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Jun. 1st, 2007 06:51 pmSo, now that LJ has given Fandom back our freedom of expression, what makes it okay for us to behave as badly as the nutjobs who tried to take it from us?
We don't get to pick and choose who is entitled to freedom of speech.
If individuals are using LJ actually to commit illegal acts, that's one thing and should be dealt with through the appropriate authorities. But, however distasteful it may be, if we are entitled to freedom of expression, then so are the folks we disapprove of. Fandom has been saying it all week: talking/writing/posting about a thing isn't the same thing as doing a thing.
Paedophillia is a sexual orientation. One that most people find repulsive but it's not that long since folks would have said exactly the same about my sexual orientation. Feeling an attraction to children is not a crime, people. Only acting on it is, and by demonising the people who feel this and don't want to, we only drive them underground. We deprive them of the support they need to fight their desires and that makes it more likely, not less, that children will be hurt.
I know it's terribly difficult to understand. But you know what? I fucking know what it's like to be subject to violence, persecution and hatred because of my sexuality. I was fifteen. I wasn't "out", even to myself. I'd never had a girlfriend. I never even believed, then, that I might be gay. And I was locked in a bathroom and sexually assaulted by a gang of kids who hated me because they thought I was a sexual deviant. I spent four years terrified of going to school.
Buy a clue, people. I know it's hard to understand, and ten times harder to accept. Especially if you're a parent. But not all paedophiles are evil. Not all of them are child molestors.
Talking ain't doing.
Protecting children is their parent's responsibility, not LiveJournal's. Not ours.
And witch-hunts make me sick.
I may not agree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it. And their right to say it, too.
And mine. That's my say. So go ahead. Defriend me. If you're gonna lead a witch-hunt now you think you're free of persecution, we ain't friends.
We don't get to pick and choose who is entitled to freedom of speech.
If individuals are using LJ actually to commit illegal acts, that's one thing and should be dealt with through the appropriate authorities. But, however distasteful it may be, if we are entitled to freedom of expression, then so are the folks we disapprove of. Fandom has been saying it all week: talking/writing/posting about a thing isn't the same thing as doing a thing.
Paedophillia is a sexual orientation. One that most people find repulsive but it's not that long since folks would have said exactly the same about my sexual orientation. Feeling an attraction to children is not a crime, people. Only acting on it is, and by demonising the people who feel this and don't want to, we only drive them underground. We deprive them of the support they need to fight their desires and that makes it more likely, not less, that children will be hurt.
I know it's terribly difficult to understand. But you know what? I fucking know what it's like to be subject to violence, persecution and hatred because of my sexuality. I was fifteen. I wasn't "out", even to myself. I'd never had a girlfriend. I never even believed, then, that I might be gay. And I was locked in a bathroom and sexually assaulted by a gang of kids who hated me because they thought I was a sexual deviant. I spent four years terrified of going to school.
Buy a clue, people. I know it's hard to understand, and ten times harder to accept. Especially if you're a parent. But not all paedophiles are evil. Not all of them are child molestors.
Talking ain't doing.
Protecting children is their parent's responsibility, not LiveJournal's. Not ours.
And witch-hunts make me sick.
I may not agree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it. And their right to say it, too.
And mine. That's my say. So go ahead. Defriend me. If you're gonna lead a witch-hunt now you think you're free of persecution, we ain't friends.
