--- [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
> So, if you object to child porn, go somewhere else
> because Freenet is
> everything. If you're into child porn, go for it. If
> you're not, spread
> your own word and leave the child pornographers to
> do their own.
> Why should we try to keep them from this?
The basic argument (which I don't agree with
incidentally) is that child porn "encourages" sexual
abuse of children. Given that hypothesis, anything
that prevents abuse of children, regardless of any
other side effects, is a bad thing and needs to be
stopped.
Given that (obvious) abuse of children is verboten in
just about any culture in the modern world, many
people feel that the heinous nature of kiddie porn
justifies censorship in general.
This is problematic for several reasons:
1) There is yet to be a concrete link to distributed
kiddie porn leading to increased abuse of children.
As had been suggested by a few, there is even the
possibility that the abuse of a few children that
results in kiddie porn may actually provide an outlet
for pedophiles that reduces the overall amount of
sexual child abuse.
2) There is the issue of where you draw the line. Is
a picture of two 15 year olds having sex (taken with
their consent) kiddie porn? Legally yes (in the USA
at least). Is a picture of a toddler standing naked
in the tub kiddie porn? Probably not, but if posted
on a "porn" site it could conceivably be interpreted
that way. What about cultures that have less of a
nudity taboo than your own?
3) The matter of the slippery slope. If one social
"taboo" is censored, what is to prevent other taboos
(popular or otherwise) from being censored. How long
do the folks in the US (especially the smokers) think
it'll be before images depicting people smoking are
censored? I've already noticed a distinct drop in the
number of magazines/billboards/posters that feature
smoking prominently over the last 10 years. What
about gaming violence? Or threatened violence in
schools (which already has draconian measures that
deprive many kids of the right to speak freely)? Ban
porn, kiddie or otherwise and what else becomes fair
game. A certain dispicable US senator is trying to
find out as we speak.
> Do what you please. Please don't keep others from
> the same.
I would just modify that to "say" what you please, not
"do" what you please. Speech should be free, but
there are many actions that cannot be tolerated by a
civilized society.
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