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                              Sin & Censorship

Once more we are faced with the classic battle between the whim of the many
versus the will of the few. I thank the founding fathers everyday for
providing us with our version of democracy, dissimilar to the original in
that if it were like the original the masses would have already succeeded
in subjugating us.

What creates the desire to censure? Is it outrage? Disgust? These are the
most apparent and tangible reasons. Underlying them however, is their one
true driving emotion. Fear.

Fear of the unknown, by the technologically illiterate.

Fear of exposure, if the truth will shed light on a deception.

Fear of progress, by any industry or organization that stands to loose
profits or stability due to the worldwide expansion of the Internet.

Fear of anything sexual, by the sexually prudish and repressed.

The greatest of these fears, that of anything sexual, was the door to the
Pandora's box of censorship. This door opened after a series of documented
cases, involving children being electronically accosted by pedophiles, were
publicly disclosed. These cases are indeed a cause for concern and adult
supervision is the immediate answer. They should not, however, be the
mainspring for a continued call to censorship.

I do not defend nor encourage pedophiles. Child molestation is immoral, and
with few exceptions (Thailand), a crime in any nation. What those seeking
censorship legislation must understand is that although these acts are
indeed immoral they are not immoral because they involve sex. Sex by itself
is not immoral.

What is immoral is the dehumanization of a child who isn't old enough to
understand the purpose or meaning behind the advances and attentions of an
adult. What is immoral is taking such a child and abusing their trust in
order to satisfy a self-serving lust, without a care for the consequences
that the child will experience in the future. These things are immoral.

What the prude and the pious dislike they define as immoral. Sex becomes
akin to something of disgust simply because these individuals were either
raised in a very inhibited atmosphere or never developed a sense of
pleasure from the act.

Religion of course plays a great role in the sex as sin delusion, but
religion does not limit the appreciation of sex. It only sets limits for
whom it should be partaken with and when. Just because sex feels good
doesn't automatically make it evil.

Unfortunately the world is filled with these pseudo-puritans (do I need to
remind anyone of Jim and Tammy Baker) and we, the normal, un-hypocritical
few must suffer through their tirades every time skin shows in an
advertisement or when pornography is displayed over an international
network of computers. Access to pornography should be eliminated for
children, not for adults who have the presence of mind and maturity to
experience it.

The responsibility of policing the children of the world lies with the
parents. There are parents who argue that there isn't enough time to do so.
I believe that in these cases, where junior can't be controlled or trusted,
the parents should take the PC privileges away, completely disconnect them
from the Internet or simply enroll with CompuServe.

Why should the rest of us suffer because there are parents who can't
control their own children. The irresponsible always look to the government
to be the parent. What they neglect to understand is that the more we allow
the federal government to encroach on our civil liberties, simply because
we refuse to take responsibility for our own lives and for the lives of
those that we are responsible for, the less grounds and precedent we will
have to fend off and defend against future encroachments.

Televised violence is a prime example. If you believe there is too much
violence on TV then form and fund consumer organizations that will address
the matter with the producers. Do not allow the Attorney General to
threaten the television show producers of the United States of America (let
me repeat, of the United States of America) with censorship. Not only was
this completely beyond her authority but it also trampled over and
disintegrated the realm of freedoms granted to us by the Constitution and
the Bill of Rights. Unfortunately we asked for it by allowing the
government to take the place of the parent.

In it's current uncensored state, the Internet is the greatest
communications and informational tool known in history. It is however, due
to this freedom of information that censorship threatens, beginning with
the 1996 Telecommunications Act. With it there now exists a precedent from
which future censorship can gestate.

How do we prevent and allay the fears which feed the beast? With the same
tool that fuels the Internet. Information.

The media, specifically movies, radio and t.v. news are the ally which we
must covet and cultivate. If we don't we will continue to suffer from such
offerings as "The Net" and a varying array of scandalous news stories which
will only enhance a negative public image.

Those who own PC's and are interested in the Internet should seek more
information and join with user groups as well as attend local courses.

Those who don't own PC's or can't afford them need to be reached through
the print and visual media. Everyone should be writing to the Editors of
local newspapers, radio and t.v. stations. Many of these are already
on-line with their own web sites which means that you can also E-mail your
thoughts, encouraging them to dedicate more air and print time to positive
Internet information.

The most important task lies in reaching out to our legislatures and
helping them understand that our voices can be just as loud as those of the
ignorant and the uninformed. Concerted and coordinated efforts must be made
to reach them. The Electronic Frontier Foundation is an excellent medium
for voicing our concerns and uniting our numbers. It's a good start and we
must employ it to begin such things as signature, letter writing and
phone-in campaigns. These should be organized, not random, so that for
example, on a specific date your Senators and Representatives are barraged
with mail and phone calls, to the point where their phone lines jam and
their desks overflow with correspondence.

A policy of laissez faire, in regard to matters of volition, must be
adopted by our government. Until then, until our government representatives
assert the fact that each one of us is responsible for ourselves, that the
government is not the parent of the people, that it is only the protector
of its liberties and enforcer of its rights, we must remain vigilant.

This is a battle that all must join. Every positive will silence a
negative. In the words of Edmund Burke, "The only thing necessary for the
triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing."

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