Mothers in the Los Angeles area are up in arms about the blog of a man named Jack McClellan.
McClellan, you see, calls himself a pedophile. He has no known convictions. He says on his blog that he has never molested a child. But on his blog, he talks about children he sees out in the world and events that cater to children. He posts photos -- nonsexual photos, mind you -- of children that he sees when he goes to these events. He, supposedly, wants to promote the acceptance of pedophiles.
So Mamas are joining together to try to find a legislative way to stop his blog. They want to enact some law that would prohibit the posting photos of children out in public (usually fair game under the first amendment) on any sites with a sexual content or themes. I'm sure they want more but that is as much as they will admit to right now.
Now, as a mother, I'm just as disgusted with McClellan wandering all over Los Angeles, attending children's events and then blogging about them. It's pretty disgusting.
But in recent years, with many facets of life, we seem to be more interested in being safe than free. And if we want to set new precedents around free speech, we need to think long and hard about what we are trying to accomplish. We need to stop acting from that internal Mama-bear visceral reaction and really consider how those laws might impact related blogs, websites and newspapers in the future.
In my mind, these Los Angeles mothers have already done more than any law ever could. They are getting the word out. They are making others in the area aware (and maybe also a little paranoid). And isn't that the point? What more do they think a law can do?
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5 comments:
people,whether we realize it or not,are slowly but surely becoming;state and federal property.i am for child safety,however registering people,have not increased nor decreased childrens safety.
more to the fact;registering people have caused vigilante mindsets(we will run them off)pls.think people if you know where these"registered people" are you can secure your area and inform your neighborhood.studies indicates and recommend that these"registered people" reside in/and maintain a stable environment.there is no stablity in running(nor do YOU know where those"registered people are running to.Look at the fight against terrorism,for the most part we know where they are and what they are up to;thus there is a degree of control on our part of there actions.however if we legislate law that they(the terrorist)have to register;then i suggest to you frightened people,i suggest to you that the terrorist merely will go underground:wherein you people will have no indicater(no clue)as to there whereabouts an or activities. people,also educate yourselves to the knowledge that everyone that is labeled sex offender is not a pedophile.so people (adult people)(mothers/fathers)if you would talk one on one with those(registered people) instead of given over to mass stupidness(media hysteria)mayhap then you would better know who to critique.in closing everyone who has smoked marijuana is not a drug addict ask clinton
You had me with the registry. I fully believe that Megan's Law and the accompanying state and federal sex offender registries are fairly useless.
I'm not sure where you were going with the whole terrorism/drug addiction thing, though.
Unless there's a massive increase in law enforcement personnel and budgets, it's just another signature on another piece of paper.
Exactly. I'd rather have all the money being used to lobby for these laws put into stricter first time sentencing laws for sex offenders.
I don't know if you saw this article yet today. McClellan had been arrested - now released - because a judge apparently attempted to enjoin him (for 3 years) from going within 30 feet of anyone under the age of 18.
This, absent (1) a criminal trial OR conviction or even a charge of criminal behaviour (prior to issuing the injunction) and (2) absent a hearing.
The link is:
http://news.aol.com/story/_a/self-proclaimed-pedophile-goes-free/20070822004009990001
Wonder if the constitutional prohibition of bills of attainder is still in effect? And does it apply to what you say about yourself? Here's a guy who admits he's a pedophile - while yet not admitting to having committed any illegal acts in furtherance of that self-imposed label.
But the law punishes ACTS and not [generally] beliefs or ideologies. Even if just about everyone else HATES the particular belief/ideology being espoused. . . .
If we want to preserve our freedom to think - and speak - as we like, we're going to occasionally find situations like this. The alternative is really scarey.
This is really an amazing case.
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