I think this is a natural succession from the Freedom From Fear post. Fear is what limits our freedom of speech. Censorship is nothing more than the fear that people will repeat what they hear or that someone will be offended by what is said. I'm pretty sure the Bill of Rights doesn't grant the freedom of speech as long as it doesn't offend anyone. One of my favorite quotes is from a song Fern's friend wrote. "PMAC (Parents Music Advisory Committee), you are not my parents and never will be." Warning labels on music, videos, TV shows, and video games are really for lazy parents who don't take the time to find these things out for themselves before allowing their children to listen to, play with, or view them. Putting an age limit on the purchase of such material is also wrong. If parents don't know what their kids are buying, that's their problem.
Here's another one of my favorite quotes, this time by someone much more famous. Voltaire said, "I may not agree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it." Besides the whole perjury and yelling fire in a crowded room thing, I think people should say anything they choose and must be prepared to be judged by what they say. No one should ever have to apologize for their words if they mean them. In fact, it takes a much bigger person to stand behind a view that is unpopular than it does to apologize for making their true feelings known.
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22 comments:
Is this your opinion or a quote:? "Warning labels on music, videos, TV shows, and video games are really for lazy parents who don't take the time to find these things out for themselves before allowing their children to listen to, play with, or view them. Putting an age limit on the purchase of such material is also wrong. If parents don't know what their kids are buying, that's their problem."
As a parent, I make it my business to know what my kids are listening to, watching, reading, playing, etc. HOWEVER, I rely on such labels because there is SO MUCH junk out there, I can't possibly KNOW enough about ALL of it to make judgements. So, my policy is: if it is labeled as anywhere near questionable, I need to screen it first, or investigate it through trusted friends and families with similar values.
As far as being against purchase restrictions, do you extend your opinion to the purchase of cigarettes and alcohol? Why or why not? Are children's minds not just as important as their health?
Having read this, I am even more shocked by your nasty rejoinder to Exmi on the previous post. Everyone has freedom of speech as long as they don't irritate Polanco or imply anything that differs from her opinion of Bush and the war?????
PC response wasn't that extreme. (I've certainly gotten worse)
And on this topic PC and I are in complete agreement. I used to ask student which constitutional amendment guaranteed the right not to be offended.
If you'll notice, I disagreed with Exmi, but did not tell him he does not have the right to his opinion. I am allowed to say, "You are wrong." So are you. We can speak in absolutes if what we have are concrete opinions. Like I said, if you are going to speak freely, and you should, you should be prepared to be judged by what you say. I made a judgement based on the war. You made a judgement based on my words. How is what you are doing any different from what I have done?
Always,
That is my opinion. In my opinion, relying on labels is parental laziness. You don't need to know about all of it. You need to know about what your kids are interested in and be conscious of what they are buying. There are many ways for parents to control what their kids are seeing and doing without the labels. How did your parents do it?
Ciggarettes and alcohol - I also believe that there should be no age limit on the purchase or consumption of these products. It is not for the government to decide. It is for the parents to decide. Again, if parents don't know what their kids are buying and doing, that's there problem. Again, how did parents handle it before the restrictions were in place?
Polanco, you are right in principle, but the problem is that there are a terrific number of idiotic adults who don't supervise their children. Therefore, society (rightly or wrongly is another debate) assumes responsibility for shielding the kids.
Still, I believe in freedom of speech whenever possible. I don't think that age restrictions restricts free speech, just restricts it to young children who are too green to be exposed to certain things.
I like your consistency in the age limit for purchase. However, in answer to your question "How did your parents do it?" When I was growing up, there was a lot less media to know about.
I suppose I could get by without the labels - I don't trust them anyway, but only use them as a guideline. But I don't work a full-time-outside-the-house job. I can't imagine how working parents - and single ones! - ever find the time to keep on top of their children the way you would expect them. Also, once they become teens, you lose some amount of control anyway - no matter how diligent a parent you are.
PMAC (Parents Music Advisory Committee), you are not my parents and never will be.
Nice song quote.
Besides the whole perjury and yelling fire in a crowded room thing, I think people should say anything they choose and must be prepared to be judged by what they say. No one should ever have to apologize for their words if they mean them.
Well said. Or copyrighted material, with limits, like in education you can use copyrighted materials to a certain extent, and you can also quote copywritten materials as long as you're not giving away secrets. I'm no lawyer, but it's something like that.
Three Score has a point.
In the case of stupid adults not supervising their children: why should the rest of us have limits placed on us because of the stupidity of a few. Take their kids away if it's a life threatening issue. Otherwise, who are we to say what is best for other people's kids? It's wrong for the government to assume responsibility for anyone's kids unless they are being harmed physically. All kids mature differently. Again, who are we to decide at which age a child who is not our own should be exposed to anything.
With parents not having the time: this is a societal issue. Both parents have to work to support a family, and yet to RAISE a family, one parent needs to be at home. Still, it's not an excuse for censorship.
I am curious. Do you allow children say anything they want in your classroom? How about a volunteer or another adult?
Yes, I do.
Too, bad.
Why?
Me again!
With parents not having the time: this is a societal issue. Both parents have to work to support a family, and yet to RAISE a family, one parent needs to be at home. Still, it's not an excuse for censorship.
Ah but it really IS. Otherwise, where do you draw the line? Is it OK if the next door neighbor's little 7 year old is allowed to watch porn and thus probably destroy a future healthy sex life?
Is it OK to allow that same child to view snuff films?
We also have to be somewhat responsible for others, as a society, as much as it pains me to admit it. After all, I like the government OUT of our hair more than they are right now. For instance, I think the Patriot Act stinks (see Zombieslayer's excellent post on that today).
