right now there is a dibute over weather or not a libary should use a fliter to block so internet conetent (pron. I am of the thinking if my kid can't get a playboy there why should be able to walk over to a computer and get to the same thing we already have filtering in library on the writren materal why not the web. So long and thanks for all the fish.
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sensorship 3
- Thread starter gunthnp
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Sensibilium
Programmer
On the issue of censoring pornography from children under a certain age, I don't think we are discussing the rights of the child.
If you believe that your child shouldn't be allowed to visit such websites then you are using your freedom of expression to remove the childs freedom of expression.
Look at it this way. If a child of the age of eight for example views a site with pornographic content, what would that child do? I imagine the child would look, and decide that it offered nothing in way of interest, especially since the child would not have reached puberty by that point, and surf off to the latest Pokemon/WWF site instead.
If a child who had come into puberty discovered the same site, maybe he/she would "use" it. But what then? Would the childs mind be poisoned for the rest of his/her life? No, the child would actually learn something about sexuality, etc. I don't imagine that many parents in the US sit their child down and explain the complexities of sexual intercourse, even if they do the child squirms and moans until they are allowed to leave (usually because they've found out all they needed to know from schoolfriends and the net).
IMHO, censorship causes more harm than good, the same applies for illegality of drugs. Both cause the rebel in a child to go out and discover for themselves what the fuss is all about.
Freedom of information? Pah! Not for the children... Ahdkaw
"What would you expect from a bunch of monkeys?"
If you believe that your child shouldn't be allowed to visit such websites then you are using your freedom of expression to remove the childs freedom of expression.
Look at it this way. If a child of the age of eight for example views a site with pornographic content, what would that child do? I imagine the child would look, and decide that it offered nothing in way of interest, especially since the child would not have reached puberty by that point, and surf off to the latest Pokemon/WWF site instead.
If a child who had come into puberty discovered the same site, maybe he/she would "use" it. But what then? Would the childs mind be poisoned for the rest of his/her life? No, the child would actually learn something about sexuality, etc. I don't imagine that many parents in the US sit their child down and explain the complexities of sexual intercourse, even if they do the child squirms and moans until they are allowed to leave (usually because they've found out all they needed to know from schoolfriends and the net).
IMHO, censorship causes more harm than good, the same applies for illegality of drugs. Both cause the rebel in a child to go out and discover for themselves what the fuss is all about.
Freedom of information? Pah! Not for the children... Ahdkaw
"What would you expect from a bunch of monkeys?"
mrsurrender
Programmer
Hi ahdkaw,
as I wrote before the main thing should be, to give children the tools to make good decisions by themselves. And I said that we in Germany are faced much more with nude pictures and so on, and I think it even helped me in my younger days in some way. So I am not into hiding everything from them, which is simply stupid (You pointed that out clearly). But I now know, that it still was good, that I didn't learn everything at once. So people over here learn to deal with sexuality totally different than in the USA. (Maybe one reason, why you find much more American pornographic sites than European.)
So that's in front of everything that comes after.
But I think, that the freedom for children should be limited in some way. For example, I wouldn't let my 3 and 5 year old children watch war or killing on tv. I don't think that they simply would switch over, if they saw someone shot, like You said. Yes, they will learn that men are evil and that they kill each other. But I think there are some other things, they should learn first. E.g. to love somebody, or respect someone you don't love. Yes, after that they will also learn about war, but they might watch it from a different point of view. That's what I think I should be responsable for, not just hiding away everything. Okay, now you should transpose that to the issue of sexuality.
Never stop thinking.
Siegfried.
as I wrote before the main thing should be, to give children the tools to make good decisions by themselves. And I said that we in Germany are faced much more with nude pictures and so on, and I think it even helped me in my younger days in some way. So I am not into hiding everything from them, which is simply stupid (You pointed that out clearly). But I now know, that it still was good, that I didn't learn everything at once. So people over here learn to deal with sexuality totally different than in the USA. (Maybe one reason, why you find much more American pornographic sites than European.)
So that's in front of everything that comes after.
But I think, that the freedom for children should be limited in some way. For example, I wouldn't let my 3 and 5 year old children watch war or killing on tv. I don't think that they simply would switch over, if they saw someone shot, like You said. Yes, they will learn that men are evil and that they kill each other. But I think there are some other things, they should learn first. E.g. to love somebody, or respect someone you don't love. Yes, after that they will also learn about war, but they might watch it from a different point of view. That's what I think I should be responsable for, not just hiding away everything. Okay, now you should transpose that to the issue of sexuality.
Never stop thinking.
Siegfried.
mrsurrender
Programmer
Hey, I have to add this post. Sorry, if I take all your time.
I was about 8 years old when I was tought about the vietnam war in school. Yes we talked about it clearly, but I was not just alone with that, I didn't just watch war. They told me the truth about it, that my mind hardly could take. I even had to face some real tough pictures.
My parents and grandparents lived in the time of world war II. And they told me a lot about their experiences in that time I would never want to miss. But I was not left alone to find out.
If you take your children and talk to them about sexuality, you should even use photos and so on, but that will be something different than "learning something about sexuality", if they go through pornographic sites. I am not afraid of talking about sexuality. My children know that adult look a little diffenert than children ;-) It's not the hiding, it's that I try to give them a great and pure attitude to sexuality, so they will accept their own sexuality easier.
If I use filters for the Web, I give myself a better chance to tell them more about sexuality than just the pornographic side of it. That's all. But You're right: Hiding away everything doesn't make sense.
Thanks for your patience.
Siegfried.
I was about 8 years old when I was tought about the vietnam war in school. Yes we talked about it clearly, but I was not just alone with that, I didn't just watch war. They told me the truth about it, that my mind hardly could take. I even had to face some real tough pictures.
My parents and grandparents lived in the time of world war II. And they told me a lot about their experiences in that time I would never want to miss. But I was not left alone to find out.
If you take your children and talk to them about sexuality, you should even use photos and so on, but that will be something different than "learning something about sexuality", if they go through pornographic sites. I am not afraid of talking about sexuality. My children know that adult look a little diffenert than children ;-) It's not the hiding, it's that I try to give them a great and pure attitude to sexuality, so they will accept their own sexuality easier.
If I use filters for the Web, I give myself a better chance to tell them more about sexuality than just the pornographic side of it. That's all. But You're right: Hiding away everything doesn't make sense.
Thanks for your patience.
Siegfried.
It seems to me that one of the best solutions to this issue would be to have blocked and unblocked accounts. Parents can choose which the want and they could denote on a library card which they wanted for their child. Then when they want to use the computer they would present their id and be issued an account and password as appropriate. I do not believe in censorship for adults, but I do believe that public institutions should offer patrons and particularly parents the best tools they can supply to "help" them obtain what they want.
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