Abuse is such a flexible word...sadly enough.
All these Internet porn laws really make my teeth itch. In broad principle, they’re rather nice: do something to make the Internet a less child-unfriendly place. But how do you define “child-unfriendly”? What is porn, and what is not? Who gets to decide? And when did groups like the Southern Baptist Convention get the right to decide how other people’s children will be raised?
It seems to me that this really is a two sided problem, though. On one side, yes, the folks who send all the porn-smut through the email should be tracked down and more harshly penalised (like, oh, I don’t know, banned from using any Internet-connected computer for a minimum of five years is a start). And yes, the folks who use the teaser-images on porn sites should be forced to follow similar signage laws as real-world sex shows and shops, with like penalties for breaking the law. However, these outraged parents have to take responsibility for teaching their children how to build a value system. Sooner or later, children leave home. Some of them REALLY leave (i.e., moving from a town of 26,500 to a metro area of 1.4 million). If parents don’t equip their children to make their own judgements, stand up for their principles, and adhere to their own moral code, then parents haven’t done as well as they could. It seems to me that parents have a near-prime opportunity when their child views Internet porn. The kids are surrounded by a stable, supportive atmosphere. They are warm and dry. They have food to eat. They know that the people in their home love them (or they should…but that’s another rant). They’re not trying to eke out a living on the streets, spending each night hungry and cold. They’re not being physically attacked every day (again…another rant). They haven’t done anything that will get them thrown in jail. They haven?t even, technically, done anything that anyone else will ever know about. It’s a relatively consequence-free zone, so the children can concentrate on the lessons that the parents teach them.
Think about it: when would you rather discuss drugs with your child, around the dinnertable one day or one evening at the local police station? When would you rather discuss sex, in in your living room after school or in the hospital or police station after your child has been raped? If parents keep abnegating their rights, other people will raise their children. (To the troglodyte sitting at the screen while their children dismember the family dog “in fun”: That’s you, screwhead.)
Related entry: Isn’t Child Abuse Illegal?
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