PMRC

Subject: RE: PMRC
From: DougR
Date: 26 Oct 00 - 03:07 PM

Fortunato: Sorry, I have not advice to offer. I'm not sure there is an answer unless it does come down to censorship (which I do deplore). I'm just glad I don't have young children in my home anymore. We had our challenges when my adult kids were children, but nothing like parents of today have.

DougR

Subject: RE: PMRC
From: Troll
Date: 26 Oct 00 - 08:17 PM

Fortunato, you are doing the right things. The main one is to stay involved with your kids. They look to you for guidance much more than you realize and your influence far outweighs the blandishments of the media. The important thing is to give them a good moral code.
Censorship would be unnecessary if more parents were involved with their kids lives, telling them not just THAT certain things are wrong, but WHY they are wrong.

troll

Subject: RE: PMRC
From: rabbitrunning
Date: 26 Oct 00 - 11:38 PM

I'm a children's librarian, and there are some things that I won't put in the children's collection. I don't prevent children from checking out books from the adult side, but neither do I feel any compunctions about letting the parents who have expressed concerns about the way that their children use the library know what their kids are interested in. I believe in the "conspiracy of grownups," you see. Yes, children are going to seek out "inappropriate" material, but if the grownups around them are consistently saying that some things aren't meant for kids, the older kids try to protect their younger siblings from that content, and also think about why their parents feel that way. Is that censorship? Maybe. But children are different than adults. I cannot and will not make the library collection into inoffensive pap (Yes, I do have that picture book that PETA put out, and I had Daddy's Roommate until someone colored mustaches on all the pictures) but that doesn't relieve me of the obligation I have as an adult to let a parent know when their ten year old daughter asks for a book about how to make a man enjoy sex more.

I like content labels on things, (ooh, keen! A mystery!) in a mild way, but I much prefer considered reviews. I love rap lyric websites. I show every adult who asks how to get to them, so that they can evaluate what their children are listening to with the actual words instead of chunking all of the music with a certain beat into the same category. The parents whose kids I don't worry about that much pay attention not only to labels, but to content too, although sometimes it's the label that got them started.

When children are awash in images that tell them that the world is a violent and unforgiving place, they can become violent and unforgiving themselves. Advertising works. A little counterbalancing label isn't such a bad thing.

Subject: RE: PMRC
From: GUEST,Fibula Mattock
Date: 27 Oct 00 - 05:07 AM

Fortunato - are your children still quite young? By saying that the information reaches them in the playground, I mean that often it is their peer group that are adding to the problem. I can remember certain "banned books" circulating amongst the pupils in my school (some risque, some as mild as Judy Blume's "Forever" which many school libraries refused to stock). I know things seem worse today, and in many ways this is due to the Internet. Pornography is one of the driving forces behind the development of new technologies on the Internet (I am not necessarily condoning this, it's just a comment) - the purveyors of adult sites invest huge amounts of money to find the best ways of displaying and dispensing their products. Where children are involved, the areas of censorship are hazier. I deplore the actions of people who wish to censor anything for an adult audience. While I am not anti-pornography I can totally understand your worries about childrens' access to it. I just notice that often children know more about such things than we care to believe. By the time they reach their teenage years they are exposed to many disturbing things, yes, and I take your point that in ideal circumstances they shouldn't be, but real life has many disturbing aspects to it, and we cannot censor what actually goes on the world. It is getting the balance between overexposure and overprotection that is so difficult.

Subject: RE: PMRC
From: Fortunato
Date: 27 Oct 00 - 09:02 AM

Nonetheless I will steadfastly defend my children and yours wherever I can.

Subject: RE: PMRC
From: Richard Bridge
Date: 27 Oct 00 - 05:59 PM

There's this neat little war, see. On the one side all the kids want to find out more, see more, and do more. On the other side half the adults want the kids to find out, see and do only what they are told. I think the MC5 said that if you were not part of the solution you were part of the problem.

Subject: RE: PMRC
From: Ebbie
Date: 27 Oct 00 - 06:29 PM

Sorry- I'm back.

One thing we might keep in mind is that the efforts to put this material, whether it's movies, print, videos or music, into the hands of youngsters are not altruistic- and these are not their peers sharing information and entertainment. These are people who are bent on profiting financially - this is an issue of cynicism and greed.

The same rationale holds for dealing drugs. Drugs are not made available so youngsters can be enlightened- drugs are meant to create a market, so that the dealer on up (or down!) can reap insane profits. The effect on lives is not part of the equation.

Dealers of either material may be among the most vociferous bewailing censorship- but trust me, it is not their American rights they are talking about- they are protecting their living.

Eb