(no subject)
Okay, okay. Everyone is angry, and everyone is scared, and I think it's only right that I simply go ahead and make a factual, inoffensive post about the Pedophile issue, Livejournal, and Warriors for Innocence (I am not going to post links to any of said problems. Everyone knows them by now, and I think people have begun to realise that WoI cannot be trusted, even just to read their blog). This post shall be viewable to all, and if this livejournal is deleted, I shall be quite sorry, but I think that we all have the right to speak our opinions.
First of all, I am going to say first and foremost, that I am a victim of child-molestation. It is unpleasant, and it has left me scarred for life. And it happened often enough throughout my life that I can actually tell most of the time when a pedophile is nearby. A pedophile-radar, if you will. And what these people are doing is the absolute worst way of helping. They are turning people's personal, traumatic experiences into ways to glorify themselves. I have no love for those that wish to aggrandize themselves through the miseries of others, and they are belittling the experiences of others as they do so. Even if, and I have no reason to believe so, these people are victims of pedophilia themselves, they are selfishly and blindly lashing out at those that are innocent, which, I am assuming from their name, should be completely against their own purpose.
And I want to repeat, what they are doing is, in no way, helpful to those they wish to protect. In fact, as most people should realise, victims of molestation as children tend to believe that everything is their own faults. The molestations, any issues at home, anything. By upsetting so many people, these victims will, once again, go into their shells, believing that their traumatic experiences have, once again, led people to be miserable. And nothing anyone says will make them believe that they haven't done anything wrong.
More than anything, these people posing as defenders of the innocent anger me horribly. More than the deletions, more than the mass-panic, more than the fact that what they are doing is completely ineffectual towards their actual goal. Because they are torturing the very people they want to protect. Any psychologist would tell them the same, and that if they truly wanted to help, they would volunteer at support communities, or join the police force.
I, personally, have recovered from my childhood experiences as much as can be expected. I have seen counselling, and I have gone to support groups, and I can even discuss my issues with near-flippancy. I love hearing that yet another pedophile has been arrested. But I firmly believe that these people should be investigated and taken in by the due course of the law. Anything less than that is vigilanteism, and therefore illegal. Which makes these people no better than their enemies.
Secondly, livejournal's decision to delete journals and communities without actually giving in-depth viewings of said sites is wrong. I understand that they want to crack down on the illegal activities, but simply going through and deleting sites based solely on interests and tags is not the way to deal with it. Yes, reading each post would be quite time-consuming and tiring. But no one physically forced them to take on this job, and everyone on the committee volunteered. Therefore, they should make a real job of it, and check to make sure what they are deleting are, in fact, pedophile sites, and not fandom sites. They cannot legally delete fanfiction, as said fanfiction is non-profit, and, most importantly, fiction. There have even been books concerning pedophilia published, many of which have been made into movies (e.g. Running with Scissors, a novel-soon-to-be-movie based off of the author's real life experiences as a fourteen year old boy in a sexual relationship with a thirty year old).
I know of several fanfiction communities that have been deleted solely for their interest lists, and, more significantly, a victim support community. See the cost of not doing your homework? These people are all innocent, and none of them deserve to have their communities and journals deleted. Running helter-skelter through all of the sites and randomly deleting anything that may be offensive is not only immoral, it is illegal. Every one of these sites should be getting in-depth reasons exactly why their sites, more than any others, deserve said deletion. And if simple fan-sites and support communities are getting deleted, I feel quite certain that these in-depth, personal evaluations are not accounted for.
Thirdly, I do not understand why certain tags are "hot buttons." Yes, pedophilia is disgusting, and I can understand deleting these. However "shouta" is simply fiction written about two under-aged boys getting together, usually in a non-graphic way. There is absolutely nothing illegal in that. Fourteen year olds hook up together all the time. It's called high school. "Incest" also confuses me. As every single one of my friends knows, I haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaate incest. It squicks me, and I turn my eyes from it if I ever happen to stumble upon it. But incest, as far as I know, is generally accepted as consensual (unless there is a warning that also says otherwise, but that is another matter). If sex is consensual, it harms no one, and therefore should be left alone. Yes, it may disgust some people, but so does sodomy. And we don't run into people's homes screaming about how they have their sex, so anything these people willingly post online of their consensual (if personally disturbing) sex is their own business.
I have noticed that many yaoi communities are being deleted, and even if that is not Livejournal's design, this could easily become a war on homophobia and personal choice. This is why I believe, for the well-being of all, that every site under suspicion needs to be reviewed minutely before deletion. It is not just for the comfort of mind for the users, but also in case of legal ramification for the owners. That way, it is fair to all.
Any questions? Concerns? Thoughts?
Edit: Anyone who would like to link to this post is more than welcome to do so, as long as you inform me of it.
