From: mpd@netcom.com (Mike Duvos)
Date: Sun, 31 Jul 94 17:33:21 PDT
To: cypherpunks@toad.com
Subject: Re: Children and the Net
In-Reply-To: <9408010013.AA06752@snark.imsi.com>
Message-ID: <199408010033.RAA25547@netcom8.netcom.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain


Perry E. Metzger <perry@imsi.com>

 > Why do you have such an unhealthy fascination for how
 > others raise their children? I have enough trouble running
 > MY own life without telling people what to do.

I merely wish to spare another generation of kids from 18 years
of grief at the hands of self-righteous power-hungry adult
authority figures.  Not exactly an unreasonable goal.

 > I know of no one who is such a paragon of perfection that
 > their views may be used as a benchmark by which all child
 > rearing may be judged.

A generally true, but completely irrelevant statement.

 > I believe in open access to information for children and a
 > far more liberal view of the rights of children than most
 > people have.

 > Live and let live, I say. I don't want others judging my
 > child rearing, and I have little or no desire to judge
 > theirs. Leave them be unless their idea of discipline for
 > hildren involves The Rack or The Firing Squad.

The first paragraph here, although it sounds nice, is completely
obliterated by the second.

It like saying "I'm all in favor of rights for Blacks, but of
course I wouldn't presume to tell anyone else what they can do
with their niggers."

Or "I'm really against anti-Semitism, but I have no desire to
judge anyone elses practices with regard to hiring, housing, club
membership, or whether they would want their sister to marry
one."

Saying you are for childrens' rights on one hand, and then
suggesting that those rights should be completely dependent on
whomever the specific child happens to win in the parent lottery,
is idiotic and useless.

 > I suspect that when I become a parent, any law that could
 > be used to "cure" the children of fundamentalist christians,
 > Amish, etc, would be applied to mine right off the bat --
 > after all, I'm a dangerous man.

We're talking about Net access here.  How would a law which
guaranteed that to all citizens, regardless of age, threaten you?

-- 
     Mike Duvos         $    PGP 2.6 Public Key available     $
     mpd@netcom.com     $    via Finger.                      $