Why should the Republicans yank the Ten Commandments? They've already been yanked! e.g. No prayer in school, not allowing the Ten Commandments to be shown in a courtroom or in a school classroom (for fear someone might actually follow them). Hello?! I can see just how horrible do not kill, do not steal, obey your parents and the like are. Oh, goodness, no! We don't want that! We want mass murders and thieves and rebellions.
I fail to understand how a simple question about a movie and its content can bring up such criticism against our government, Republicans, and the Christian Coailition. Who said anyone would be censoring movies anyways? I am a Christian Republican and very proud of my beliefs. I'm not saying I'm better than anyone else, but these are what I hold to be true. By attacking someone else's beliefs simply because they don't think like I do, I am not accomplishing anything. By make wide exaggerations and assumptions based on my dislike of someone else's beliefs or my disagreement with their thoughts, I am not accomplishing anything. Instead, we run around in circles of hate and misunderstanding.
Exactly what do we know of John Ashcroft's agenda? And the Christian Coalition's? And why do you think that they have any desire to ban these movies or shows? For one thing, they are completely made up. As someone mentioned, it's implied violence anyways. I would much prefer implied where I don't see anyone die, then a bloody gory movie where two people die in an awful, gut-spilling, blood-spewing battle. As is, I have recently been reminded that even Christians sometimes need to see a bit of the nasty side of battle to remind us that not everything is flowers and hearts.
I, nor anyone else I know, are proponents of mass murder. I do not like a great deal of violence and gore, but I do not judge those of my friends who do like movies like that. I don't see them as defending mass murder simply because they like to see people cut up. To make such an assumption would be ignorant, rude, and show that I don't understand people at all. Someone once told me, Never assume, because it just makes an . . . out of 'u' and 'me'.
America used to root for the underdog. Movies used to portray overcoming huge obstacles in order to have a romantic, happy ending. The U.S. Constitution used to protect the people. The U.S. Government used to work to protect our rights. The U.S. Judicial System used to fight for justice.
All of that has changed now. We are currently facing a new era, one that we have faced before. Each time something new, innovative, and consumer-likable has occurred, corporations have fought it. So what do we do now? If you are truly so riled up about this, get out there and fight. Write your legislators, sign petitions, boycott, do whatever you can to let the RIAA and the government know that we are not going to allow our digital rights to be stolen away from us. People have become so lazy that they no longer fight for what is right. The American Revolution was not fought by a bunch of guys sitting on their posteriors! It was fought by patriots, war heroes, soldiers, the common man willing to stand up and unite with his neighbors for what he knew to be right.
We will not fall silent, we will not fall by the wayside, we will not be distracted, we will fight for our rights, digital, physical, political, mental, spiritual.
I agree with some of the points made here: If you cannot trust your kids online, then maybe they shouldn't have access. Teaching them to be careful when they search helps cut down on trash they may find. That's just wisdom.
Digging through garbage helps find trash.
I agree that a few years ago you wouldn't find trash if you weren't looking for it, but with the amount of moral degradation that has happened since then, it is often almost impossible to avoid it. I have a friend who likes to surf by typing in random URLs, he's not searching for trash, that's just how he likes to find new and interesting sites. How many times has he landed in a big pile of snot? I cannot even tell you, but he doesn't surf that way very often anymore.
I use to surf through Geocities much the same way, I would simply change the number of the address (this is when the addies were something like geocities.com/Area51/Hollow/9597), but I kept finding so much filth that I just had to stop. It's not that I was looking for that, it's just where I happened to end up.
Today there are also so many trash sites that attempt tp hide their true nature until you click that link. Even the descriptions are purposefully incorrect in order to draw more people in. Imagine my surprise when I was searching for a laptop, found a site about refurbished laptops (according to the description, anyway) and ended up at a porn site with about 10 popups with nude pictures! I DEFINITELY was NOT searching for that, but it landed right on top of me! The point is that it is now a lot harder to avoid garbage than it once was.
Going to the original issue, parents do have a responsibility to care, protect, and guide their children. No, you do not have to hang over them all the time. Maybe at first (face it, when you were a kid you did stupid things too), but as they grow older you should allow them more of the responsibility of deciding what is right and what is wrong. If you are teaching them correctly you won't have to hang all over them. I agree with AOL's censorship because some things should NOT be propogated, and my heart aches to know that they must sift through such garbage everyday, but much of the responsibility of protecting the kids lies in the parents. Those children will copy what they see you do and will learn your ideas and values. Our world is slowly sinking into a moral flood; it's hanging onto so much garbage that it is slowly sinking down. Soon, we will even be drowning in it, and all because we won't put the trash out.
