True... assuming you have no control over your children. When I was told "No, you aren't allowed to see 'Kill Bill'", my first thought was "Wanna see!" followed by "Meh", because I actually respected my Dad's decision.Amphoteric said:
Poll: Protect the Children?
- Thread starter Lightning Delight
- Start date
I think it's up to the child's parent(s). To a certain degree anyways. Obviously we shouldn't allow them to teach their kids how to produce drugs or how to smuggle weapons (although I imagine we can't stop the ones that do anyways) but for the most part things like this are fine. When it comes to violence and sex, that's a part of being human. It's up to parent(s) to teach their kids about it and how to exercise restraint towards both.
EDIT: Also I don't think that your parent(s) not wanting you to do/see something will encourage or discourage you. If a child wants to see/do something and their parent(s) says no they'll probably try to do it anyways. However if a child doesn't want to do something and their parent(s) tells them not to I can't imagine it'd suddenly put the thought in their head.
EDIT: Also I don't think that your parent(s) not wanting you to do/see something will encourage or discourage you. If a child wants to see/do something and their parent(s) says no they'll probably try to do it anyways. However if a child doesn't want to do something and their parent(s) tells them not to I can't imagine it'd suddenly put the thought in their head.
It's a very tough question to answer. Yes children should be protected, but at the same time, you're right, it shelters them so that they end up being thrown into a world they aren't ready to handle. It should be up to the parents.
Children have rights too. They are their parents' responsibility, not their parents' slaves. You could try to lock them up away from the world, but such behaviour is considered cruel and monstrous, because it is. They are going to have pets and probably relatives die on them. They are going to witness violence, even if just in sports. They are going to stumble across discarded porn magazines in the park. They are going to see R-rated movies and M-rated games at a friend's house. They are going to talk about disgusting things with their friends. They might try drugs and alcohol. Most of us went through this growing up. Most of us did not end up hopeless junkies, hardened criminals, or sexual predators.
Go back and watch some PG-rated movies from the 80s, like Goonies, Gremlins, Ferris Bueller's Day Off, or Adventures in Babysitting, and tell me if those movies would get a PG-rating today. Am I and every kid from my high school scarred for life because we played Mortal Kombat in the arcade when we were 14?
So trying to protect your children from every bad thing in the world, is just not realistic. Raising them in a loving and supportive home with values, wisdom and integrity so they have some idea how to react when they encounter the evils in the world is a better strategy. Don't shelter your children, empower them. They're not as weak as people seem to think. They used to be expected to do the most brutal labour [http://www.cracked.com/article_18565_the-6-worst-jobs-ever-were-done-by-children.html].
Go back and watch some PG-rated movies from the 80s, like Goonies, Gremlins, Ferris Bueller's Day Off, or Adventures in Babysitting, and tell me if those movies would get a PG-rating today. Am I and every kid from my high school scarred for life because we played Mortal Kombat in the arcade when we were 14?
So trying to protect your children from every bad thing in the world, is just not realistic. Raising them in a loving and supportive home with values, wisdom and integrity so they have some idea how to react when they encounter the evils in the world is a better strategy. Don't shelter your children, empower them. They're not as weak as people seem to think. They used to be expected to do the most brutal labour [http://www.cracked.com/article_18565_the-6-worst-jobs-ever-were-done-by-children.html].
Permanently protect them from sex. If they don't know what it is, they can't reproduce, and the human race slowly dies out as we all do a happy dance, or is that just me?
It's more like they don't teach so the adults can regain years of raunchy sex they wanted to do but couldn't because of the poor kid being around.... That's how I see it, poor kid you're sex life is gonna be ruined because mom and dad are nasty.... oh the hypocrisy.Tommeh Brownleh said:
There are plenty of children who are now at the age of majority.
Shelter from unpleasant concepts isn't always a service. If they don't learn sooner, then they have to learn later, or else muddle through life naive and ignorant. The trouble is that there is no right answer as to when or how people should be taught some lessons. ..but it's just plain hubris to assume an age limit will apply to all needs, people, and situations.
Shelter from unpleasant concepts isn't always a service. If they don't learn sooner, then they have to learn later, or else muddle through life naive and ignorant. The trouble is that there is no right answer as to when or how people should be taught some lessons. ..but it's just plain hubris to assume an age limit will apply to all needs, people, and situations.
This should alone rest on the parents shoulders. I don't want the government to be in the business of raising a kid, they can't even run our country worth a flying fuck so child rearing should not be even considered by them.
Raise your own, no one else should do it for you.
Raise your own, no one else should do it for you.
I would say that parents should ultimately hold the power to decide this but they already do since parents vote in representatives and they in turn make the laws that there constituents want (theoretically). The US system basically gives parent ultimate power over their child's life and lets them choose what the child does so theoretically the parent should make this decision too. O(f course there are plenty of people who don't feel this is right and feel children should make their own decisions or be given the opportunity to make them later. That's bullshit since parent need to make decisions for children or leave them on a street to die so parents are always going to have to make some decisions but their is still the issue of where the liberty of an individual especially a young one needs to lie.
All in all, I think parents should be able to decide what's appropriate but should have information from an outside organization to better make this decision. (I know some parents are idiots but by the same token lots of those kids will grow up to be idiots too).
All in all, I think parents should be able to decide what's appropriate but should have information from an outside organization to better make this decision. (I know some parents are idiots but by the same token lots of those kids will grow up to be idiots too).
As a person who played extremely gorey games as a kid and was frequently exposed to dark artistic images like H.R. Gieger and the music of Frank Zappa I can safely say that I don't think that all media (even supposedly 'mature' media) is harmful to children psychologically.
Does this mean I would allow my hypothetical son or daughter to play something like Manhunt or Grand Theft Auto under the age of 10?
Of course not, unless I felt they were mature enough to understand the connotations and implications of what they saw.
I feel that when it comes to the topic of 'should we protect the children', it needs to be understood that not all children need protecting while some need to be protected even more than normal.
It's the parent's job to identify and establish just how sensitive and mature their child is and to act from there.
Should we restrict violent, sexual and mature media just because a few careless or negligent parents made very bad decisions?
No, we should encourage parents to think more about the decisions they make about their child's viewing habits (and not give into pester power) and to actually educate them about the reality behind most games and their content (rather than the usual moral panic fuel given by most governments and news outlets).
Does this mean I would allow my hypothetical son or daughter to play something like Manhunt or Grand Theft Auto under the age of 10?
Of course not, unless I felt they were mature enough to understand the connotations and implications of what they saw.
I feel that when it comes to the topic of 'should we protect the children', it needs to be understood that not all children need protecting while some need to be protected even more than normal.
It's the parent's job to identify and establish just how sensitive and mature their child is and to act from there.
Should we restrict violent, sexual and mature media just because a few careless or negligent parents made very bad decisions?
No, we should encourage parents to think more about the decisions they make about their child's viewing habits (and not give into pester power) and to actually educate them about the reality behind most games and their content (rather than the usual moral panic fuel given by most governments and news outlets).
Parents decide
governments guide the decision.
That is how it should be, at least that is what I think, I may be wrong, but the system works because parents need to do the parenting, not the government.
governments guide the decision.
That is how it should be, at least that is what I think, I may be wrong, but the system works because parents need to do the parenting, not the government.