UK Gov't Report Recognizes That 'Protecting The Children' Can 'Hurt The Children'
from the protecting-the-children? dept
Politicians absolutely love to come out with laws saying that they're "protecting the children" as it plays well during election time. The problem, though, is that many of these laws do exactly the opposite. What they end up doing is actually preventing children from actually being able to learn necessary skills and how to deal with situations they will almost certainly face later in life. Yes, children can be much more vulnerable, but the answer isn't to hide them away from everything, but to teach them how to better deal with situations they may face. However, that tends not to be politically popular -- which is why it's that much more surprising to hear of a new report, requested by the UK Prime Minister pointing out just how problematic the rush to "protect the children" can be. As Slashdot points out, the key line from the exec summary is worth repeating:"Children and young people need to be empowered to keep themselves safe -- this isn't just about a top-down approach. Children will be children -- pushing boundaries and taking risks. At a public swimming pool we have gates, put up signs, have lifeguards and shallow ends, but we also teach children how to swim."This reminds me, too, of a line used last year by famed judge (and IP expert, to boot) Richard Posner in striking down an anti-video game law:
"Violence has always been and remains a central interest of humankind and a recurrent, even obsessive theme of culture both high and low ... It engages the interest of children from an early age, as anyone familiar with the classic fairy tales collected by Grimm, Andersen, and Perrault are aware. To shield children right up to the age of 18 from exposure to violent descriptions and images would not only be quixotic, but deforming; it would leave them unequipped to cope with the world as we know it."If only more people would recognize such things.
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Filed Under: nanny state, parenting, protect the children, study, uk
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Yep, I'm awake.
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**Pinches self**
Yep, I'm awake.
**Jaw hits floor**
Rather...surprising....
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@ John: "the judges comments are a tad cynical aren't they"
I don't see how the judge claiming that violence is a part of every day life is very cynical. I by no means live in a high crime rate area, and violence is very much everywhere around here. And not just on TV/Movies/Books/Music.
My neighbors fight all the time. Usually yelling, but sometimes I swear someone is getting smacked.
Muggings, robberies, assaults all happen, and they happen nomatter where you live. Even small towns in the midwest have a violent crime rate.
There are wars literally all over the globe going on right now, with people dying. In America the common man needs to know about them in order to make an informed vote.
Violence _IS_ a part of life, and has been since time immortal. You can't escape it, some form of it is everywhere.
Easiest example is one violent-videogame defenders point to often: All the classic operas are chock full of incest, violence, and other "low" behavior.
Violence and other degeneracies have been glorified since before the dark ages. Take a look at any form of mythology.
To think that saying children need to be prepared to deal with violence, primarily just emotionally, is cynical is outright laughable.
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No...
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WRONG! Go back a mere 6000 years - which is a tiny fraction of the existence of the human race - and you will see that there was no violence at all. People were peaceful and co-operative and looked after their home, our planet. The turning point came with the birth of the Ego, and things have never been the same since.
You can read all about this in The Fall by Steve Taylor.
As for Gordon's comments, that does sound more like The Continuum Concept, which is the right and natural way to raise kids.
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> fraction of the existence of the human race
Not sure where you're getting your science, but 6000 years is actually a very significant chunk of human history. Hardly the "tiny fraction" you claim.
And there's no such thing as the "human race". Humans are a species, not a race.
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In answer to other posters, I do not class hunting animals for food as violence, and the convenience of referring to a time before recorded history is not a convenience at all but supporting evidence for my argument. No one cared about recording history before the Ego.
If you want more proof, check out some primative tribal villages that have been largely untouched by civilization. The book The Continuum Concept talks about one such place and conforms there is no violence there.
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Re: no wars 6000 years ago?
I think it's clear that humans will fight anytime there are scarce resources, or resources that might become scarce in the future, or anytime it's to their advantage to create an artificial scarcity of a resource . . . oh, never mind. People fight.
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Re: Re: no wars 6000 years ago?
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There are many theories regarding the decline of violence but I favors the technological progress that makes communication easier and our ability to empathize.
The facts that we became horrified of the mass genocide of Jews is a testament to the kinder side of human side and communication technologies.
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Bravo
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*snort* In some areas, teachers are not even allowed to use time-out as a punishment anymore, nor can they say negative things like, 'You're not supposed to do that.". They're supposed to 'redirect' children to new activities without any of that negative discipline. If more parents believed in a strict discipline system, we wouldn't be having alot of these problems, esp. concerning the complete lack of personal responsibility in the average American.
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Come on, kids screw up. If we're not allowed to teach them to a) fix it or b) not do it in the first place then I'm fairly afraid for my daughter. (I'm one of those rare parents that would actually BELIEVE the school if someone told me my kid did something wrong.)
I wonder what will happen to these "protected" children when they get jobs? Is the business world also supposed to coddle them and tell them that everything they do is OK even if it isn't?
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human history non violent ??
Most stone age societies studied in new guinea and the amazon were quite violent and had the nasty (oops sorry that puts a negative connotation on the tribal traditions) habit of eating the missionaries and anthropologists going out to study them.
