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HalfMooner
Dingaling
Philippines
15831 Posts |
 Posted - 04/20/2006 : 16:44:14
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It's rare when an Administration which is so politically far out as the Bush bunch is can create a campaign which can resonate with the public in general. Now, at last, they seem to have found one:
Gonzales gives child porn 'wake-up call'
Now, I'm all for vigorously protecting our children. I absolutely applaud the kind of proactive anti-pedophile police "sting" efforts such as that which recently caught a senior Homeland Security trolling the Internet for sex with under-aged girls. Where I differ is in the underlying suggestion that pedophilia is a "growing" problem.
It's been around since ancient times, and I have seen no reason to think it, in either overt or covert forms, has increased in recent years.
Since I'm an old guy with a tendency to recall past times, I have a little personal story on the subject to relate. I don't claim that this anecdote proves anything.
Back in the early 1950's, when I was somewhere between eight and ten years old, I was enrolled by my parents in San Diego YMCA's summer day camp for boys. There were many activities, crafts, hikes, cartoon movies, Bible studies, and swimming. I first learned to swim there. Like most of the boys, I found the Bible stuff boring.
The swimming part is something that took me several years of growing up before I understood it fully.
The swimming pool at the San Diego YMCA was indoors, in an urban, downtown location. Since, the YMCA said, clothing fibres clog the water filtration system of the pool, swimming was restricted to skinny-dipping only. The YMCA always had dozens of volunteer lifeguards on duty, men of all ages, who stood almost shoulder-to-shoulder all around the edge of the big pool. That dedicated mob could have saved fifty drowning boys simultaneously. Oddly, these guys got to wear trunks. I remember vividly how intently the corps of lifeguards watched us. These were the most thoroughly dedicated lifeguards I've ever seen in my sixty years.
The pool itself was typically filled with around a hundred naked, frolicking, prepubescent boys. The reverberating screaming and other noise would have made a rock star's ears bleed, had there been any in those days.
I never was so much as touched by one of the adult males, and I never heard of this happening to other boys. There seemed to a carefully unwritten rule that the "lifeguards" could look, but not touch. But I think I would be a fool now to think that the no-suit policy and the use of the huge number of lifeguards was anything but primarily an organized erotic show for relatively covert pedophiles.
The Bush Administration's discovery of a "growing" pedophilia problem smells like a desperate publicity stunt to me, at a time when they are so hard-pressed to find any issue upon which they can look good.
If anyone has statistics or other information on the prevalence of pedophilia over the years, I for one would appreciate seeing them.
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“Biology is just physics that has begun to smell bad.” —HalfMooner
Here's a link to Moonscape News, and one to its Archive. |
Edited by - HalfMooner on 04/20/2006 16:59:35
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Dave W.
Info Junkie
USA
26022 Posts |
Posted - 04/20/2006 : 17:57:36 [Permalink]
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quote:
Originally posted by HalfMooner
Where I differ is in the underlying suggestion that pedophilia is a "growing" problem.
While there's no love lost between this administration and me, I think you're reading too much into what Gonzales is saying.
The overt meaning of his message is that Internet pedophilia is a growing problem, and it probably is, since more people are getting connected every day still (it will only level out as Internet use saturates, probably).
In a related NPR story yesterday, it was estimated that child pornography is a $20-billion market, which has gotta be a lot more than, say, 20 years ago when there was no Internet to speak of, and kiddy-porn photos were more often mailed to buyers.
Also in that story, I learned that it's a crime to use a credit card in the commission of a crime. So, anytime you accidentally run across a child-porn website displaying the Visa logo (for example), report the site to Visa and they'll sic their lawyers on 'em. (American Express forbids their cards to be used for any pornography whatsoever, by the way, thus taking the safer path in the "is that a child or an adult who looks really young?" conundrum.) |
- Dave W. (Private Msg, EMail)
Evidently, I rock!
Why not question something for a change?
Visit Dave's Psoriasis Info, too. |
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HalfMooner
Dingaling
Philippines
15831 Posts |
Posted - 04/20/2006 : 18:24:04 [Permalink]
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Dave W. noted: quote:
While there's no love lost between this administration and me, I think you're reading too much into what Gonzales is saying.
The overt meaning of his message is that Internet pedophilia is a growing problem, and it probably is, since more people are getting connected every day still (it will only level out as Internet use saturates, probably).
Yes, I agree, as you say, that is Gonzales' "overt" message. Pedophilia, like nearly everything else, has largely shifted to the Internet.
But I believe there is a "covert" subtext, and that Gonzales is relying upon people to be alarmed by the word, "growing," and hoping that they will remember that word out of context. (I'm alarmed enough by the possibility that pedophilia remains a constant problem.) I'm actually happy that somone in the Administration has found something decent to do, for a change. Beats them putting our soldiers in harm's way, or sitting on their rumps while watching our citizens drown in their homes.
But I do still feel my remarks on the Administration's underlying political motivation -- a desperate need to be seen doing something popular for a change -- are on, or very close to, the mark.
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“Biology is just physics that has begun to smell bad.” —HalfMooner
Here's a link to Moonscape News, and one to its Archive. |
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Dave W.
Info Junkie
USA
26022 Posts |
Posted - 04/20/2006 : 19:01:38 [Permalink]
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quote:
Originally posted by HalfMooner
But I do still feel my remarks on the Administration's underlying political motivation -- a desperate need to be seen doing something popular for a change -- are on, or very close to, the mark.
Well, that they'd do that is to be expected. In fact, I'd bet that quite a few of the press releases sent out by executive-branch agencies every month are hoped to be seen as good things by the majority of the population (though not the same majority in every case). You know, it was only about three weeks ago that "Secretary Norton Designates Elvis Presley's Graceland Mansion National Historic Landmark." Of course, I'm being a bit silly with that example (I've never been impressed by Elvis), but the point remains: the administration is of course going to crow loudly about things they think lots of people will like, no matter what their poll numbers.
Honestly, the child-porn thing isn't going to cause that much of a stir (in terms of an upsurge in Bush's ratings), except maybe amongst the victims of such nasty business. It's certainly not going to make people forget about Iraq or Iran or China or the NSA wiretaps. In fact, I heard that child-porn story on NPR last night and then didn't think about it again until you posted this OP. It's not that earth-shaking.
We've got to wait until Fall for the earth-shaking good news to come out of the White House. Right before the mid-term elections. A good old-fashioned October Surprise will drive your point home, HalfMooner. Any other time, it's business as usual. |
- Dave W. (Private Msg, EMail)
Evidently, I rock!
Why not question something for a change?
Visit Dave's Psoriasis Info, too. |
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beskeptigal
SFN Die Hard
USA
3834 Posts |
Posted - 04/22/2006 : 15:17:16 [Permalink]
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Being the skeptic that I am, and watching all the other marketing campaigns the Republican's have used so successfully to get votes, I see this as the same as the anti-gay crap. It's just some new distraction to divert attention from the real issues we need to focus on.
And, how convenient to collect even more data on Internet users that might just find its way into other data banks. |
| Edited by - beskeptigal on 04/22/2006 15:18:44 |
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