Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!pyrdc!pyrnj!rutgers!mailrus!uflorida!novavax!proxftl!bill
From: bill@proxftl.UUCP (T. William Wells)
Newsgroups: alt.sex,news.admin
Subject: Re: Is alt.sex about to be legislated away?
Message-ID: <864@proxftl.UUCP>
Date: 5 Oct 88 20:39:56 GMT
References: <9644@cup.portal.com> <1601@mcgp1.UUCP>
Reply-To: bill@proxftl.UUCP (T. William Wells)
Followup-To: comp.misc
Organization: Proximity Technology, Ft. Lauderdale
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This article makes statements which are not directly related to
news.admin, I would expect some follow-ups to be even less
related than the comments here.  If so, please send e-mail
instead of posting, or suggest a group for discussion.
(Followups have been directed to comp.misc, as that is the best
group I could think of that I am also subscribed to.)

In article <1601@mcgp1.UUCP> jgo@mcgp1.UUCP (John Opalko, N7KBT) writes:
: [soapbox stuff with which I heartily agree.]
:
: Could it be that all this supposed filth and degeneracy exists nowhere but
: in the little, closed minds of our lawmakers and the small, but strident,
: Moral "Majority?"

One minor quibble: there *is* a tiny amount of the real "child
pornography" but that stuff is more properly child abuse done to
provide material to certain sickos.  However, child abuse will
not be eliminated, or even slightly contained, by "child
pornography" laws.

This doesn't change the fact that the net is at risk.

To give a parallel, essentially all child abuse in this country
is done by someone close to the child: a relative or neighbor.
However, since the politicos need things to divert attention and
to acquire power, and since there is a real problem, that some
children have been abused, some fasten on the issue of "child
abuse".  However, since the real culprits are not suitable
targets, being ordinary citizens, they look for some identifiable
group as the culprit, e.g., child care workers.  They then crack
down on that group, creating entrance requirements and operating
restrictions and generally making their lives miserable.

Having done all this, even though it has no real effect on the
problem, they can then say to their constituents that they have
done something.

The end result of this is inevitable harm done to the child care
workers.  Worse, the entrance requirements, operating
restrictions, and general harassment operate to eliminate the
human from child care facilities, thus creating a more
institutional environment.  Such environments have been shown to
do psychological harm to children.

And the *real* child abuse problem is not touched.  (The only way
to do that is for us to change our sexual mores.)

Now, while there is no real way in which the net could be
considered the *agent* of harm to a reader, this is irrelevant to
what a demagogue (or a shyster lawyer) might try to do to it.

Imagine this scenario: someone, looking for a cause, notices that
the net contains pornography.  He also notices that the
government wants to create a national net.  Plus any additional
garbage that might occur to his nasty little mind.  He uses these
things to propose nationalizing the networks.  Goodbye all kinds
of freedoms, including the ones we enjoy on the net.

Don't imagine that it can't happen.  If you do, look to history.
Such things occur with distressing regularity.

What to do?

Learn and teach.  Learn why the misnamed "conservatism" and all
other forms of collectivism are anti-human.  Learn how and why
our perverse sexual mores harm ourselves directly and corrupt the
rest of our lives.  Examine every unquestioned principle of your
life; look to see if it is justified.  And once you have started
that, teach everyone you can reach what you have learned.

: Well, I guess I'll step off the soapbox now.

And I off mine. :-)

:                                               I just wonder why the founders
: of this nation never mentioned the, in my opinion, most important of
: inalienable rights: the right to be left alone.

"Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness"?
       ^

---
Bill

You can still reach me at proxftl!bill
But I'd rather you send to proxftl!twwells!bill