Branded a paedophile for hiking with my son: Author reveals nightmare

KrisK_lvin · 2015-05-25T11:27:57+00:00

Two years old or not, the most fascinating aspect of this is not so much paedophile hysteria (though clearly that as well), but the power of the false accusation.

Will Self is a Metropolitan belletrist and inordinately fond of his polysyllabic erudition and frequently says thinks like "I’ve always been engagé politically" (of the kind I've tried to mimic in this sentence).

This is all very well in a London suburb, but this encounter took place in Yorkshire - to loosely translate to North American terms, this is something like a regular New Yorker columnist and wit from New York's upper east side going for a hike deep in the heart of Texas and then becoming indignant when the security guard on the gate insists that he has to walk around. That makes this bit hilarious:

The guard was entirely unsympathetic. He said it was private property and there was no public right of way.

From the guard's point of view, this is a well-spoken fancy Londoner assuming he has a right to a special privilege the guard would deny anyone else asking the same question.

Self - ironically in spite of the fact that he is a well-known advocate for Labour politics - is completely oblivious to the class and regional dynamic going on here so he compounds the problem by explaining why the guard - who does this job every day - is wrong and why Self - who has never been in the area before - is right:

I said this was fair enough, but I could see from the map that there was a track leading right across the grounds, it would help us a lot, and obviously we weren’t the sort of people – being long-distance walkers – to bother any livestock.

In other words, from the guard's perspective this Oxford University educated poncey London literatti type is basically telling the guard that he's stupid, probably not helped at all when Self says:

I began to remonstrate, saying I was with my own child, and moreover I also teach at a university.

From the guard's point of view, this is special pleading - his vowels, his vocabulary and everything about his manner is saying "You are working class scum and stupid, whereas I am an educated fellow from London on a ramble that teaches at a university, don't ye know?"

I soon finessed from the officer the information that yes, indeed, it was the Bishop Burton jobsworth who had put in the call, an alert that necessitated the calling out of a woman officer from over 30 miles away in order to attend, since there was a presumption that a child might have to be taken into custody.

What the hell did he think was going to happen? He openly shames this guard, hints that he's his social inferior and ignorant to boot and then is surprised when the guard gets his revenge on Self by calling in a sighting of a suspected paedophile to the police?

Does Self understand nothing of the petty vindictiveness humans are capable of? That's a rhetorical question, obviously.

When I was at school, the brother-in-law of a friend of mine refused to join in a strike action and continued to work. What happened?

Naturally, my friend's sister and her husband had pizzas and taxis turning up at all hours of the day and night, a massive skip (dumpster) appeared one day, on another occasion 20 bags of cement turned up, my friend's sister received threatening phone calls at all times of the day and night and etc. etc. etc. - the message was clear - you are not allowed to break ranks but must join this strike action.

Allegations of sexual assault, sexual harassment, paedophilia and rape have been added to that armoury of intimidation.

TL:DR: London Metropolitan elite insults a Yorkshire security guard by trying to explain why he knows more about the guard's job than the guard does; guard uses paedophilia hysteria to take a very vindictive revenge - this shouldn't come as any surprise.

(Edited a couple of typos)

5th_Law_of_Robotics · 2015-05-25T14:17:50+00:00

Look at all that unchecked male privilege.

2015-05-25T10:05:26+00:00

He doesn't get it. Blames the guard, the police, the government cuts - but he's too scared and brainwashed to see this as the social effect of gynocentric feminism. Or if he does see it, he keeps it quiet because his career as an author would be over tomorrow were he to say so.

patcomen · 2015-05-25T12:19:06+00:00

Incredible story. I have read so many recently like this one. But for Will Self, an amazing writer, to have this happen helps our cause. But he must get at the source of the problem - the feminists.

2015-05-25T15:09:44+00:00

I've seen Will Self walking around with his son, and he does cut a shady figure. (I say with him, the kid was about 20 yards behind him trying to keep up). The real crime here is not recognizing him and letting him do whatever he wants. Man's a talent.

InBaggingArea · 2015-05-25T09:25:21+00:00

Yes. I remember this. It's from two years ago. Will Self.

DailMail_Bot · 2015-05-25T06:02:09+00:00

Non-Daily Mail Mirror

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bertreapot · 2015-05-25T12:56:13+00:00

meh. i don't have a lot of sympathy for this guy. a security guard is under no duty to allow him to cross private school grounds. in fact, the "jobsworth" as he is called may be under specific orders not to let people not affiliated with the school on campus. he is just doing his job.

as for calling the police on him, yes i think that this can be a symptom of the modern assumption that all men alone with children must be pedophile abductors. though perhaps Self was a huge tool to the security guard and riled him up? secondly, along with orders not to let randos cross school grounds, the guard may also have been under orders to be on the lookout for predators (it sounds like the college he works for has resident minors on campus). it's a stretch that a man walking alone with a kid is a predator, but hey, maybe he was using an abducted kid to entice more kids to get in his van with him. and if Self was being an asshole on top of it, the guard probably thought there was little harm in having him checked out. having Self's credentials checked for 30 minutes is hardly a "nightmare" compared to men who are falsely arrested for crimes they did not commit.

Title	Branded a paedophile for hiking with my son: Author reveals nightmare
Author	Namkcalb
Upvotes	54
Comments	15
Date	May 25, 2015 6:01 AM UTC (11 years ago)
Subreddit	Posted in /r/MensRights
Original Link	https://old.reddit.com/r/MensRights/comments/376acq/branded_a_paedophile_for_hiking_with_my_son/
Archive Link	https://theredarchive.com/r/MensRights/branded-a-paedophile-for-hiking-with-my-son-author.979373 https://theredarchive.com/post/979373

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