I've had conversations with a couple people recently that got me worrying I may have gone too far.
I believe in questioning everything. I'm constantly toying with new ideas, reshaping my world view, and getting rid of ideas I find untrue or illogical.
I believe in being truthful, despite its level of political correctness, or how uncomfortable the conversation makes me.
All that being said, I'm scared I may have said something that these people may view in a way that I hadn't intended.
So the topic of age of consent came up.
Closer friend said it was the one issue, we as a country should never discuss, and it should be 100% set in stone (taking the moral high ground).
I brought up the fact that age of consent in some states were 16. (instead of 18)
I asked him if he thought those states were supporting pedophilia.
I asked him: What is it, exactly, about pedophilia that we as a culture find so repulsive? (I agree that there SHOULD be an age of consent)
I brought up how we say pedophilia is "preying upon" people who essentially can't make sound decisions. I followed it up, by making the point that smart people manipulate dumb people and take advantage of them all the time in relationships. People of all ages are stupid and get taken advantage of. That can't be our go to reason for the law existing.
I brought up how there were child geniuses, who were smarter than 99% of the people on the planet by age 12. I brought up the fact that there were kids who were extremely emotionally and physically mature, despite being only 16. I brought up the fact that there are emotionally immature people in their 60s.
I was essentially playing devils advocate. Let me reiterate: I agree with age of consent. I'm really struggling with this issue in particular because there's a lot of inconsistency and hypocrisy floating around the issue. I'm afraid that when I point those issues out, I may come off as SUPPORTING pedophilia.