I've noticed a lot of people seem to have taken the read on Swiss accusing Dagger of being a predator that he is simply exercising basic internet safety and that the only reason what he did was bad or unreasonable is that he was unknowingly doing this to a black transmasc teenager. My question is what value this understanding of the scene has over one where it is making commentary on the way that children and minorities are both endangered by predator-jacketing.
There is no shortage of media for youth to turn to telling them about the predator hysteria concept of stranger danger (which serves to both obscure that csa is perpetrated at far higher rates by adults with close connections to their targets rather than by someone they do not know thus depriving children of ways to recognize their abuse, to exacerbate existing bigotry against minorities by conflating them with an omnipresent predatory "other", and to shift blame for child predation onto the victims for not exercising "proper" safety). I find it difficult to believe that you could find a teen who is reading this comic who is unfamiliar with the concept, regardless of their own familiarity with its origins and goals, and even more difficult to believe that more teens need to be told about the dangers of the the nameless faceless predator rather than the much more likely existing ones in their own backyard, so to speak.
Does it not make more sense that a comic which has already showcased how adults will talk over and ignore and actively enable the abuse and endangerment of children in the supposed name of safety of those kids, but vilify those who attempt to stop said abuse or offer those kids some autonomy in their lives, would continue this theme by taking a character that they have decked out in mannerisms meant to make the reader see them as cute while showcasing that they have many obviously and vaguely fascist behaviors and beliefs, and having him behave in a controlling and dismissive manner towards his friend while he both casts a black transmasc teen as a predator and demands that said teen actually give up some of his own caution and safety online by providing him with pictures of himself? That the comic would showcase how people will dress themselves up in cutesy aesthetics while they take actions that benefit fascism and endanger children and minorities in the name of "protecting" those same children? That it is saying that it does not matter if what Swiss is doing is born from ignorance because if it is that easy for ignorance to be weaponized against the "wrong" target, then the behavior is not worth defending or rationalizing? Especially in a time where trans and racialized people are being treated to this behavior at an all time high?
Yes, predators exist, and they sometimes operate online; but consider that the reasons that you are more likely to hear about the FortniteRobloxVrchat predator than the far more common sexually abusive parent, aunt/uncle, cousin, pastor, counselor, teacher, principal, etc is multifaceted
- It plays into the very classic image of the Stranger as a predator, and thus it is more likely to be publicized for reinforcing that stereotype
- Predators online have far less power over their victims than predators operating in-person, thus their victims are less likely to be worried about retaliation or punishment for alerting someone about their abuse
- Victims without a pre-existing in-person connection to their abuser are less likely to worry that they are going to get their relative or family friend or teacher killed or sent to prison by reporting their abuse
This doesn't even get into how many examples that circulate of child predation both online and irl are often actually examples of children either escaping abusive homes or being offered the chance to make choices for themselves that have been characterized as child predation by an aggrieved parent or guardian of said child. A rather infamous example irl that I can think of off the top of my head being the mother who allowed her daughter to transition that was characterized by her ex husband as an evil manipulator forcing their child to be trans down in Texas.
To bring this all back to the main point however, I'm just wondering what value people see in the interpretation that what Swiss is doing is simple caution that either went too far or had the misfortune of having the wrong target and not controlling and paranoid behavior, especially over the interpretation that the behavior Swiss is exhibiting is meant to be shown as wrong full stop, because I just... don't see the value in it.
Addendum.
Caution/internet safety (i.e. don't give people personally identifiable information online, be careful who you interact with) and stranger danger are not the same thing, and to say stranger danger is a concept with fraught origins at best is not to argue to throw caution to the wind but to argue that one should examine those adults with power over and close relationships to you with as much caution and scrutiny as one would a given stranger.
