Protect the child molesters!

Disclaimer! This is, upon review, a tad alarmist; so take it with a grain of salt. It's really only meant to open avenues of thought.

No, don't protect the child molesters! They're not people! They do bad things so they don't deserve to be treated like the rest of us! Not convicted? He just got a good lawyer! WE KNOW WHAT HE DID!

When using examples of unconstitutional treatment I regularly use child molesters as the victims. This always elicits perplexed looks from the person I'm talking to. Their eyebrows irk into odd shapes and they think loudly enough for me to hear, "Are you actually defending child molesters?!"

Of course not. Child molesters are the lowest of the low, and should die slow, tortuous deaths; but they can't. Because they have rights too. And they should ALWAYS have rights, because once one group of people doesn't have rights, more are sure to follow.

Why choose child molesters? Because EVERYBODY hates child molesters. And since everybody hates them, who cares if the constitutional lines get blurred a bit, right? I care. And you should too. Because it'll be child molesters one day, then drug dealers, then drug abusers, then Jihadists, then gun owners, then religious fanatics, then Christians, then, then, then, then... Until it's too late, and everyone has given enough power to the government to protect them, constitution-be-damned, from these terrible people, that the people won't be able to control the government.

Headlines you'll never read:
"Community outraged at unconstitutional treatment of suspected child molester"
"Protesters rally for fair treatment of KKK members"

Let me be clear, once again. If someone molested a child; they should be tried to the fullest extent of the law. But if they didn't, they should not be. Sadly, this is not always the case (on both accounts). No one likes child molesters, but we have to make sure our hatred of some people doesn't blind us to the fact that they have the same rights that we do.

The harbinger of these grim milestones are raids.

Raids are great. The police bust in, take care of the bad guys, get the goods, and make the world safe for democracy. They look great in the paper, praise the police agency, and can earn high accolades for politicians. Hence, everybody wants to do them whenever they can. Raids are based off some form of information (hopefully!) that leads the police to believe that someone at some residence is committing some crime, and needs to be stopped. Raids use the element of surprise, so they can't be expected to announce themselves, or make otherwise make you aware they wish to forcefully enter your residence. But that's OK right? I mean; everyone gets a hard-on when they get the chance to nail a child molester/cop killer/serial rapist/melon baller/(your occupation here), and when everyone's got their ninja suits on, they can't be bothered with things like paperwork, warrants, or correct addresses!

Heaven forbid an "informant" blurts out your address, or someone plea bargains with your name and address (or just a random one that happens to be yours), or they just plain have the wrong house. Were any of these things to happen, (or a number of other possibilities) you'd find yourself on the receiving end of one of these foaming-at-the-mouth, masturbatory, no-knock, "high-risk" raids. Just hope they don't accidentally kill your unarmed, hand-cuffed, subdued child.

But it's OK right? Just because they beat up that sex offender or rapist or car thief or funny lookin' guy from down the street, doesn't mean that it'll happen to me!

Right?

Lets go for a ride on the slippery slope, shall we?

As peoples' resentment of certain groups of people leads them to tolerate some infringement of rights, the definition of these groups will begin to fuzz, and include more people. The hate will spread to nearby groups, and groups not even closely related (but still perceived as "evil"). As people become more angry at these groups, they'll demand crack-downs, and aggressive pursuit of these "criminals". Which will lead to accidents that will be dismissed by the public, and defended by the prosecutors as necessary evils to rid the community of these terrible groups. Politicians will stir up anger in order to stir up votes, and soon, when nothing will slake the hate of the public, it will be too late. A state of emergency will be declared, and we'll be left with the most extreme of leaders who maintain their power by maintaining the anger, fear, and hate that keeps them in power.

The slope is slippery, and I sure don't like child molesters either, but we have to manage our hate, lest we begin to fear someone hating us.