I just read a Bill Hicks (a comedian I'd previously never heard of) quote berating people who use the excuse of "protecting the children" to promote censorship. His line was that this is basically a daft excuse as the children don't need anywhere near the level of protection that these people are promoting and certainly not to a degree that you should be allowed to interfere with what people do to themselves in the privacy of their own homes. Question after rant at end. <RANT> Personally, I'd go one further with these people and say "If your children grant you the right to run my life, I hope they die soon.". I've got no time for the attitude that "children are special". I see them as just like any other person. Cars with twee bumper stickers that say "Baby on board" should also say "10 points". Yes, it's their child. It's the most precious thing in the world to them. It will grow up to be a person who is very precious to them. There are some people who are very precious to me too. That doesn't mean I expect them to be precious to everyone else. If I run over a pedestrian, the only reason I have to care if it's a toddler or an adult is the minor consolation that a toddler does less damage to my car. Many parents seem to want to abandon responsibility for their children. The children are allowed to throw noisy, annoying tantrums in public. The parents expect that those around them will mind their language, fence their yards, keep "unsuitable material" out of libraries, drive at a crawl and do anything else to ensure the safety and "proper upbringing" of *their* child. I have no less reason to treat the children with polite respect than I do their parents. I have no less reason to tar and feather them than I do their parents. Why oh why do these people think that the world should be their baby sitter. To the parent : "You made it. You love it. It's your future. You look after it." Sure, society has an interest in how your kid grow up. If the kid's raised badly (or just genetically evil or something) it may grow up to be a serial killer. On the other hand, that's a problem the can be solved in half a second for $1.95 worth of ammo by a cop with a gun. </RANT> The question is this: To what degree should society as a whole a) take responsibility for and b) be allowed to interfere in the raising of peoples children. By "take responsibility for" I mean make adjustments to ease the safe and "proper" raising of children. By "be allowed to interfere in" I mean mandating or forbidding suitable forms of punishment, dictate what education must be provided, take children away from "unsuitable" parents, etc. My opinions have been quite deliberately put in horrible terms above. _______________________________________________ issues mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.linux.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/issues