Edit II: http://news.com.com/Mass+deletion+sparks+LiveJournal+revolt/2100-1025_3-6187619.html?tag=st.num - Internet article where I am actually quoted. O.O
Edit III: The Strikethrough '07 has been posted on Wikipedia. If anyone would like to link my post to the article, they are more than welcome to do so.
First of all, I am going to say first and foremost, that I am a victim of child-molestation. It is unpleasant, and it has left me scarred for life. And it happened often enough throughout my life that I can actually tell most of the time when a pedophile is nearby. A pedophile-radar, if you will. And what these people are doing is the absolute worst way of helping. They are turning people's personal, traumatic experiences into ways to glorify themselves. I have no love for those that wish to aggrandize themselves through the miseries of others, and they are belittling the experiences of others as they do so. Even if, and I have no reason to believe so, these people are victims of pedophilia themselves, they are selfishly and blindly lashing out at those that are innocent, which, I am assuming from their name, should be completely against their own purpose.
And I want to repeat, what they are doing is, in no way, helpful to those they wish to protect. In fact, as most people should realise, victims of molestation as children tend to believe that everything is their own faults. The molestations, any issues at home, anything. By upsetting so many people, these victims will, once again, go into their shells, believing that their traumatic experiences have, once again, led people to be miserable. And nothing anyone says will make them believe that they haven't done anything wrong.
More than anything, these people posing as defenders of the innocent anger me horribly. More than the deletions, more than the mass-panic, more than the fact that what they are doing is completely ineffectual towards their actual goal. Because they are torturing the very people they want to protect. Any psychologist would tell them the same, and that if they truly wanted to help, they would volunteer at support communities, or join the police force.
I, personally, have recovered from my childhood experiences as much as can be expected. I have seen counselling, and I have gone to support groups, and I can even discuss my issues with near-flippancy. I love hearing that yet another pedophile has been arrested. But I firmly believe that these people should be investigated and taken in by the due course of the law. Anything less than that is vigilanteism, and therefore illegal. Which makes these people no better than their enemies.
Secondly, livejournal's decision to delete journals and communities without actually giving in-depth viewings of said sites is wrong. I understand that they want to crack down on the illegal activities, but simply going through and deleting sites based solely on interests and tags is not the way to deal with it. Yes, reading each post would be quite time-consuming and tiring. But no one physically forced them to take on this job, and everyone on the committee volunteered. Therefore, they should make a real job of it, and check to make sure what they are deleting are, in fact, pedophile sites, and not fandom sites. They cannot legally delete fanfiction, as said fanfiction is non-profit, and, most importantly, fiction. There have even been books concerning pedophilia published, many of which have been made into movies (e.g. Running with Scissors, a novel-soon-to-be-movie based off of the author's real life experiences as a fourteen year old boy in a sexual relationship with a thirty year old).
I know of several fanfiction communities that have been deleted solely for their interest lists, and, more significantly, a victim support community. See the cost of not doing your homework? These people are all innocent, and none of them deserve to have their communities and journals deleted. Running helter-skelter through all of the sites and randomly deleting anything that may be offensive is not only immoral, it is illegal. Every one of these sites should be getting in-depth reasons exactly why their sites, more than any others, deserve said deletion. And if simple fan-sites and support communities are getting deleted, I feel quite certain that these in-depth, personal evaluations are not accounted for.
Thirdly, I do not understand why certain tags are "hot buttons." Yes, pedophilia is disgusting, and I can understand deleting these. However "shouta" is simply fiction written about two under-aged boys getting together, usually in a non-graphic way. There is absolutely nothing illegal in that. Fourteen year olds hook up together all the time. It's called high school. "Incest" also confuses me. As every single one of my friends knows, I haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaate incest. It squicks me, and I turn my eyes from it if I ever happen to stumble upon it. But incest, as far as I know, is generally accepted as consensual (unless there is a warning that also says otherwise, but that is another matter). If sex is consensual, it harms no one, and therefore should be left alone. Yes, it may disgust some people, but so does sodomy. And we don't run into people's homes screaming about how they have their sex, so anything these people willingly post online of their consensual (if personally disturbing) sex is their own business.
I have noticed that many yaoi communities are being deleted, and even if that is not Livejournal's design, this could easily become a war on homophobia and personal choice. This is why I believe, for the well-being of all, that every site under suspicion needs to be reviewed minutely before deletion. It is not just for the comfort of mind for the users, but also in case of legal ramification for the owners. That way, it is fair to all.
Any questions? Concerns? Thoughts?
Edit: Anyone who would like to link to this post is more than welcome to do so, as long as you inform me of it.
Edit II: http://news.com.com/Mass+deletion+sparks+LiveJournal+revolt/2100-1025_3-6187619.html?tag=st.num - Internet article where I am actually quoted. O.O
Edit III: The Strikethrough '07 has been posted on Wikipedia. If anyone would like to link my post to the article, they are more than welcome to do so.