Overreaction or a genuine cause for concern?

Pestilence · 22 Jun 2011 at 11:34

Morba said:
People staring at me and making comments implying i'm a peado would annoy me more tbh.
Your parents should have found something else to concentrate on, rather than this man and the boy. As mjt said, they should mind their own business tbh.

TBH a more foolproof way of finding out would have been for the OPs dad to approach the guy and offer to pay for some "private time" with the child, which the man could photograph.

Have the OPs mum in the background smiling, then after a minute or so shouting "So has he agreed????" to the dad.

Mind you, they may have then just found the tables turned when the perfectly normal photographer father reports THEM to the police.

Diesel · 22 Jun 2011 at 11:46

Sounds like a pair of busybodies to me. Tell them to mind their own business in future.

mlbtheshow · 22 Jun 2011 at 11:52

Why didnt your parents just ask the kid if this bloke has been fiddling with him?

Tefal · 22 Jun 2011 at 11:55

Pestilence said:
TBH a more foolproof way of finding out would have been for the OPs dad to approach the guy and offer to pay for some "private time" with the child, which the man could photograph.

Have the OPs mum in the background smiling, then after a minute or so shouting "So has he agreed????" to the dad.

Mind you, they may have then just found the tables turned when the perfectly normal photographer father reports THEM to the police.

I think it's more likely the bloke would have beat the dad around the head with his lighting stand.

David_VI · 29 Jun 2011 at 19:01

misterPK said:

Exactly what came to my mind

Good ole Monkey Dust and wow, very true to how its become!

J86 · 29 Jun 2011 at 19:05

Tefal said:
What do you mean hands by face , as lets face it that's a big range was it a

or at the other end of the spectrum

LMFAO.

.Lethal · 29 Jun 2011 at 19:10

Personally I think given that the guy said it was his son that should have been the end of it.

It's none of your business and nothing happend, apart from some random person thinking something is odd. I would also add that I think your parents are lucky the guy didn't lash out after confronting him a second time.

explicit4u · 29 Jun 2011 at 19:19

mjt said:
Tell your parents to mind their own ****ing business.

"All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing."

In this case there could be absolutely nothing wrong, but you never know, the ops parents being nosey could save that kid from whatever might have been going on.

Vonhelmet · 29 Jun 2011 at 19:25

explicit4u said:
"All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing."

In this case there could be absolutely nothing wrong, but you never know, the ops parents being nosey could save that kid from whatever might have been going on.

Suggesting that all that is needed for evil to be stopped is a lack of common sense and an abundance of nosiness falls somewhere between Orwellian and idiotic.

Energize · 29 Jun 2011 at 19:26

explicit4u said:
"All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing."

In this case there could be absolutely nothing wrong, but you never know, the ops parents being nosey could save that kid from whatever might have been going on.

Way to take that quote out of context.

Irish_Tom · 29 Jun 2011 at 19:30

How big was the lens? If it was a 70-300mm then there's nothing to worry about. If it was a 600mm prime then he's definitely a pedo and should be hunted down and burnt at the stake.

On a serious note, it sounds like a photographer (amateur or otherwise) was taking photos of his son... Massive over-reaction if you ask me.

fez · 29 Jun 2011 at 19:42

Anyone with half a brain cell would find it rather strange for some randoms to come over asking about what you are doing. If he had been playing football with his son, would your parents still have got involved.

He was probably ***** off because that is automatically where a lot of people go when they see a child and an adult taking pictures of them. What did your parents expect to happen when they asked a guy "what are you doing and is that your child".

"Wow i'm really glad you asked that question, I would love to talk to someone who is borderline accusing me of being a paedophile in front of my son". Your parents are lucky he didn't tell them to **** *** or worse.

1LANCS · 29 Jun 2011 at 19:57

Makes me laugh that you would think a paedo would take his victim outside into a communal garden in front of 2 people and sit there and take pics with cumbersome equipment. Surely if he was a paedo he would have done it in private?

[TW]Sponge · 29 Jun 2011 at 19:58

What if his parents did mind their own business and he did turn out to be a paedo?

Better be safe than sorry imo.

Energize · 29 Jun 2011 at 20:02

[TW]Sponge;19480416 said:
What if his parents did mind their own business and he did turn out to be a paedo?

Better be safe than sorry imo.

Yeah, better follow him home and set up a surveillance operation too.

1LANCS · 29 Jun 2011 at 20:06

[TW]Sponge;19480416 said:
What if his parents did mind their own business and he did turn out to be a paedo?

Better be safe than sorry imo.

What if he was a terrorrist, murderer, burglar, car thief, superman!?!?!?

[TW]Sponge · 29 Jun 2011 at 20:06

Energize said:
Yeah, better follow him home and set up a surveillance operation too.

You have to admit it does sound strange though.

[TW]Sponge · 29 Jun 2011 at 20:07

1LANCS said:
What if he was a terrorrist, murderer, burglar, car thief, superman!?!?!?

He was taking pictures of a kid, not doing any of the above. Strange post.

robmol · 29 Jun 2011 at 20:09

Was he Asian?

Curio · 29 Jun 2011 at 20:10

Interesting thread. Speaking as a soon-to-be dad, I would have no problem if some people came up while I was taking pics just to check everything was OK. In an ideal world people wouldn't need to check.....but in an ideal world there wouldn't be millions of dodgy child images on the net either. There's also the fact that people are quick to shout "why didn't somebody say something!" when anything bad happens, yet here are people being criticized for doing exactly that. I guess you can't win.