This makes me happy. (Fireteam Builder Events)

by Robot Chickens, Wednesday, March 25, 2015, 14:47 (3534 days ago) @ iconicbanana

Maybe the sad thing is that my reaction was so immediately the opposite of yours, and not necessarily abnormally so.

Oh I completely understand the reaction. We are conditioned to think that way and there are good reasons for it too. As I mentioned, parents need to be very discerning regarding threats to their children, and unfortunately, the statistics show that adult men that take interest in children are a higher risk. I think the problem is when the defensive posture becomes the only response we are capable of as a culture.

Maybe it's the word "play"? It's normally associated with "playing a game" in the video game context but also has become synonymous with deviant behavior over the past decade? This could also be regional, or at least communal, too. Not a word that's okay to use in the context of where I grew up.

I think you are right to point out the various interpretive meanings that lie behind the use of the verb play. It seems to me that there is a point in the life-cycle where playing shifts meaning. Kids can play anything without an object for the verb. But at some point, you have to be playing something in order for the word to not connote something odd. For instance, adults can play games, play sports, etc. But they cannot just play. It is interesting how words shift in meaning depending on context. I think the difficulty here is when an adult engages in the domain that is primarily occupied by children. At that point the verb and its meaning becomes ambiguous and is open for multiple interpretations.