My first post is about the bedroom police and the police in general.
For thousands of years people abused children. It was often a taboo topic, or one that was minimized. People like Lord Baden-Powell (founder of the Boy Scouts), because he worked so closely with numerous boys, became aware of the abuse and properly opposed it. I oppose it.
Some Boston reporters showed us that the emperor had no clothes when they exposed the systematic and on-going tolerance of abusive priests within American Catholicism. Abuse by priests was a "secret" prior to this in that people would complain to religious and police authorities, and nothing much would happen. After the exposure, priests were rightfully chastised.
And now we have the post-mortem avalanche. Everything has been made illegal, everything has been made shameful, everything results in decades (or longer! one man recently got 200 years!) in prison. But this is only the tip of the iceberg. We are changing society, rapidly, and in a direction it has only gone in, perhaps, a few societies prior to this.
Why am I concerned? For in our zeal to inflict more punishment, we are not only overpunishing, we are creating a horrid world.
I will list specific examples:
Assume I am a teenager coming-of-age.
Oh, before I go on, let's address "coming-of-age".
"Coming-of-age" used to be a romantic, sentimental, and somewhat erotic notion that brought back memories, good and bad, in us adults, and was the frequent subject of art, literature, film, and so forth. Now everything about "coming-of-age" is considered CHILD PORNOGRAPHY.
Child Pornography is being described in some jurisdictions as merely a child, or someone who looks like or is meant to look under 18, who is in a sexual pose or engaged in sexual activity, or where the focus is on the genitals, or a written description of the same.
Sexual pose correctly means just about anything. Sticking out a tongue has been correctly seen as a sexual pose, as has standing around in underwear, as has sitting with one's leg's crossed (exposing the crotch). Boys sit in all sorts of exposing positions, unlike most girls, for boys instinctively are proud that they are male. Artists and photographers in history have recorded this for us countless times in sketchs, sculptures, oil painting, black and white photography, and every other medium. But in many jurisdictions these depictions are now considered child pornography.
Good, you think? Think again.
You will have to defend yourself when:
- You are found to have a photo of your nephew in his underwear or swimsuit in your e-mail inbox, sent by his proud mamma, who may also be charged
- When you post an image of your toddler or handsome son on your facebook - anyone posting a handsome pre-teen or teen boy is clearly a pedo and the police should investigate your home and interview your children, asking them if you fondle them or expose yourself to them...
- Your wife sends a photo of the kids in the bathtub to be developed. My friend had to discuss her pedophilia with a nice male sheriff who came by to interview her. He decided to not charge her.
This brings us back to the topic of "coming-of-age", again. Countless biographies, stories, movies and so forth can now be considered child pornography. You could be prosecuted for owning ANY of them. It is not a defence, in some jurisdictions, that the materiel was rated, say, G. Sure, it is harder to get a conviction if you can show that, but most of these things never go to trial. A man the other day plead guilty to accessing child pornography even though not one child was nude or engaged in any sexual activity. In other words, stay away from Flickr, facebook, picasaweb, or any other image host of any kind that may have someone under 18 on it.
You might want to just stay away from the internet altogether.
It only gets worse. Let's say you are a modern teenager and you begin to really like the opposite sex (or whatever you do). Let's say your boyfriend or girlfriend in a naught moment asks you for you to send a photo of your breasts, just to them. First, for me to even write this makes me a child pornographer and I could spend 25 years in prison for producing this paragraph, possessing it, and distributing it. Next, the police can and do get these teen girls or boys all alone in a little room and confront them about how they produced, possessed and distributed child pornography, even if the police decide to not charge the girl. OFTEN THE POLICE ARE CHARGING the children, but normally the children plead guilty and are let off with a type of warning or a conviction that is rapidly removed.
LET ME ASK YOU, if the police did this to you as a teen, would you be the same, today? Many of you would be emotionally devastated by the police perverts, the bedroom police, or the new gestapo trying to intimidate you for ordinary sexual coming-of-age behavior.
I ask that we start thinking about putting the legislators, judges, police and prosecutors in prison for the crimes they are committing against humanity. Go easy on them, sure, maybe just a day or two. But, please, punish them for their countless crimes.
Have they, in their zeal, done some good? I am sure.
So go easy on them.
