Scary statistics!

Looking at the "morality barometer" poll in yesterday's paper, we're struck by several things, the first being that Leger Marketing actually did a survey on how Canadians view a number of moral issues. This is remarkable insofar as the Canadian establishment continually tries to push moral and social issues off the table - witness the complete lack of debate in this country over controversial topics like abortion and gambling - claiming that Canadians are tolerant and understanding and non-judgmental and it's only closed-minded right-wingers from Alberta who are trying to push moral agendas on Canada. [...]

Finally, the one thing that came leaping off the pollster report and hit us squarely between the eyes was the result to the question on how Canadians view pedophilia. Overall, 81% of Canadians said that they considered pedophilia to be immoral. Of all the immoral behaviours listed by Leger Marketing, pedophilia - being sexually attracted to young children - had the highest rate of condemnation by Canadians. But flip the answer around, and we find a far more disturbing statistic. If 81% of Canadians think pedophilia is immoral, then 19% of Canadians either refused to answer or believe that pedophilia is, in fact, a moral behaviour. A good behaviour. One that should not be judged by society. That's almost one in five people in this country! That's creepy enough.

It gets worse. Only 77% of Albertans said pedophilia is immoral, just two percentage points behind Saskatchewan and Manitoba, where the 75% condemnation was the lowest in Canada. Quebecers are actually the least tolerant of pedophilia, with a full 91% of them saying that it's immoral. The Leger poll also offers up a statistic that suggests Canada's tolerance of pedophilia will slowly grow with time, noting that older Canadians are far more likely to see the practice as immoral versus those in the 18- to 24-year-old crowd, where only 74% agreed lusting after pre-pubescent kids is wrong.

Sure, this report doesn't mean that 19% of Canadians are pedophiles. But surely if there was one behaviour in this world that could be universally rebuked at a rate of 99% of higher, it would be pedophilia. Apparently not. It would seem that acceptance of pedophilia in Canada is already far more mainstream than most Canadians would have thought possible.

source: Article 'Editorial: Scary statistics!'; www.edmontonsun.com/Comment/Commentary/2006/06/13/1628893.html; edmontonSUN.com; 13 June 2006