Category: vigilantism

Who Guards the Guards?

There’s a Facebook and YouTube guy. Skeeter-something. Probably used the first part because an ex-wife told everyone he’s got a skeeter-peter. That’s 70s slang for “tiny dick”.

I saw this video. On Facebook.

A Facebook video.

Skeeter-peter was working with a group who sets up pedophiles. Now, I have zero problems with anyone willing to catch predators, you understand?

Those animals are the dregs of humanity. I truly think, believe even, that they should all be executed.

I’ve studied shit like this for years, trying to figure out why what happened to me happened. Why it happens to anyone.

And I still have no idea why it happens.

All I know is that there’s something wrong with the scumbags that do it and that the world would be a better place without them.

But then again, this “sting” they did in Walmart was disgusting.

First, it’s vigilantism. I don’t approve of vigilante operations. They could be sued for what they do. Second, they engaged in a form of entrapment which some judges would use to disqualify any charges against the fuckwad in question. Oh, they had transcripts, and the bastard thought he was talking to a 14-year-old. He said sick shit like “can I fuck you without a condom” and worse. Absolutely a fucking piece of shit. At that point the file should have been submitted to local police. But they sent an operative into Walmart to make contact. Then more operatives entered the store with cameras. Skeeter-peter wouldn’t shut the fuck up, giving a running dialog that, judging by the comments, really turned people off.

I’m not going to say much more, except that the police did arrest the cockroach. The group got banned from Walmart, which is hilarious.

But they made jokes the whole time. Jokes!

Look. There’s nothing funny about child sexual abuse. These guys make survivors like me cringe. Your intentions to do something good can be lost in talk like that. It’s in bad taste, it’s bad form and it’s sick.

I’d like to be able to say I’m glad the cockroach was arrested, but the involvement of civilians risks them getting any kind of felony conviction. And predators learn from shit like this fiasco. Next time, he will be more careful and probably claim the victim he goes after.

He was incredibly stupid doing this, but he will not be so stupid in the future. And what happens if his victims won’t testify and don’t do a rape kit, and there’s nothing anyone can do?

You want to help police find predators, fine. I’m with you, but don’t do this. Because you’ll fuck it up. And I’d prefer you not get involved at all if it’s just a bunch of attention-seeking Skeeter-peter assholes who talk all the way through a 20 minute video. All you’ve accomplished is to get the guy detained and that’s not enough.

Who guards the “guards” like Skeeter-peter? They can gather all the intel and evidence they want, but actually confronting someone, no. You can’t do that. Work with the police and let them work. They can take it from there. Besides, how can you be sure that the confrontation doesn’t end up with you getting a bullet in your gut? Cornered predators are desperate and unpredictable. It’s a dangerous situation. If you’re not law enforcement, you’re taking chances with your life and anyone around you. Desperate men never stop at one shot and their hands shake. A customer 3 aisles away, maybe a kid with his or her mom, could die because of you. You can’t plan professionally and that’s dangerous. You talk the whole time and you sure aren’t aware of others. You put innocent lives at risk for your personal glory. And I’m sure you have Patreon members. Your motives, Skeeter-peter, don’t impress me. Your procedure scares me. You’re just a bunch of showboaters and hot dogs.

I have no respect for any of you. And as opposed to vigilantes as I am, I really wish you’d have just shut the fuck up and clipped the cockroach. Because you’ve created a true monster out of this predator. He will hurt kids next time.

You know, most police officers are competent. Dedicated. Some bad ones have surely gotten attention. The force does not miss them. But let them do their jobs. If you don’t, you are the goddamn bad guys. If you see something, say something. That’s how it works, Skeeter-peter.

To show how little the human race thinks of its children, then the Hamas attack of Yom Kippur proved it. I thought the attack was just rockets. It was so, so much worse. Tonight I found out. Hamas had planned this for two years. They had infiltrated Israel. They purposely targeted children. They tortured and killed them. It was an act and declaration of war and war is exactly what they’re going to get. Nobody will be able to stop Israel from the vengeance that’s coming.

