Judges are humans, they can make mistakes, some folks seem to think it is impossible imho :D
This happened a year or so ago and the articles are still up, sooo...
I visited your country last year! I quite enjoyed it.
And... yeah, sometimes I just can't resist and I have to say what I think about something. ^^'
I never visited Auschwitz though. But I always wanted.
But then again I'm thinking that the majority of people in the furry fandom are probably individuals who forget what life was like without technology and need to learn the value of touching some grass and working with customers or people face to face because if they did this (what they did to Milo and Tato) to someone IRL pretty soon they won't have any friends left.
I'd also add that they are mostly people born way after the most racial, lgbt etc issues were pretty much solved in the west, so some of them desperately want to do anything to feel like heroes of their times. And as there's no more Vietnam War to protest nor Soviet Union to confront, all they have now is accusing random people of pedophilia because they draw babyfurs or calling them racist because their fursuit has dreads.
(Some of those scumbags achieve high corporate positions too, and make "wise" decisions like cancelling reprints of cult comic books because one character could vaguely look "racist" to an especially obsessive professional victim (e.g. Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck). I hope the tide is turning and they will start getting fired like crazy in the nearest future, literally nobody needs them :)