The TED Theater at TED2019 – Bigger Than Us on April 18, 2019, in Vancouver, Canada. (Lawrence Sumulong / Getty Images)
By Michael Schwarz February 15, 2026 at 4:30am
An eight-year-old video about pedophilia has begun recirculating on the social media platform X.
Judging by the present mood on that platform, viewers will have little sympathy for the speaker’s disposition toward pedophiles.
As one would expect, the Justice Department’s Jan. 30 release of more than 3 million files pertaining to notorious sex offender Jeffrey Epstein has triggered substantial outrage, making it even less likely than usual that the pro-pedophilia message, deleted shortly after its posting, will meet with a favorable reception.
In a TEDx talk from 2018, organized under the umbrella of the well-known TED nonprofit organization that promotes speaking events worldwide, German medical student Mirjam Heine urged her audience to treat pedophiles with empathy.
“Most of us feel discomfort when we think about pedophiles,” Heine said. “But just like pedophiles, we are not responsible for our feelings. We do not choose them.”
In other words, a pedophile’s sexual attraction to prepubescent children and your revulsion toward those pedophiles both qualify as “feelings.” Since you cannot control your feelings, and they cannot control theirs, the feelings have equal validity.
“But, we are responsible for our actions,” Heine added. “And we must make a decision. It is in our responsibility to reflect and to overcome our negative feelings about pedophiles and to treat them with the same respect we treat other people with. We should accept that pedophiles are people.”
“American AF,” an America First account on X, posted the video on Thursday.
Liberal woman claims that society needs to ACCEPT pedophiIes..
“Pedophilia is simply just another sexuaI orientation. We need to overcome our negative feelings we have towards them and treat them with respect..” 👀 pic.twitter.com/PFy7R8DCzR
— American AF 🇺🇸 (@iAnonPatriot) February 12, 2026
Heine delivered those remarks at a TEDxUniversityofWürzburg event in Bayern, Germany, on May 5, 2018.
According to her profile in the lineup of speakers for that event, Heine “is mainly guided by the works of Prof Dr. Dr. Beier, the head of the institute for sexology and sexual medicine at the University Hospital Berlin and the prevention network ‘Kein Täter Werden’ (meaning ‘don’t offend’).”
Of course, “don’t offend” sounds more like a woke rallying cry than a proper guiding philosophy in medical research.
In fact, that helps explain why the event organizer removed the video shortly after posting it to YouTube.
“After reviewing the talk, we believe it cites research in ways that are open to serious misinterpretation,” TED wrote in a June 2018 blog. “This led some viewers to interpret the talk as an argument in favor of an illegal and harmful practice. TED would like to make clear that it does not promote pedophilia.”
The TED blog also indicated that the request to remove the video came from Heine, who feared for her safety.
Meanwhile, according to the Christian Broadcasting Network, experts refuted the substance of Heine’s argument.
“Pedophilic disorder is a mental disorder,” therapist and behavioral psychology expert Dr. Linda Mintle said. “It is one type of mental disorder in the category of paraphilias.”
Likewise, psychiatrist and brain disorder specialist Dr. Daniel Amen told CBN that pedophiles’ brain scans “look more like people who have OCD and low frontal cortex,” which diminishes their capacity for empathy.
In other words, what Heine characterized as a feeling belongs more properly in the category of mental illness.
The transgender epidemic of the last decade, for instance, illustrates the danger in prioritizing “feelings” over treatment of disorders.
Thankfully, in the current Epstein-driven climate at least, the chances that debauched elites will succeed in pushing their latest deviant ideology on the masses appears extremely remote.
Michael Schwarz holds a Ph.D. in History and has taught at multiple colleges and universities. He has published one book and numerous essays on Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and the Early U.S. Republic. He loves dogs, baseball, and freedom. After meandering spiritually through most of early adulthood, he has rediscovered his faith in midlife and is eager to continue learning about it from the great Christian thinkers.
Michael Schwarz holds a Ph.D. in History and has taught at multiple colleges and universities. He has published one book and numerous essays on Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and the Early U.S. Republic. He loves dogs, baseball, and freedom. After meandering spiritually through most of early adulthood, he has rediscovered his faith in midlife and is eager to continue learning about it from the great Christian thinkers.
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