National Pedophile/Blog Witch-hunt Heats Up

[stewardess]

Who is the real enemy? It starts with a B.Most Americans are aware that, during the last two days, lawmen in several U.S. states have arrested dozens of registered sex offenders with MySpace accounts

Comments

[boji]

Okay it's a bit of a tangent but in tomorrow's Observer talks about the technosexual generation and mentions teens. And I quote:

but others, especially younger teens, are having casual sex because they think it might eventually go somewhere. They're left wondering why someone doesn't want them even though they give the best blowjob in the world.

The article is here

[stewardess]

A good blowjob should be its own reward!

Technosexual. Criminy. I've found out the hard way you can learn a thousand facts about someone online and still find them a dud in person. That old chemical attraction thing has to happen, no matter what.

[msilverstar]

Sexual predators get on the sites to pinpoint their next victim

Registered sex offenders = sexual predators => use the the sites to victimize children... There's a couple of huge leaps of logic there. Even the Illinois legislature seems to be smart enough not to criminalize social networking site use. I <3 Detective Anderson.

[stewardess]

Gah. The legislation is already happening.

Other pending legislation [in Illinois] also aims to protect young people from Internet predators.

House Republican Leader Tom Cross of Oswego unveiled a proposal earlier this year that would make it a crime for predators to use the Internet for an illicit conversation with a minor.

House Bill 2858 sailed through the House and Senate without any opposing votes and is on the way to Gov. Rod Blagojevich's desk.

[msilverstar]

I meant, at least there had to be a conversation, rather than criminalizing just BEING on MySpace.

[stewardess]

Yes, at least Illinois is trying to define what the crime is, instead of assuming there is one.

The sex offender = pedophile predator leap is really nuts. Sex offender covers everything, from the guy who flashes his dick at an adult woman, and the eighteen year old boy convicted of having consensual sex with a fifteen year old girl.

[bkm5191]

sorry hit post to soon

[stewardess]

In the USA, this type of hysteria has been with us for decades. It began at the end of the 1970s, early 1980s, when the conservative Christian right organized itself as a political power. Reagan was their first president, the two Bushes their second and third.

The permissiveness of the 1960s and 70s scared the crap out of conservative Christians. They have demonized everything from the Teletubbies to marijuana to women working outside the home. Homosexuals and abortion have always been their favorite targets, however.

Until I read the article by the Restored Church of Christ, I had never considered how terrifying blogging would be to conservative Christians. An independent source of information and opinions and social networking available to their kids 24/7? Nightmare! Shit, it's worse than the birth control pill when it comes to destroying the fabric of society! ;)

[bkm5191]

Until I read the article by the Restored Church of Christ, I had never considered how terrifying blogging would be to conservative Christians

yeah you're right. I think they fear what people will do when exposed to options.

Although I realise now that I didn't even make the point I was going to, authority figures like to infantalise the people 'under' them. They think we are the children, that they can stop people thinking those thoughts be removing the medium to express them.

The same way people think shutting down a few myspace / lj accounts is going to get tough on the problem.

I just don't think they understand people won't be pulled under their control.

[half_elf_lost]

yeah you're right. I think they fear what people will do when exposed to options.

I thought something quite similar: I think they fear what people will do when exposed to diverse friends and want to know more about the world beyond what's been created for them.

[army_lass]

As a mother I'd kill anyone who looked or thought about my children in a sexual way, and god help them if they touched them

[stewardess]

Robert has a sore backside, no pocket money and will be doing chores till he's 50.Hee! More effective than a zillion witch-hunts

[elfwreck]

Keep in mind that a lot of the "kiddie porn" accusations about Potter fic are talking about 15-year-old Harry with 15-year-old Draco... both under the age of consent, but post-pubescent teenage boys experimenting (or whatever they're calling it these days) with each other.

Yes, there is hardcore rape, incest, and chanfic available in the fictional Potterverse. But there's also a great deal of just "sex among teens"--because the main characters are teens.

[army_lass]

Yeah I appreciate that, I'm not condemning those who like it.
I just don't like it, it doesn't float my boat. I never liked Elrohir/Elladan porn in LOTR nor do I like anything involving pregnancy or shit.
It's just my own views, I personally wouldn't read it, nor would I write it.
However, if you want to read it.. or whole communities want to then on you go. I'm sure a lot of people don't have a thing for men being done up the arse with a strap on... but it flicks my switch.

What I was trying to say (albeit badly) was although I personally find it disgusting, I'm not trying to moderate everyone else. If I see that type of community or fic, then I use the back button like any sane person and move onto something else.
I don't need Six Apart to moderate the Internet for me.

*sorry I posted this morning after 3 hours sleep due to a teething baby, so I maybe wasn't as coherant as I thought I was*!

[lannamichaels]

I wonder who it's going to be after MySpace. When I first started flyin' solo on the internet without my parents over my shoulder the entire time, it was with my parents' trust that I wasn't going to give away information like my name, my address, etc. They were very very very worried about AOL chatrooms. Because, don't you know, sexual predators get on chatrooms, pretend to be kids, and then lure their victims to them

[stewardess]

That's very interesting. I didn't know how MySpace began.

I'm worried about MySpace's "Sentinel SAFE" program. It seems very likely all blogging services will be pressured to create similar programs to track sex offenders. In the current climate, I don't see how they can not do it. The bad PR would scare the pants off of any company.

It reminds me of the FBI monitoring Black Power groups in the 60s and 70s. They assumed the groups were breaking the law, and harassed them mercilessly. The Black Panthers and others were treated like criminals. It was "shoot first and ask questions later."

Blogging: now a crime!

*groans*