r/nottheonion • u/DerangedUnicorn27 • 6d ago

Convicted child rapist qualifies for Olympics

https://www.newsweek.com/steven-van-de-velde-dutch-beach-volleyball-olympics-1918442
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u/DelirousDoc 6d ago

TBF. The Dutch don't view prison as "paying the debt to society" but as the purpose of rehabilitating criminals and to only hold criminals where it is absolutely necessary for safety of the community. I could get behind this thinking.

That being said, 1 year is not enough time to ensure this man is not a danger to the community in my opinion.

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u/LanaDelHeeey 6d ago

Not to defend him or anything, but what is objectively the right amount of time to ensure he isn’t a danger? Like will 5 years vs 1 year really make a difference? And how do we know that?

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u/Cruciblelfg123 6d ago

You can’t whole heartedly change anything about yourself in a year. You can’t truly swear off Oreos in a year. I don’t know where the line is but it is super blatantly obviously a billion miles away from one year

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u/NOT_MEEHAN 6d ago

You can’t whole heartedly change anything about yourself in a year.

I stopped drinking 2 years ago. I was the worst alcoholic I've ever seen in my lifetime before I did. People can change if they get help, not sure he wants to.

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u/Cruciblelfg123 6d ago

Purely anecdotal but I wouldn’t trust you not to relapse on drinking within the first year of your sobriety if you drinking again meant the rape of a child personally

But anecdote aside good shit keep it up man

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u/NOT_MEEHAN 6d ago

The first 3 months were the hardest part of it all. It's not even a challenge to stay sober now. Inpatient treatment plus 8 months of sober living was what I needed.

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u/Cruciblelfg123 6d ago

As someone who bought coke instead of fixing their car week after week about a decade ago, all I’m gonna say is don’t get comfortable and think “I did it”. You did it, but you probably arent done dealing with it. At some point maybe you’ll legitimately be in your worst head space and still look at booze and think “that looks like more work than it’s worth im over it”, but personally I got lucky a bunch of time and in retrospect there was moments I could have slipped and blown up my life. Recently got hit with a literal “hey we got 200$ worth of pure coke and have to get on a plane you want it?” and legitimately in my soul thought No No I honestly don’t want it. But in the last decade even though I quit, realistically that would have broke me

Again, I don’t mean any of this negatively or judgementally. I just think holy shit I’m lucky some times and think it’s something that doesn’t get said enough. And again good shit man keep it up

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u/NOT_MEEHAN 6d ago

I mean yeah a relapse is always on the table because I'm still convinced alcohol is the best invention ever. The thing that keeps me sober is my ego. My ego says "you're better than this" so I have to act like it. Sober I'm a better son, brother, uncle, friend, and employee. I just try to always be the best version of myself which makes not getting drunk as much as i love it easier. Good on you for getting it taken care of.

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u/Cruciblelfg123 6d ago

Yeah I still think coke is a literal cheat code haha. Still have a running joke with my buddies about all the horrible things we’d do for one more bump.

Good on you too man that’s a great headspace. All that shit is infinitely more important, and end of the day if you lost all that you’d still be better off without it

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u/EvilMaran 5d ago

i quit alcohol/cocaine/speed/xtc/molly/smoking all at different times in my life and all were serious addictions, no help just wanting to be better. i can honestly say i am no longer an addict, i don't need it anymore, i dont like it anymore, even though i have some great memories from that period.

It sounds like you are projecting, you havent dealt with it yet, so others can't deal with it either.

I hope you figure it out, but you are just as anecdotal as the other guy and me.