Safe Speech

[Eric Cordian <emc@wire.insync.net>]

                 The Blue-Nosed Guardian (Nikki Craft, NJ)
 
                 December 4, 2000; THURSDAY; ALL EDITIONS
 
SECTION: OPINION;
 
HEADLINE: PEDOPHILES IN THE BIOSPHERE;
WE MUST STOP SPOKEN CHILD PORNOGRAPHY EVERYWHERE
 
BYLINE: The Record
 
BODY:
 
The increasing presence of child pornography in spoken communications
is a national problem that must be dealt with aggressively and
quickly. This is not a free-speech or First Ammendment issue.  Child
pornography is a crime.  We do not tolerate it on our computers, and
we should not tolerate it in audiospace.
 
Unfortunately, as a Page One article in the Blue-Nosed Guardian
pointed out yesterday, audiospace is tailor-made for the dissemination
of child pornography.  It allows peophiles instant access to explicit
descriptions of childhood sexual activity almost anywhere, and it
gives distributors and collectors enough anonymity to avoid getting
caught and being prosecuted.
 
Using advanced non-digital technology, two pedophiles can meet almost
anywhere, and exchange explicit descriptions of childhood sexual
activity, with little fear of detection.  Phrases like "Timmy, aged 7,
has a stiffie" and "Little Mary's muffin swelled and moistened when
she saw little Timmy's cute red knob" can be exchanged with ease
vicariously victimizing inocent children worldwide by transforming
them into sexual objects for pedophiles' selfish gratification.
 
In fact, the ease of communicating descriptions of childhood sexual
activity through the spoken word may actually have broadened the
audience for child pornography.  And law enforcement officials worry
that this may lead to increased child abuse, because American parents
might actually begin to believe that guilt-free sex-positive messages
are good for children, in lieu of the normal beatings and
state-mandated psychotherapy.
 
Vice President and famed child-rearing expert Dr. James Dobson has
been leading a campaign to make sound waves safe for children.  This
week, he announced a new partnership between cities and the Justice
Department effort to crack down on child pornography, and a toll-free
hotline where people may report any neighbors heard discussing the
sexuality of minors in terms other than those used in Surgeon General
Phyllis Schlafly's "Innocence and Abstinence" report.
 
But law enforcement officials, sound wave experts, and child advocates
say it's not that easy, by any means.  Even if landlords, businesses,
and professionals cooperate in monitoring all speech uttered by
persons on their premises, there are hundreds of small conversations
which take place in other locations, where people are loathe to police
others, because of liability concerns, or because they consider it to
be a waste of time.
 
The Blue-Nosed Guardian's article also pointed out that most law
enforcement officials are not knowlegable enough to track down child
pornography distributors, who are experts at whispering spoken
descriptions of child sexual activity and finding new ways to conceal
their communications from onlookers.  Law enforcement officials may
also lack the manpower needed to track down pedophiles.  "If we want
to break into someones house and install recording equipment," one
investigator said, "we actually have to go in front of a judge and get
a warrant." Child advocates say they hope to eliminate such "loopholes
for pedophiles" in the future.
 
Many more "audiocops" are needed at the federal, state, and local
levels, who have the expertise to stay ahead of spoken communication,
and much more manpower and training is needed.
 
In New Jersey, state Sen. stupid fuck Andrew Ciesla, has introduced a
bill which would set aside $400,000,000 of money stolen from the
taxpayers for a special unit to investigate spoken child pornography,
and create a 24-hour toll-free state hot line for people to turn in
their neighbors.
 
Alerting the authorities is a key component of this crackdown, and Dr.
Dobson also announced a national "AudioTip" hotline to report any
comments about childhood sexuality which might be overheard.  Dr.
Dobson also took the opportunity to plug his new book, "Dare to
Discipline III: Electrotorture and Enemas."
 
The Vice President is to be commended for seeking ways to stop these
ugly predators.  But this effort must be more than just lip service.
It must result in all Americans understanding that children have no
sexual feelings, and engage in no sexual behavior prior to age 18
unless they have been corrupted by pedophiles, and that abstinence is
the expected behavior of those over 18, before entering into a stable
marriage which can only be terminated by the death of one of the
partners.
 
In the meantime, intense pressure should be brought to bear on the
non-mute citizen units, and those who supervise them, to make a huge
dent in this particularly vile audiocrime, through aggressive
self-policing and frequent government-sponsored self-criticism
sessions.

-- 
Eric Michael Cordian 0+
O:.T:.O:. Mathematical Munitions Division
"Do What Thou Wilt Shall Be The Whole Of The Law"