Aradur
Moniquill
Junge
Well, I've been away from Gaia for a long time, but now I'm back. I see new faces, but unfortunately the same old beat-up go-nowhere topics. It makes the little philosopher in me cry crying So here is a topic I haven't really heard much discussion about.
Youth Censorship. I'm not talking censorship of youths (that's a seperate issue). I'm talking about the censorship of things aimed at youths. Teenagers in particular. Teenage years are the formative years for your ideas and views on political and social issues. Isn't it important that we expose teens to as much of the spectrum as possible?
I think that censorship at all is generally a bad thing. Expose everyone to everything from the moment of birth. Then be ready to explain it when they ask questions. Don't sugarcoat anything, ever. Yes, this will irradicate the 'magic of childhood', which seems to be a euphamistic term for blatent ignorance, but I don't think that we really have much need of that.
I had uncensored access to the entire internet from age 12 on. And I made full use of this, exploring in all directiosn, including violence, and sex, and the combination of the two. And, miraculously, I didn't become a social devient unable to interact with rational society.
I think this comic from The Parking Lot Is Full says pretty much everything (linked off-site to save bandwidth):
http://plif.andkon.com/archive/wc161.gif
The problem with this is that everyone has a different view on every subject. What if they can't explain something to you, or their explanation differs from others? How is the child to decide from different opinions? It is not as simple as giving a person all the information, the problem lies in how they choose to analyze and process it.
The same way adults do. If we shelted kids from the cacaphony of voices that they'll hear in adulthood, we only hinder thier development.
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