PERSPECTIVES- THE OHIO RALLY

THE OHIO EVENT - PUTTING THINGS IN PERSPECTIVE

Novmber 18, 2007

I recently came across a couple of websites (none of them worthy of mention) that talked about the upcoming “Ohio Event” sponsored by SOclear Media and scheduled for December 1, 2007 in Columbus Ohio.

The Ohio rally is about registered sex offenders and their family members speaking out about archaic, unconstitutional, and retroactive laws which have been - and continue to be passed which make successful re-entry into society impossible. Laws which negativiely impact the entire family unit, the community, children, and taxpayers across the country.

Interestingly, these websites make claims of “cognitive distortions” which is very interesting as basically, that is what the ultimate purpose of the Ohio Event is really all about. To shed light on the cognitive distortions that Americans are being subjected to.

A few examples of Cognitive Distortions are as follows: 

All-or-nothing thinking: You see things in black and white categories. (ex. All sex offenders are the same)

Overgeneralization: You see a single negative event as a never-ending pattern of defeat. (ex. They will all re-offend, it's just a matter of time, cannot be cured, etc.)

Labeling and mislabeling: This is an extreme form of overgeneralization. Instead of describing the error, you attach a negative label to others: "he’s a loser." When someone else's behavior rubs you the wrong way, you attach a negative label to him, "He's a damn sex offender." Mislabeling involves describing an event with language that is highly colored and emotionally loaded. ( being labeled as a sex offender equals child molester, pedophile in the minds of most Americans. It creates division and an illusion of who really is and isn't dangerous.)

Mainstream media that perpetuates all of the above cognitively distorted messages and thinking of ill educated and power hungry politicians all across the country even in the face of evidence that the contrary is true. as a side benefit, sex offenses make for great ratings. NBC corners the market on it every year at "sweeps" or "ratings week" playing the misconceptions to the hilt.

Over and again, study after study and expert after expert have tried to convice lawmakers that the registered sex offender population is a very NON-homogenous group. Meaning it is made up of a wide array of individuals whose crimes vary in both severity and nature, yet all are lumped together in a single category and ostracized as baby rapers and child killers who without any doubt will re-offend the first and every chance they get.

Lawmakers have also been successful, thus far, at breaching the separation of powers between they (the legislative body) and the judiciary (courts and judges) time and again over-riding (through unconstitutional) retroactive legislation rulings of judges who passed sentences based upon all the facts of the INDIVIDUAL case, as true justice requires.

Anyone interested in the legal ramifications of such legislation should see U.S. v Winstar to see just how out of control and costly this breach of power can get.

This must change. To put it in perspective imagine twenty years ago you drove drunk and accidently hit an oncoming car killing everyone in it. The judge passes sentence upon you and you serve it. Maybe you got ten years in prison. Now imagine you get out, rebuild your life and ten years pass. Suddenly the law comes knocking on your door telling you because someone halfway across the country deliberately ran ten people over you now have to go back to jail for another 10 to 20 years. How would that make you feel? Wouldn’t you be angry? Wouldn’t you feel that that was a complete miscarriage of justice? Of course you would. This is exactly what is happening to America’s registered sex offenders. Many had crimes that were consensual, typical “Romeo and Julietts” yet they are treated the same as the baby rapers and child killers for which the latent avalanche of laws are named.

THIS IS THE WHY OF THE OHIO EVENT

It has nothing to do with ex-offenders wanting to “pick and choose” their punishment. It has nothing to do with former offenders wanting to “molest” more kids, many don’t even have child molestation convictions, but are on the registry just the same. Some do have child molestation convictions because they had consensual sex with someone underage when they too were underage.

All one need to do to verify this is look at the Kansas State sex Offender Registry website. It is loaded with minors. You know the kids these laws were suppose to protect.

These laws haven’t saved a single child. NOT ONE. They have however, forever ruined countless others’ lives without warrant.