When I was a school boy I could never understand the wars of religion in Europe. Now I do.
We have to be very aware that the powers of the top down are going to attack the social world.
Their excuse - to protect our children. This is a clever position because it can make those that want freedom look like advocates for porn and perverts.
I think that they will use this excuse - to protect our kids - to get behind having the dear folks at Verizon control all access to the web. We have to wake up and see the threat to freedom.
You think I exaggerate? Well these three stories all happened this week
Last Night the CBC ran a 5 minute lead on a 21 year old who threatened young girls on the web and got them to do bad things on their web cams.
PBS have just fired a Kids show host , Melanie Martinez - Here is a comment via the Current from Mark Morford
Apparently, the PBS Sprout Network just fired one of its on-air talents, name of Melanie Martinez, the host of a nightly, three-hour show called "The Good Night Show," which, according to the AP story, "airs soothing stories and cartoons designed to get an audience of 2-to-5-year-olds ready for bed.
But then, a shocker. Turns our lovely Melanie Martinez is not what she appeared to be. Turns out Melanie Martinez had, prior to her gig smiling a lot and keeping your kids company for three solid hours while you join me in surfing for porn on the Internet, turns out she had a tiny sliver of an adult life before she
took the gig at PBS. And what's worse, it's on video. On the Internet. Oh. My. God.
Yes indeed, before joining PBS (a full seven years before, mind you), Martinez apparently appeared in two harmless, 30-second satire videos called "Technical Virgin" in which she spoofs PSAs by joking about -- say it with me now -- sex and virginity.
Gasp. And PBS found out about it. Because Martinez told them.
And of course, PBS, spineless as a jellyfish licked by Pat Robertson, immediately fired her.
They claimed the dialogue in Martinez's humor videos somehow meant she wasn't a good role model
for their fluffy kiddie show. A show, remember, that's designed for 3-year-olds. For creatures who can barely go to the bathroom by themselves, much less understand the meaning of an adult satiric video they will never ever see.
The pols are riding a winner here and have shut schools and libraries out of the social web. Here is Will Richardson on the subterfuge of the DOPA law and how passive we all have been in the face of this attack.
I’m really pissed at the media on a number of levels, first for they way they have sensationalized the whole MySpace issue into ratings by pumping up shows that “catch” online predators and stories that almost celebrate the ignorance of kids who aren’t being taught not to trust the people they meet online and to keep personal information private.
They’ve preyed on the ignorance of the masses who really aren’t paying close attention and just scared them into thinking that there is danger at every turn, when in reality our kids are more at risk for sexual predation from their family members than online.
And second, I’m mad at the media because of the utter, total lack of coverage this stupid bill has gotten. Here it is about 24 hours after the fact and there still is NOT ONE story on Google News that the bill actually passed. NOT ONE!
Technorati Tags: Blogging, Children, Inquisition, PBS, Public Radio, Social Web, Web 2.0, WiFi
