To me, there is a nobility in a self-restraint so forceful that it spews out stuttering tortoises and talking chess pieces rather than focus on the matter at hand. There is something touching about a man who fights the hardest fight in the world: his own desire. You can feel the loneliness on the page. You can the feel the longing in the photographs. You can witness the self-contempt in his diaries. How can one not feel sympathy for a man who writes in his diary, "I pray to God to give me a new heart", but is stuck, in spite of his astonishing powers of invention, his brilliance, his immortal wit, with the one he has.

He had impure thoughts, yes. What matters, in the end, is what he did with them.

No, it matters more that children were subjected to him. Just like eucalyptus said...we can feel it/many of us while not sexually abused physically have been in the presence of creepy men and we absolutely did 'feel it' even if they didn't touch. Any female can and usually does feel that kind of leering. It is the kind of feeling that makes your skin crawl/your heart beat quickens/the fight or flight response is triggered and it is also very confusing bc you are not sure just what all is going to happen/an overwhelming feeling of being trapped.

What's next...I felt this overwhelming desire to eat her flesh but ate some raw meat instead?

Not all the photos taken of girls were innocent. Some of them featured children in skimpy undergarments. Definitely racy for the times, even current times when you consider the context. I just find it hard to believe no children were harmed, given the photos I've seen. That they were taken at all makes me angry. That he unwisely put himself in situations to be alone with kids at all makes me angry. I was never sexually assaulted, but I can recall situations from my girlhood where I was made to feel extremely discomforted by adult men being too touchy feely (think Joe Biden) or making creepy veiled comments. I couldn't define what was wrong back then but I knew something was wrong, all right. So much can be communicated by something as simple as a glance. Can you imagine how this creeper probably leered at the girls when he was alone with them? And the trust placed in him by their parents for being a reverend? Man of God my left buttock. I can recognize his battle and feel some sympathy for his awful predicament, but to go so far as to PRAISE him? No. No. No. A thousand times NO! Definitely propaganda, normalization, etc. You are right to call it out, @Shizy

More normalization. t's getting tired.

Hope people don't read it and think, "See! There's no reason to be concerned about our neighbor being obsessed with our daughter and taking nude photos!" The word OBSESSED should tip anyone off.

Because you are one too?

I had to go back and read this one paragraph. It Really Speaks Volumes. Dodgson's affection for what he called his "child friends" was always mingled with a vague yearning. He wrote to one 10-year-old girl, "Extra thanks and kisses for the lock of hair. I have kissed it several times - for want of having you to kiss, you know, even hair is better than nothing." This is typical of his correspondence. He converted whatever his feelings were into the whimsical, quasi-romantic banter that eventually made its way into the Alice books. He wrote to one mother of a potential visit with her daughter, "And would it be de rigueur that there should be a third to dinner? Tête à tête is so much the nicest." There was a romantic intensity to the friendships that Dodgson struck up with children, a hint of hunger, of never quite getting enough. This was especially true of his relationship with Alice. There was always a sense that he wanted more of her. And yet, can we really blame him for that - as long as he didn't act on his feelings? If he turned himself inside out, turned the world inside out with his powerful imagination, in order to avoid them? He kissed the 10 year old's locks many times. He said "even hair is better than nothing". What more did he want? From a 10 year old. What did he wish to be kissing instead of her locks. Made me sick and ready to vomit.

The guardian must have gone through some kind of change in ownership or re-organization, they used to be the only ones printing wikileaks and supporting J Assange, but sometime after they went to the darkside.

Pffft! (((Rolling eyes at the Guardian)))

I don't understand why pple would downvoat this. Obviously without even looking at the post.

Thanks for posting. Good example of how MSM try to normalize pedophilia.

One thing to be aware of about The Guardian is they are extreme propaganda pushers. They're complete CIA shills. As usual, the CIA mixes bits of truth in with outright lies in order to create a narrative that will emotionally trigger people into conflict with one and other.