Announcements and Sundry-ness
May. 30th, 2007 02:25 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sevendeadlyfunOkay, first off? I was a Fang Fetish Runner-Up....I'm having a little squee here, as this is my first fiction award. It was for best rare pairing femslash and you can find it in my memories if you want to read it...
Second, I've read all about the Big Bad Vigilante Voodoo.
Second, I've read all about the Big Bad Vigilante Voodoo.
As a parent and a future mental health professional, I am profoundly grateful to groups such as Perverted Justice for their hardwork and dedication in taking down the pervs of the world. This? This is not hard work and dedication. This is a group of narrow minded power freaks with a yen to suppress anything with which they disagree.
Now, citizen participation is a cornerstone of the American system. The United States could not function without citizens who are actively involved in every facet of the government. It starts with voting and goes as far as citizen watchdogs who keep our elected officials from going apeshit with their government credit cards. To those people, I say huzzah! Just by punching your little tabbed (chadded?) voting card, you've struck a blow for freedom and democracy and Mom and apple pie and summer cook-outs and....okay, I'll stop now.
But, I'm not too awful fond of bigots. While child pornography and pedophilia are disgusting (as well as criminal), not everything that is "icky" is illegal. IF I want to pretend to be a naughty schoolgirl and my husband wants to pretend to be my pervy teacher, that might be "icky" but it certainly isn't illegal. Consenting adults should, and in most places, can do what they like in the privacy of their own home. Even posting naughtiness on the InterWeb is still legal, witness all the pornographic web sites. Just about any Google search will return at least one porn site.
However, what LJ and these "Warriors" are doing is also legal. I dislike it, I revile it, and I'm pretty sure I also despise it. But it is legal. The Constitution guarantees "Congress....shall make no law abridging freedom of speech" and even that has been refined by the Supreme Court (see Chaplinsky v. New Hampshire and Street v. New York). Still and all, this is not the government abridging the right to free speech. This is a corporation, prodded by a group of thugs, doing what it feels it must to limit its liability.
Is this okay? Of course not! As a parent and a writer, I say that if you don't want your children exposed to adult content, perhaps you should monitor them. My children are not allowed to use the computer period, but they're a bit young. As they grow older, they will most likely use our home computer and they will be strictly monitored. No computers in the bedroom, no using the internet without adult supervision, and if you don't like Mom staring over your shoulder, well, life is filled with heartache, isn't it?
I sound like a schizophrenic parrot, and I apologize. The point this whole pseudo-rant is trying to make is that this isn't a Constitutional issue, although I suppose it could become one if taken far enough. This is corporate issue, and a social one. I'm a mother and fanfic writer. I read my children "Peter Rabbit", tuck them in, and hit my computer to write naughty stories about fictional characters doing sexual things. If LJ shuts me down, I'll go somewhere else. I have my own domain and website, and I hereby promise all my Flist that if you get shut down too, I'll make space on my domain just for all the lovely fic that LJ doesn't want anymore. No point in worrying about something that hasn't happened yet. Yes, some people will lose their Livejournals. Yes, this will be a supreme irritant for awhile. Eventually, these rampaging loonies will get bored and go bother somebody else. You can't stop them, because as good old Winston says "A fanatic is one who can't change his mind and won't change the subject".
Just another bit of proof that the Middle East doesn't hold the copyright on fanaticism...
Now, citizen participation is a cornerstone of the American system. The United States could not function without citizens who are actively involved in every facet of the government. It starts with voting and goes as far as citizen watchdogs who keep our elected officials from going apeshit with their government credit cards. To those people, I say huzzah! Just by punching your little tabbed (chadded?) voting card, you've struck a blow for freedom and democracy and Mom and apple pie and summer cook-outs and....okay, I'll stop now.
But, I'm not too awful fond of bigots. While child pornography and pedophilia are disgusting (as well as criminal), not everything that is "icky" is illegal. IF I want to pretend to be a naughty schoolgirl and my husband wants to pretend to be my pervy teacher, that might be "icky" but it certainly isn't illegal. Consenting adults should, and in most places, can do what they like in the privacy of their own home. Even posting naughtiness on the InterWeb is still legal, witness all the pornographic web sites. Just about any Google search will return at least one porn site.
However, what LJ and these "Warriors" are doing is also legal. I dislike it, I revile it, and I'm pretty sure I also despise it. But it is legal. The Constitution guarantees "Congress....shall make no law abridging freedom of speech" and even that has been refined by the Supreme Court (see Chaplinsky v. New Hampshire and Street v. New York). Still and all, this is not the government abridging the right to free speech. This is a corporation, prodded by a group of thugs, doing what it feels it must to limit its liability.
