Just for the record ...
Jan. 15th, 2004 08:41 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
percivalI am not ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
fandom_scruples, nor do I know him or her. I do not have children. In fact, I am very likely to be infertile.
I think that censorship is wrong.
I also think that blacklisting fics is not the right way to go about protecting teenagers from influences that their parents consider to be potentially harmful.
I have two reasons for this view:
1) Whether a person is impressionable or whether s/he can be damaged, hurt, offended, or plain squicked out by reading certain fics depends less on her age than on his or her personality, history, experiences, preferences, dislikes, and personal traumata. As far as I know, this holds for people 13+.
Therefore, out of courtesy to ALL readers, no matter what age, writers might do well to flag content that some people might not want to read.
This protects the right to free speech, while showing respect for other people's feelings. A win-win situation, really.
2) The internet is only one of the potential influences on teenagers. RL peers, books, TV, newspapers, magazines are just as influential. As far as I can see, if parents want to counteract certain of these influences, the best strategy might be for them to keep in touch with their child, and to live the values that they want their child to adopt, so that their child can do as they do AND as they say.
Has this cleared up some of the confusion caused by the fact that I was friended by a LJ that I did not know of until people started posting about it on their own LJs?
As always, feel free to agree or disagree. I welcome discussion.
fandom_scruples, nor do I know him or her. I do not have children. In fact, I am very likely to be infertile. I think that censorship is wrong.
I also think that blacklisting fics is not the right way to go about protecting teenagers from influences that their parents consider to be potentially harmful.
I have two reasons for this view:
1) Whether a person is impressionable or whether s/he can be damaged, hurt, offended, or plain squicked out by reading certain fics depends less on her age than on his or her personality, history, experiences, preferences, dislikes, and personal traumata. As far as I know, this holds for people 13+.
Therefore, out of courtesy to ALL readers, no matter what age, writers might do well to flag content that some people might not want to read.
This protects the right to free speech, while showing respect for other people's feelings. A win-win situation, really.
2) The internet is only one of the potential influences on teenagers. RL peers, books, TV, newspapers, magazines are just as influential. As far as I can see, if parents want to counteract certain of these influences, the best strategy might be for them to keep in touch with their child, and to live the values that they want their child to adopt, so that their child can do as they do AND as they say.
Has this cleared up some of the confusion caused by the fact that I was friended by a LJ that I did not know of until people started posting about it on their own LJs?
As always, feel free to agree or disagree. I welcome discussion.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
Hello
Date: 2004-01-16 03:24 pm (UTC)My goodness, I'm away from here for a few days and a black list pops up. LOL. The irony of the whole thing is the fact that I have been busy with my government finals, etc. I gave my students a 115 question final, with a fair portion dedicated to the Bill of Rights.
I quote the First: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances."
I'm not looking at my book, so I hope that is accurate. In other words, in regards to materials both in print and on the web, 'Prior Restraint' can not be imposed upon the people. The government cannot block something from publication just because they disagree with it. Only in specific cases can materials be stop from distribution to the masses---CIA classified, words of Seditious Intent and materials deemed dangerous in content sent to secure Federal facilities...in other words you can't mail a prisoner information on how to make a bomb out of soap).
So where does this leave us? I know for a fact that I will be upon that black list shortly. I've said all along that there will come a point in my story where the Quill will be unable to post AP in full, and my Yahoo site, therefore, will post the full un-edited content.
I've labeled it over 18 and am uncomfortable with 'youngsters' reading these portions. Realistically, though, I don't think that this over 18 block works. It doesn't. I can tell you for a fact that high school students get around the web better than we give them credit for. I've watched them do it. You don't take 60 Political Science students to the computer lab and have them NOT get into things they're not suppose to. I HAVE TO WATCH THEM. THAT’S MY JOB.
One of my students has found the Quill and my yahoo site without me telling her anything about it. She is 16 and very mature for her age. Should she have the right to read what's out there? The constitution gives her that right. Can I stop her? No. Can her parents? YES. THAT’S THEIR JOB. But in my opinion they have done a fine job of bring her up and she will do fine when the time comes for me to post the R/NC-17 portions.
Locks and passwords are not parents. If her parents have a problem with the materials she reads, then it is for them to deal with the issue of what she views. There are many in my class who could not deal with what will happen to my main character and should not be reading it. I will post warnings and rely on my SQ beta to draw the line as to what is acceptable for them.
cont...on next post. Word limits