Comments: Authenticated sender is From: "Brandi Jasmine" To: webgrrls-toronto@cgim.com Date: Sun, 6 Apr 1997 08:43:51 +0000 MIME-Version: 1.0 Subject: Re: TWG: Re: webgrrls-toronto-digest V1 #192 Priority: normal Sender: owner-webgrrls-toronto@webgrrls.com Precedence: bulk Reply-To: "Brandi Jasmine" Status: > Yeah. Parents do make stupid desicions for their children. They can also > be extremely controlling and abusive. I think that some people really If their parents are stupid, controlling and abusive, then social services and/or the police need to be involved and like I said, no website is going to do them much good. > it right I didn't save the original note) "if you don't pay for the > computer you can't complain about not having access to everything." Well, > most teenagers can't afford a computer, let alone internet access. I know I don't think you have really thought this through. Are you suggesting now that Internet access is an essential service? Who is going to pay for all this? Welfare doesn't pay for clothes, furniture, hydro and phone services NOW, and YES, that sucks. I was RAISED on welfare in a single-parent home. I boot-strapped myself up as a teenager and young adult, I made my own opportunities - there were no "cool" parents to pay a $40,000 tuition. You imagine that some fantasy site that they "might" need access to just "might" solve poor kids problems, and thinking you have protected that makes you feel good, but that's all it does, really. You aren't offering any realistic alternatives. In fact, your position virtually guarantees that many public outlets will close up entirely, and those that are left will be regulated by the government. I hope you're okay with that. I'm not. > Kids should be afforded the > dignity and respect that an adult recieves, but a lot of people see > children as not quite human (at least not yet). If you take this to its logical extreme, they should have the same responsibilities too - a thought that is terribly frightening in its implications. Children NEED guidance and protection, to suggest this is an insult to their dignity as human beings is an insult to reason. No-one would suggest that a mother who stops a child from sticking forks into light sockets is "dehumanizing" her child by imposing reasonable limits. Some parents may draw the line in different places for their children. As long as they don't impose that line on MY children, then they have the right - whether I approve or not. Society draws the line at health and sanity - and I have yet to see any compelling argument that information exclusively available on the Internet could safe-guard either one. > I don't think that it is really easy to come across this stuff > unknowingly. I have NEVER unwittingly downloaded ANYTHING I found I wouldn't assume your experiences are universal. You as an individual user are only in a position to speak for yourself, which essentially is my point. When you encounter "public" systems such as libraries, you must accept the will of the majority - that is the ONLY place where the term "censorship" might be fairly applied - and what that will IS as yet has not been decided with finality. No matter how many pronouncements of doom have been posted, the Internet sky is nowhere near falling. Brandi -- Brandi Jasmine -- Freelance Writer, Illustrator, Consultant Visit: http://web.idirect.com/~bjasmine/