Is this okay? Of course not! As a parent and a writer, I say that if you don't want your children exposed to adult content, perhaps you should monitor them. My children are not allowed to use the computer period, but they're a bit young. As they grow older, they will most likely use our home computer and they will be strictly monitored. No computers in the bedroom, no using the internet without adult supervision, and if you don't like Mom staring over your shoulder, well, life is filled with heartache, isn't it?
I sound like a schizophrenic parrot, and I apologize. The point this whole pseudo-rant is trying to make is that this isn't a Constitutional issue, although I suppose it could become one if taken far enough. This is corporate issue, and a social one. I'm a mother and fanfic writer. I read my children "Peter Rabbit", tuck them in, and hit my computer to write naughty stories about fictional characters doing sexual things. If LJ shuts me down, I'll go somewhere else. I have my own domain and website, and I hereby promise all my Flist that if you get shut down too, I'll make space on my domain just for all the lovely fic that LJ doesn't want anymore. No point in worrying about something that hasn't happened yet. Yes, some people will lose their Livejournals. Yes, this will be a supreme irritant for awhile. Eventually, these rampaging loonies will get bored and go bother somebody else. You can't stop them, because as good old Winston says "A fanatic is one who can't change his mind and won't change the subject".
Just another bit of proof that the Middle East doesn't hold the copyright on fanaticism...
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
on 2007-05-30 06:53 pm (UTC)no subject
on 2007-05-31 02:17 am (UTC)no subject
on 2007-05-30 09:27 pm (UTC)I'm not flocking my journal because there is nothing there that it illegal or promoting illegal activity.
My interest list was pretty feeble anyway and unless the make spangel illegal I should be fine.
no subject
on 2007-05-31 02:20 am (UTC)As regards the rant, I'm not all fired up about the crazies. You can't avoid them. Like locusts, they travel and destroy at random. What has me confused is this whole "free speech" kerfuffle. It's not a free speech issue. It certainly infringes on artistic creativity, but it isn't a Constiutional issue.
I know, I know...my darling BritLil isn't all uproared about the American Constitution. Well, you know us Americans, hon! Self-centered and self-important...
::smooches::
no subject
on 2007-05-31 05:43 am (UTC)I forgot all about that bit of paper of yours,
makes you lot do funny things at times,
*snuggles back*
no subject
on 2007-05-31 05:45 am (UTC)::teehee::
I'm rotten, I know. But I lurrrrrrrrrrrve you!
no subject
on 2007-05-31 05:47 am (UTC)I'm a Commonwealth girl, we tossed out the stuff we didn't care about years ago.
At least it doesn't get dragged into the insanity that often.
*giggles at the thought of people quoting the Magna Carta to prove their point*
no subject
on 2007-05-31 05:52 am (UTC)::slips you tongue::
Can I quote the Magna Carta to prove my point? Seriously? Somewhere, there has to be a situation in which the Magna Carta will prove illuminative...right?
no subject
on 2007-05-31 06:13 am (UTC)land battles maybe...
I suspect there are very few people in the world who could quote from the Magna Carta from memory.
*sneaks in a grope*
no subject
on 2007-05-31 06:36 am (UTC)::blatantly pervs you::
I don't think I've ever actually *read* the Magna Carta. It got mentioned for about five seconds in eight grade history and we moved on. It was supposedly one of the founding documents of American liberty in that I believe it was a document and Americans knew about it. It's back to the self-centered, self-important chair...
Seriously, I'm a proud Amerikkan and all that. Military wife, registered Republican, yadda yadda yadda...but sometimes I think we can make anything about us.
Magna Carta? It's about America. The Satanic Verses? It's about America. The Mona Lisa? Clearly a commentary on America...sigh...
Can we get the masks out and run around nekkid now?
no subject
on 2007-05-31 06:40 am (UTC)Heck yeah,
can I be Angel this time?
no subject
on 2007-05-31 06:43 am (UTC)And as Spike, I am now officially in "bratty childe sire mocking mode"
Catch me if you can!
::waggles tongue suggestively::
no subject
on 2007-05-31 06:48 am (UTC)Come back here right now Spike!
no subject
on 2007-05-30 10:49 pm (UTC)You, me, and bunch of other folks here at LJ! I sure hope this blows over soon so we can get back to our p*rving.
no subject
on 2007-05-31 02:21 am (UTC)