There’s a meme going around the blogosphere with a serious purpose. I was actually tagged by Paula Mooney last Saturday, but I’ve put off writing about this meme.
Why have I put off writing this meme? There are a couple of reasons. First of all, the topic of this meme is so serious that it’s something I actually find painful to think about it. Secondly, Paula expressed what is needed better than I could hope to.
But, I’m getting ahead of myself.
The topic of the meme is Safeguarding the Web for Children. You can also read more about it here.
As I understand it, the purpose of the meme is to urge those who run adult sites to require a password before graphic and explicit materials can be viewed. The text of the meme is here:
Please require a password-protected login before allowing even free access to explicit adult content. We understand that selling porn is your business and we respect your right to make a legal living. But understand our legitimate concerns and work with us. You already have the warning adult content on your websites. Yet kids, who are not legal customers of your product, ignore the warning. So to prevent them from having direct access to explicit images, texts and sounds, the simplest way is to have a password-protected login. No more free tours before a visitor supplies basic information.
Is this enough? Will this campaign truly protect our kids?
I hope that this campaign is enough, but I’m afraid that it might not be.
Just yesterday I heard about the latest in adult materials on the news–films of children being attacked. How sick has our culture gotten?
I’m with Paula on this subject; I feel a change of heart is what is truly needed. That change can only come from God. Let’s all pray!
Back when I was a student taking Social Studies in a public school I remember a teacher explaining to our class that our freedoms ended where another citizen’s health and safety began. In other words, we had freedoms AS LONG AS WE DID NOT HARM OTHERS.
Do teachers even bother to explain this to their students any more? I wonder.
If your teacher didn’t tell you in school, I’m going to tell you now.
No amount of profit, pleasure, or perceived pleasure is worth harming another human being.
Did you get that?
NO AMOUNT OF PROFIT, PLEASURE, OR PERCEIVED PLEASURE IS WORTH HARMING ANOTHER HUMAN BEING!!
I’m supposed to tag other bloggers for this meme, so I’m tagging the writing mothers:
The meme doesn’t need to stop with these folks, though. If you’re reading this and you want to write about this topic, consider yourself tagged. Right here, right now, by me.
Contents (c) Copyright 2007, Laura Spencer. All rights reserved.
11 responses so far ↓
1 princess // Mar 1, 2007 at
Hi, Laura,
Yvonne (Grow your writing business)led me to your site.
I can not agree with you more!!!
Thank you,
Princess
2 Laura // Mar 1, 2007 at
Thanks for coming by Princess!
3 Paula Neal Mooney // Mar 1, 2007 at
Oh God, Laura, I’m about to cry again over this.
Your words are so powerful.
I pray our Lord Jesus truly changes the hearts of hurting folks hurting other folks, especially little children.
And beyond the Blogger Power thing, we all should take full advantage of the computer packages out there designed to limit the sites that our kids can surf.
Be blessed and thank you so much for participating,
Paula
4 Jose // Mar 1, 2007 at
Laura,
Very good! I like your personal admonition. It is well stated. I share your concern for whether or not this campaign will be enough to protect children, but I posted my meme because I believe in the spirit of Mihaela’s campaign to safe-guard the innocense of children.
Who knows, if enough awareness is raised perhaps definite measures will be put in place to protect the hearts and minds of children.
Jose
5 Lisa Vella // Mar 1, 2007 at
Laura,
First of all, thank you for the link exchange! I appreciate it very much and have also added you to my blog. I wanted to let you know that my link doesn’t seem to be active on your site yet. I clicked both my blog and my name and it doesn’t work.
Secondly, but most importantly, thank you for writing about this meme–it is such an important issue. I am the mother of two children. This should be a huge concern for not just parents, but all of society as well. I am considering myself tagged.
Take care,
Lisa
6 Laura // Mar 1, 2007 at
Thanks for stopping by!
Paula: That’s why I use a filtered internet service at our house. Still, I’ve discovered that the service doesn’t catch everything. Parents need to be extra careful of what their children are doing online.
Jose: I really liked the way you dealt with this meme on your site. Like you, I hope that it does lead to measures that protect our children.
Lisa: Thanks for stopping by. I’ll check your site to see what you say about this meme. (I think I fixed your link.)
7 Mihaela Lica // Mar 2, 2007 at
“No amount of profit, pleasure, or perceived pleasure is worth harming another human being.” Thank you, Laura! This is why Jon and I included in the Open Letter Kant’s Imperative: “The starry sky above and the moral law withinâ€
Too many people misunderstand freedom. They think “do what I want” means being free, when that’s just being selfish. We are in this together: parents, teachers, bloggers … porn webmasters. The world is a circle, forces interact. The porn industry is successful due to its consumers. The porn industry will always have consumers. They have nothing to worry about if they change their ways and show some civic conscience. A password protected login is a small step, but it is something. Once again, thank you for this wonderful entry!
8 Grow Your Writing Business » Blog Archive » Safeguard the Web for Children - The Power of a Writer’s Words // Mar 2, 2007 at
[…] the words of others too. Two great starting points are posts on the same topic by Paula Mooney and Laura Spencer, who both touch on the core issues much more eloquently than I could. Consider writing a post […]
9 Laura // Mar 2, 2007 at
Hi Mihaela and Yvonne!
Mihaela: Thank-you for starting this meme. It was a difficult thing to write, but I hope that it did some good. We need more bloggers like you. Apathy can be so harmful!
Yvonne: I’m glad that you found my post helpful. Thanks for getting involved.
10 Rach // Mar 4, 2007 at
Hi Laura. I read about Yvonne and Jose’s posts about this topic. I agree that children nowadays can freely access pornography sites in a few clicks on the computer. It’s a disturbing thought. I support the need to supervise our children to safeguard them from dangerous web content. Thank you for sharing your insights.
11 Laura // Mar 7, 2007 at
Thanks for your input, Rach. (I like your site.)