Court strikes down Internet porn law
I understand that issues involving free “speech” and the rights of adults are very complex, as is the interaction between government and the personal moral agency of its citizens. But as a parent I feel the current statutes and judicial decisions are sacrificing the moral lives of our children on the altar of adult choice.
In the ruling, the judge said parents can protect their children through software filters and other less restrictive means that do not limit the rights of others to free speech.
The Internet society in which we live is like a neighborhood in which strangers routinely walk into your house, inject drugs into your children, and then offer them more for free without your consent. I think we have to acknowledge the tremendously addictive nature of pornography, the deep impact of Internet porn addiction during the formative years of child development, and the overwhelming level at which our children are being exposed. We then need to begin imposing responsibility on those producing and distributing this drug.
Yes, as parents we should be doing everything in our power to protect our children. But the idea that it’s us who carry the burden of spending time and money to protect our families from perpetual moral onslaught, rather than the dealers being responsible for providing this material to our children? Sheesh.
“It is not reasonable for the government to expect all parents to shoulder the burden to cut off every possible source of adult content for their children, rather than the government’s addressing the problem at its source,” a government attorney, Peter D. Keisler, argued in a post-trial brief.
Amen, Mr. Keisler!
Technology experts said parents now have more serious concerns than Web sites with pornography. For instance, the threat of online predators has caused worries among parents whose children use social-networking sites such as News Corp.’s MySpace.
Follow this argument with me. X is bad. But Y is even worse than X!! Hence, don’t worry about X. Huh?! It doesn’t make sense. Why are Internet predators so pervasive and problematic in our digital society? Think it through… Because they are without fail already addicted to Internet pornography (typically, but not exclusively, child porn). They are acting out something they’ve fantasized about and visualized repeatedly online already. You want to eliminate Internet predators? Eliminate Internet pornography. The source is essentially the same. Pornographic material is addictive, the behaviors it induces in its addicts are base and degrading, and the social consequences are devastating to the addicts, their families, their children, and every other innocent victim involved.