What the next door neightbor's kid is allowed to do is not my concern. It's not okay, but it's not my kid, so there's nothing I can or should do about it, unless the child is being physically harmed. We can be responsible for the PHYSICAL safety of others.
If we had a better education ssytem and a better health care system, we wouldn't have some of the problems we have now with the way people raise their kids. If parents knew the psychological effects of, say, a 7 year old watching porn, it might not happen as often. And even if it did, it is still between the parent and the child, not between the parent and the government.
Zombie's Patriot Act post was Excellent. I have to get a link up to him. Coming soon!
I am surprised at your loosie goosie modus operandi. It is very disturbing to me. I feel this way for the following reasons.
1. Children need clear boundaries and limits especially when it comes to decency. Setting a child up by allowing them to think that their language (most common form of communication) can be used in any and all ways they wish is dangerous to themselves and others. I expect educators to at least have enough sense to realize that civility is one of the cornerstones of peace loving people.
2. Saying anything you want, speech with no restraint or filters eliminates hope of ever becoming a community that works for its common good.
3. Without the boundaries provided by decent standards of speech, the playing field becomes a mine field of verbal abuse that attacks the weakest in the group first.
4. Children should be taught that verbal aggression does not equal free expression of ideas. They should further understand that ideas, no matter how good, will never be well received if sent in a poison package.
5. Adults who are charged with the care of children have the responsibility to model good judgment and demeanor. While children are in their care they own the responsibility for assuring that the environment is safe, nurturing and respectful, not a verbal free for all.
6. My question to you was do you allow children and adult volunteers to say anything they want in your classroom. You said, yes, I do. In this scenario, children who verbally abuse you or other children would be doing it with your approval. Some rules provide a safer and fairer place for people. Children thrive when the important adults in their lives let them know there are boundaries and rules for the protection of themselves and others.
I fail to understand your logic. Perhaps I have misunderstood your message. If it is the later, please, enlighten me.
I have one more thing I would like to say. You said, "No one should ever have to apologize for their words if they mean them."
While I generally mean no harm, I have said some very hurtful words in my lifetime. I meant them at the time, but my judgment was altered by an emotion, indifference or just plain stupidity and self absorption. I came to regret the effect it had on the recipient. Clearly, an apology was in order. Decency required me to make amends. I am responsible for my words and the impact they have on others. Likewise, I have known individuals who have a razor tongue and have turned it into an art form. Their insensitivity is toxic and needs to be neutralized.
When I was about six, I felt I was losing an argument with a neighborhood friend. I used a racial slur to dismiss her. I called her a "spic." Her mother was Latino. I liked her mother and I loved going to her house and spending time with them. I heard this language from my father. I am still ashamed after all these years.
Words are powerful and can rip at the fabric of our spirit and leave scars for a lifetime. Words can start wars or bring peace to a lost and desperate soul. Words should never be taken lightly, but respected for being "mightier than the sword."
1. They have clear boundries. Just because they're allowd to say what they want dosn't mean they do. I teach them that everything they say has an effect on someone, good or bad. I teach them what the effects are, and I remind them when they say something negative. I don't say, "You can't say that." I say, "How do you think John felt when you said that?" Why do you think he would feel that way? What could you have said to get the same point across that might not have hurt John's feelings as much?" That's why it's called TEACHING, not dictating. I also reward kindness. We compliment someone every day in my class, and you have to compliment each person in class before complimenting one person a second time. We clap when someone makes a good comment, and the students moderate each other when someone says something mean, offensive, or untrue.
2. A society where speech is restricted is not one I want to live in.
3. If you teach children how to speak to each other in the first place, they won't act like that on the playing field. It is an excuse for lazy parents who don't want to do the work that goes into teaching their children common courtesy. This should be taught in the home, not at school. Believe it or not, teaching other people's kids how to BEHAVE is NOT MY JOB. Teaching them English is my job.
4. Unfortunately, verbal aggression IS a free expression of ideas. We may not like it, but we cannot limit it. Children use bad language to shock us or because they don't know any better. If we do not react the way they want us to, they generally stop, especially if we say, "I'm sure you did not literally get screwed over by your math teacher. Is there a better way to put that?" or, "Your writing is not literally a pile of feces. What's a more descriptive way to put it?"
5. I model good judgement and behavior. I NEVER swear in my classroom, and rarely outside of it. Notice, I said RARELY - that doesn't mean that I haven't cursed in anger or hurt. I compliment each student on something at least once a week. I am careful with my speech, and model how I chose my words carefully so that I'm sure someone understands my message clearly. My classroom is a safe place. No one gets bullied because we have peer mediation. There are consequences for repeated bad behavior, but the students impose their own consequences as well. If they don;t want to work with a student because he's mean, I don't make them. If you behave badly in society, people leave you alone. If you behave badly in a classroom, other students leave you alone. You made your own choices and you have to live with them. That is the way the world works. It seems parents agree with my approach. I get letters, emails, and phone calls all the time from former students and parents who say my class is the best they've ever had.
6. Here's the thing: I don't get abused, and neither do my students, at least not in my classroom. They understand the expectations and they follow them. I have worked in some pretty tough places where students have hurled all kinds of language at me and my students. In each place the year ends with a well-mannered and respectful class who understand how their words effect others.
"They have clear boundries."
So the answer is yes you do have guidlinesor rules. That's a relief.
Looking,
I wrote a comment yesterday but it didn't post for some reason. Anyway, I teach the kids what is acceptable to me and what is not. I don't tell them they can't say something, but I don't let them get away with cursing someone out, either. The idea is to bring personal reponsibility into the mix, and I think censorship takes away a lot of the personal responsibility. Just because you Can say something doesn't mean youu SHOULD.
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