Simon Burke on Devil's Playground: 'We couldn't avoid tackling sexual abuse'

The Guardian (Australia Culture Blog) ^ | 9/9/2014

[Dr. Thorne]

Unsettling new Foxtel drama makes for tough watching as it unflinchingly faces child sex abuse within the Catholic church. You’ve read reports about how the Catholic church covered up evidence involving paedophile priests. You’ve followed the hearings of the royal commission into institutional responses to child sexual abuse, established by Julia Gillard in 2012 following the shocking allegations of a cover-up in NSW. But nothing can prepare you for watching the grooming and abuse of an innocent 12-year-old boy by a respected school chaplain as it plays out dramatically in front of you.

[Dr. Thorne]

"Devil's Playground" is a mini-series currently airing in Australia. It portrays the story of a trusted school chaplain who grooms a 12 year old boy for sex. Unfortunately, it there are no plans to bring it to America.

[El Cid]

Unfortunately, it there are no plans to bring it to America.

It probably make for a more accurate version of 'Modern Family' - as opposed to the happy, slappy version that portrays sodomite unions in a positive light.

[Campion]

When will there be a "mini-series" about the thousands of girls molested by Muslims in England?

How about a "mini-series" depicting the epidemic molestation of young boys in Afghanistan and Pakistan?

That's right: never.

[Jacquerie]

<>paedophile priests<> That's the common term.

It will never be described as the usual problem of older faggots going after cute boys.

[Mrs. Don-o]

I was reading an article I wrote 25 years ago --- that's right --- about two sexually-involved men being happily in bed together on Hill Street Blues; I think around that same time time there were two women on some ABC series. The media creation of the "new normal" has been happening for quite some time; and the gays and lesbians portrayed are all charming, insightful, compassionate, romantic, honest, genuine, etc. etc. as well as impossibly good-looking

We're not supposed to look askance at "other people's reality." Yeah, the unreality has been piped into our consciousness like a public utility for the entirety of many people's lives.

Well, we haven't had a TV since then.

[BlackVeil]

and the gays and lesbians portrayed are all charming, insightful, compassionate, romantic, honest, genuine, etc. etc. as well as impossibly good-looking ...

Very well stated and insightful.

[terycarl]

if the boy was 12 the priest was a homosexual deviant priming a young man for his bizzare behavior...he was not a paedophile.