Are you serious? Some "self-righteous, morally correct people" can just go making and enacting laws at will after the fact?! Who are these people, exactly, JFrankA?
It happens a lot. There's a lot of times where laws were made by "self-righteous, morally correct" people who think that what they are doing is protecting people, when what they are really doing is exchanging individual freedoms for individual safety. And quite a few times, the trade off is unnecessary. It's done in the name of "think of the children". For example, there's a law that's in consideration in Connecticut to make it illegal to smoke in a car if there is a child in the car under the age of ten.
Clearly this probable law is "to protect the children" but I see it as another example of an unnecessary taking away a freedom for a safety.
And I'm sorry, I see the law of virtual child porn the same thing. The original intent of stopping child porn was to prevent children from getting molested and hurt. I agree with that. I back it up and to me, real life child porn crosses the line. I agree that there has to be a line. Real life children shouldn't be in porn. And there are laws in place that I feel do a very good job trying to stop, catch and punish these people.
....Insert a smart remark from you, here......
But there are times when the law is used so that people can take it further. The idea to stop virtual child porn (i.e. no real life humans at all involved) was not to protect anyone. It was enacted on the belief that if someone watches that porn, they would
want to commit the crime.
I'm sorry, that doesn't fly with me. I don't agree with that logic. It is my belief that if someone wants to commit such a crime then
no matter if they watch child porn or not they will commit the crime, in fact, according to some studies, it's been shown that where there's porn the cases of rape go down.
One of the big beliefs of the anti-porn crowd is that idea that porn will make a person want the sex more, and make it more "real", eventually wanting the real life thing. I think that's a whole load of bullhockey.
This is what the law of "no virtual child porn" is about. I disagree with it. I obey it, but I disagree with it.
I know you are arguing the law, that's fine. But it seems to me you see me as someone who is out-and-out disobeying the law because I don't agree with it. I'm not. I'm someone who doesn't agree with some laws based on the fact that it takes away our freedoms.
People in this country (the US) are driven by fears way too easily. There are a lot of people here that would feel it is child pornography to have naked pictures of your own children in a completely non-sexual setting. People here (in the US) are quick to judge. Maybe I've been feeding too much into the paranoia word, but it's more of being overly cautious because people in the US love to jump to conclusions and judge.
They've acted upon their thoughts to a tangible degree, as I pointed out above with the painting, and as acknowledged and supported by sugarb afterwards. But you've made some pretty fundamental assumptions here (highlighted) for what's essentially a public forum. I'm a member of SL (not been on it for some time as, quite frankly, I came across some seriously unsavoury people (real people, of course, portrayed by CGI characters - just haven't got around to cancelling my membership.). How much do the SL administrators actually know about me, do you think? Do you think they even know my age?!
They are supposed to know your age. If they don't then it's SL's fault for not verifying age. That has been a contention for a long time. Regardless, they did know that the participants
were of age, because they registered.
So age verification isn't the people's fault. At the time, SL is advertised as adults only. At the time SL had a separate server for anyone under 18. No adults, other than the moderators were allowed there. That was done to stop child abuse.
Also, you're wrong. It's not a public forum. It's an adults only public forum and they didn't broadcast it to the entire server. These people were in their own virtual house and someone else listened in on their conversation. If I remember the report correctly, they were whispering. You have to get within 10 virtual feet to hear them. That's not that far away in SL.
If they were smarter and did the age play in private chat, this would have never had happened. Again, to me, this is the equivalent of two adults doing age play in their own bedroom and have gotten arrested for child porn.
Er ... it's a public forum with no real control over the age of the membership, for starters?!
As I said. Wrong. And not their fault.
...something in your throat?
That's some objective JFrankA. Do you see any shades of grey there, by any chance?!
Yes I do, of course I do. I see a lot of gray. You challenge yourself with extremes but I feel that that is very limited. The subtle things
are the gray and I do challenge myself with them. But no matter how gray I see I do have that line. I've said it before but I believe it bares repeating because you seem to miss it or ignore it:
When someone wants to do a real life act, such as rape of anyone of any age, molest or hurt a child, on a real life, living human, who is unwilling and/or under age, and that person who wants to the act desires the consequences, doesn't think of the consequences, or doesn't care about the consequences, or a mixture of those three.
It's alright to enjoy the fantasy. That's not real. It's alright to act out the fantasy in a controlled setting with a real life willing, of age partner(s). It's alright to enjoy the fantasy as long as the consequences are in control, not harmful to others, physically and mentally and with others rights intact. The fantasy is controlled to just that: a fantasy.
Can you see the difference?
I can assure you, there isn't (and certainly not an enforceable one!).
Again, the virtual child porn laws are a "victimless" crime. That is, no one is getting hurt, no one Else's rights are taken away, and the crime affects no one. It's a crime because it's believed that if you possess virtual child porn, then you are very possibly a child molester.
....how is that NOT a think crime?
On what evidence?
Ah ... "for having Manga". So we're already way beyond mere thoughts, right!
Nope. You're twisting what I am saying. Again, the law is based upon what I just wrote above.
Let me ask you this: what is the reason virtual child porn is illegal?
Plainly wrong. He was certainly arrested on suspicion of or for actually possessing "real" child porn by the legal definition. How on earth could anybody possibly claim to profess to know what he was thinking (and I'm sure nobody actually did).
Again, what is the reason for the law of not having child porn that does not involve any real life, living human beings?
See? There isn't. You're plainly wrong. And your paranoia (which you admit above) is, therefore, unfounded (assuming "paranoia", by definition, isn't necessarily unfounded!).