Killing civilians, putting children in dog cages and torturing them to death? Crimes against humanity, war crimes and as evil as men can possibly get. And now it’s done. Hell comes next. Israel will never let this go. World War Three has probably begun.

I am done here. Pray for peace.

The Vigilantes of Skidmore

One night in 1982 I watched a segment on the TV show 60 Minutes and never forgot it. In the town of Skidmore Missouri, while sitting in his pickup truck, the town’s nightmare, a bully by the name of Ken Rex McElroy, was shot to death.

During the segment I never once had any shred of sympathy for him.

Here is that segment.

Years passed. I never forgot that segment, done by my favorite correspondent, Morley Safer, one of the most intelligent, charming yet daring news reporters I had ever had the pleasure to watch. In the story above, it seems he was blatant about asserting McElroy’s death was a justified crime. But watch closely and it’s clear that he talked to people who wouldn’t go on record; he was no one to be superficial in his job.

Then, in 1992, I met one of McElroy’s relatives while working retail. She was a new hire, and for some reason I one night happened to mention the story. That’s when I learned that she was related to him, and I can’t remember the exact familial relationship, but she told me that my ideas about his death were justified.

I knew she was telling the truth. He was the reason she had moved as far away from Missouri as she could, the Eastern coast of the United States. Oh, he was long dead, but people remained who were brainwashed by the bully (clearly his wife and attorney were) and she had to get away from the situation. (1)

It’s hardly insignificant that his wife, a witness, either failed to identify McElroy’s killers, or, if she had, nothing came of it, and that in this report, her chance to go nationwide with names, she still didn’t do it.

There’s an active link about the town that got away with murder everywhere I look now, down amongst the click bait below news stories. I haven’t bothered.

Because there are only two reasons to keep this story alive: politics on the right, and politics on the left, in a deepening polarizing of the country and its issues.

The woman told me that there was much more to the complex reign of terror and the man who claimed the right to run it than anyone else in the country could know. She herself had been terrified of him, and would not go into detail except to mention that she was young. The fact did not escape me. Anyone who can terrorize children, know that they are doing it and even face charges but show no remorse, especially after beating the rap, is a serious threat to society. (2)

Police arrived that July afternoon to find the streets empty, and Ken Rex McElroy dead. At least two shooters were involved. Probably still others were there with firearms. McElroy had pushed people beyond the limits of the human brain, a place where it says, no more, and something visceral and primeval takes over. There’s no reason to believe any other motive. Anyone who has been relentlessly bullied can reach this point and will strike back with calculating lethality. This is basic human nature.

But Ken Rex McElroy was not killed because he was a bully. He was an established criminal who shot a man and didn’t intend for him to live through it. He’d fired at a pastor. Molested a child. Shot random animals and stolen others and the justice system utterly failed the people. He needed to go. Even though his wife won’t say a word against him, she too carried weapons to help him threaten a man’s life.

Was it justified? Can vigilantism ever be condoned?

I ask one question: how many people would he have gone on to hurt, traumatize or even kill? He was about to get another slap on the wrist when he died. That slap would undoubtedly have empowered the man. It’s a court, writing a blank check, to a known menace. It happens every day, across the country, always has. How many have died because of it? How many are yet to?

I do not approve of vigilante justice. Murder is a crime against God, man and nature. One doesn’t need to ask their higher power anything; it’s wrong.

Still, I cannot help feeling that at a time in history, destiny caught up to Ken Rex McElroy, and he got what he deserved, but more than that, his death served the greater good.

Even his family said it was so.

Notes

(1) Defense attorneys are forbidden to betray a client. Even if they know the client is guilty they can never divulge such a thing.

(2) A child abuser is almost always a sociopath, able to intellectually differentiate between right and wrong, but incapable of feeling guilty. As such, sociopaths are, under the wrong conditions, a severe danger to society. They will repeat offend until the day they die.