Males of any species tend to be violent. Has something to do with competition for breeding.
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your a fool
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Re: your a fool
oh but i get it, you must get your history lessons from the Flintstones
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Re: your a fool
I think you will find that what I am saying makes perfect sense. As soon as people stopped just being hunter-gatherers and started stockpiling food or forming larger societies things started to go wrong. But the most important trigger for "The Fall" and the subsequent birth of the ego was when their lives were threatened by changing climate.
"The period between the end of the last ice age, 10,000 years ago to around 6,000 years ago, was characterised by rising sea levels and a need to adapt to a changing environment and find new food sources."
People got scared, and that fear manifested as violence. All violence is rooted in fear.
It's no coincidence that we are seeing more and more violence now with the looming threat of Global Warming.
It is not in man's nature to be violent, as proven by many Buddhists and other nonviolent people around the world.
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Re: Re: your a fool
Counter argument:
It is in man's nature to be violant, as proven by countless terrorists, rapists, murderers, domestic violance and more and more.
You can't simply conclude something about man's nature by saying a certain group does or doesn't do something.
Especially when it's so easy to counter.
I'd like to believe you're right but from what evidence I see I find your statement hard to believe.
Violence can already be noticed in little children, hitting eachother over a small toy.
Children at first have very little control over their emotions and behaviour, their frontal lobe in the brain still needs to develop. So they will be angry and frustrated and let this out in violent behaviour.
The non-violent behaviour needs to be tought it's NOT part of their nature to be non-violent.
Maybe all this is caused by the explosion of Ego as you mention, but evidence does seem to point to it that this Ego and violance is now (for at least 6000 years we agreed) part of human nature, regardles if in the past we did or did not have this aspect.
Violence (verbal violence, calling names and so on) being part of human nature can also be easily concluded from reading the average response in any blog, just read this one! :-)
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$20000 REWARD AGAINST SAMANTHA LOWRY
WANTED
A REWARD OF $20000 USD FOR INFORMATION LEADING TO THE ARREST, CHARGES FILED AND CONVICTION OF SAMANTHA LOWRY.
Samantha Jennifer Lowry is Wanted for: Multiple counts of Fraud, Kidnapping, Theft, Criminal mischief and is a suspect of "MURDER FOR HIRE".
Samantha Jennifer Lowry was Born February 15, 1983 in the United Kingdom.
Samantha Lowry aliases: Sam Lowry, Jennifer Lowry, Sam J Lowry, Samantha Jennifer Lowry.
Last seen in Bishopstone, Wilshire, Swindon. UNITED KINGDOM.
Samantha Lowry Previously resided in Austin, Mexico, Texas, New York, and Tarragona, Spain.
Samantha Lowry kidnapped a 1 year old boy named Sebastian John Raul Pavon Cuellar : Born March 29, 2007 working in concert with Tristan Nind and Joseph Lowry on December 3, 2007.
Receive up to $60,000 dollars for information leading to the arrest, charges filed, and conviction of the following persons:
Susan Gail Lowry, John Auriol Lowry, Tristan Nind, Joseph Lowry, Scarlett Lowry and any other person or persons involved.
If you have any information on the whereabouts of the person(s) or any information leading to their arrest, charges filed and conviction. Please contact artofjustice@hotmail.com immediately.
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MEG MUNN AND ANNE SNELGROVE USED FOR 35 MILLION DOLLAR FRAUD!
WE BELIEVE MEG MUNN AND ANNE SNELGROVE WHERE USED AND MANIPULATED BY THE LOWRY FAMILY. BUT MEG MUNN AND ANNE SNELGROVE CONTACTED EVEN TONY BLAIR TO HELP THE LOWRY FAMILY COMMIT THEIR FRAUD, WE BELIEVE ALSO TONY BLAIR WAS UNAWARE IT WAS A FRAUD OF 35 MILLION DOLLARS. BUT MEG MUNN AND ANNE SNELGROVE HAS RECEIVED THE EVIDENCE, MEG MUNN AND ANNE SNELGROVE HAS RECEIVED THE COURT RECORDS, MEG MUNN AND ANNE SNELGROVE HAS RECEIVED SEEN THE SITES, MEG MUNN AND ANNE SNELGROVE KNOWS OF THE FRAUD, MEG MUNN AND ANNE SNELGROVE ALSO KNOWS THE MURDER OF DANIEL´S FATHER AFTER HE COUNTERSUED SAMANTHA LOWRY, MEG MUNN AND ANNE SNELGROVE HAS SEEN A LOT MORE EVIDENCE THEN ON THE SITES, MEG MUNN AND ANNE SNELGROVE KNOW SAMANTHA LOWRY HAS KIDNAPPED SEBASTIAN, BUT THEN WHY MEG MUNN AND ANNE SNELGROVE ARE NOT TAKING ACTION? OR MAYBE MEG MUNN AND ANNE SNELGROVE DID NOT MIND TO BE LIED TO , MANIPULATED, USED BY THE LOWRY FAMILY? OR MEG MUNN AND ANNE SNELGROVE KNEW EVERYTHING ALL ALONG?
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