*sigh* No. It's not unfounded. I've explained why many times. Please stop trying to discredit who I am.
It's funny. First you accuse me of only knowing "marshmallow" porn and don't really understand the "heavy stuff". Now that I'm explaining why I don't agree with the virtual child porn law, you are now accusing me of being a paranoid, law rebelling person with having deviant fetishes....
You do deal with only extremes, fortunately, I'm somewhere in the gray.
If you're not alluding to child porn then that's clearly different, as different laws apply.
I notice you didn't mention the fetish I am referring to....
JFrankA, for the last time, it's not a fantasy, it's a production (of a fantasy, maybe). See the difference? One cannot validly seek to protect oneself from a child porn offence simply by asserting "It doesn't involve real children." Can't you see why the mere acceptance by society of the portrayal of children in a sexual context has the potential to prove harmful under countless scenarios?!
Can't you see why the mere acceptance by society of the
protrayal of murder has the potential to prove harmful under countless scenarios?
Can't you see why the mere acceptance by society of the
protrayal of a homosexual act has the potential to prove harmful under countless scenarios?
Can't you see why the mere acceptance by society of the
protrayal of bank robbery has the potential to prove harmful under countless scenarios?
Can't you see why the mere acceptance by society of the
protrayal of scat play has the potential to prove harmful under countless scenarios?
Can't you see why the mere acceptance by society of the
protrayal of prejudice against a race of people has the potential to prove harmful under countless scenarios?
Please, SW, we've been down that road. Just because the production of the portrayal of something sexual doesn't make a person want to do it for real.
Is that really your argument?
I'm not the guy, it's just my view (I thought it was a given that I'm entitled to express my view here without presaging it with IMHO and such like!), but I strongly suspect it correlates generally with the legal position. The production that you allude to is not a fetish, JFrankA - it's child porn (by the sound of it). See the difference?
You also have judged me, completely incorrectly, based upon your thoughts and the way you interpret the law.
See the point of my disagreement?
No, I'm not going to. You can't answer the question. You are too close to the source.
Of course you do, I didn't suggest that you don't. But you most certainly don't have the right to adopt the attitude "I disagree with the law, so I'll do what I damn well want to", and then act upon that thought, which is what I was arguing.
Where have I said "I'll do what I damn well want to"? Please, go back and find the point where I have even
implied that, and post it.
No - my argument is: "The law is, so don't break it." You're as free and welcome as anybody should be to seek to have the law changed by whatever means are at your disposal, and I actually welcome that right and process. It's why many laws have developed the way they have over time to suit constantly changing societal needs and circumstances.
And I am exercising that right here.
But where have you gotten the impression that I'm telling people to disobey the law? Where is
your paranoia coming from?
See above. But unless and until a law is changed if somebody is not prepared to comply, then yes, my view is that they're not welcome by me to live in the society whose laws I abide by. Of course, it depends on the nature of the law and extent of dissatisfaction as to whether I would adopt this view as radically as I've expressed it.
So what if there is a law that comes in your country that states you can't watch porn at all? Even "marshmallow" porn is outlawed. Would you stop watching? Would you disagree with it? Would you state your dissatisfaction somewhere? Would you fight to change it? Or would you move to another country that allows such degenerative movies?
...Hey, it's an extreme, but as you said, you deal with extremes....
Actually, I did consider the possible justifications for including child sex into such a story, and felt that, yes, if incidental, it could have some validity, exactly in the way that you describe it here. But then, I thought that that was totally unnecessary, and that exactly the same plot, story line and message could be conveyed perfectly adequately, if not better, other than resorting to the super-hero rescuing a sexually abused child. Didn't think of that, didja? What does that say about you (I don't wonder!)?!
So you decided that it shouldn't be in there. Your decision is correct and whatever the artists thought was wrong, and you know better. Even though no real life person was part of the production of the scenes. No real life children were used. Your beliefs in how the art should be done is more righteous and even produces a better product than the person who is actually creating the art.
I see...
Maybe not with you, but to anybody who is objective enough to appreciate where I'm coming from here, I have no doubts.
I've tried to show how your analogy doesn't work. You are comparing apples and oranges. The only common thing is that it's the law. If your argument is "follow the law because it is", then I agree. I just don't agree with the law, and I'm giving my reasons why. Sorry.
And so far, you haven't argued
why you agree with the law. All you've been doing, I'm sorry to say, is self-righteous judging while hiding behind the statement "It's the law!!!!".
As I pointed out in my last post (which you've clearly ignored, overlooked, or fail to understand and/or accept) and have amply reiterated and demonstrated here, you clearly don't understand the legal position, which is somewhat concerning given that you claim to produce porn and claim to have satisfied yourself as to the legal position. Honestly JFrankA, what you post here shows very strong signs of self-attributing bias to me, which, in the context of what we're debating here, is highly dangerous.
More pontification and ignoring what I am saying.
Yes, yes, it's the law. Yes, I follow it. Yes, I disagree with it. I've given my reasons why.
Now, with all due respect, can you show some balls and tell us why you agree with the law instead of hiding behind it and quick judging me so we can have a discussion?
Again, are you serious? Viewing porn and play acting are only
thoughts, not
deeds?! Which planet are you on today JFrankA?!
Clearly, both have the potential to inspire and encourage. You clearly don't see the
relative risks, though, do you? What would you guess would be the incidence of child abuse precipitated by a general acceptance by society of virtual child porn (which, by definition, depicts child abuse) compared to the incidence of blood-bath bank robberies precipitated by blood-bath bank robbery story books, which every person who reads (just about) knows is both wrong and illegal? Please feel free to research this if you're reluctant to guess.[/QUOTE]