What's wrong with having an . . . uhm. . . exboritant interest in something? All right, being down right obsessive. Yes, I understand that it be rather annoying to those of you who are so far above all of us lowly ones who have no life of our own *all said jokingly* I sit on both sides of the fence. I don't understand my friends' obsessions with Brad Pitt, Harrison Ford, and the like, yet I love Gundam Wing.
Sometimes you find that one thing that simply captures your interest and by creating a fanfic, by redoing it with your own character ideas you are opening the doors of your own imagination to create your own masterpiece. I am a part time author, but I cannot write an original mecha sci-fi like GW. It doesn't make me any less of a person because I fell in love with a character from another show and want to make up my own stories about him. That's why doujinshi [professional fanfics, moreorless] is so popular in Japan! We like to take the characters out of their world and discover what they would do and how they would react to the world of our own creation. I am a proponent of using one's own imagination, but, at the same time, I love to share my ideas about known characters. People already know their characteristics then and don't have to get to know brand new ones. Yes, it's like discovering new friends, but sometimes I prefer my old friends thank you very much.;)
Yes, it really stinks that some studios are out there trying to promote their movies with fake fan sites. Still, haven't you ever made a shameless plug about something you've made? *glances pointedly at her URL to a fanfic* What got my goat, however, was the suggestion to force the site to be marked about the creator's financial interest. That hacks me off because that is a direct violation of our First Amendment rights. We are allowed to make shameless plugs about potential financial profits for ourselves. It goes with Free Speech and Free Market. We like things to be free because we want to make a profit. So let them be scuzzy and money makers, that's what we all are at some point anyway.
Slashdot Mirror
Why should the Republicans yank the Ten Commandments? They've already been yanked! e.g. No prayer in school, not allowing the Ten Commandments to be shown in a courtroom or in a school classroom (for fear someone might actually follow them). Hello?! I can see just how horrible do not kill, do not steal, obey your parents and the like are. Oh, goodness, no! We don't want that! We want mass murders and thieves and rebellions.
Exactly what do we know of John Ashcroft's agenda? And the Christian Coalition's? And why do you think that they have any desire to ban these movies or shows? For one thing, they are completely made up. As someone mentioned, it's implied violence anyways. I would much prefer implied where I don't see anyone die, then a bloody gory movie where two people die in an awful, gut-spilling, blood-spewing battle. As is, I have recently been reminded that even Christians sometimes need to see a bit of the nasty side of battle to remind us that not everything is flowers and hearts.
I, nor anyone else I know, are proponents of mass murder. I do not like a great deal of violence and gore, but I do not judge those of my friends who do like movies like that. I don't see them as defending mass murder simply because they like to see people cut up. To make such an assumption would be ignorant, rude, and show that I don't understand people at all. Someone once told me, Never assume, because it just makes an . . . out of 'u' and 'me'.
Dark energy? Is anyone reminded of Pokemon?
All of that has changed now. We are currently facing a new era, one that we have faced before. Each time something new, innovative, and consumer-likable has occurred, corporations have fought it. So what do we do now? If you are truly so riled up about this, get out there and fight. Write your legislators, sign petitions, boycott, do whatever you can to let the RIAA and the government know that we are not going to allow our digital rights to be stolen away from us. People have become so lazy that they no longer fight for what is right. The American Revolution was not fought by a bunch of guys sitting on their posteriors! It was fought by patriots, war heroes, soldiers, the common man willing to stand up and unite with his neighbors for what he knew to be right.
We will not fall silent, we will not fall by the wayside, we will not be distracted, we will fight for our rights, digital, physical, political, mental, spiritual.
Digging through garbage helps find trash.
I agree that a few years ago you wouldn't find trash if you weren't looking for it, but with the amount of moral degradation that has happened since then, it is often almost impossible to avoid it. I have a friend who likes to surf by typing in random URLs, he's not searching for trash, that's just how he likes to find new and interesting sites. How many times has he landed in a big pile of snot? I cannot even tell you, but he doesn't surf that way very often anymore.
I use to surf through Geocities much the same way, I would simply change the number of the address (this is when the addies were something like geocities.com/Area51/Hollow/9597), but I kept finding so much filth that I just had to stop. It's not that I was looking for that, it's just where I happened to end up.
Today there are also so many trash sites that attempt tp hide their true nature until you click that link. Even the descriptions are purposefully incorrect in order to draw more people in. Imagine my surprise when I was searching for a laptop, found a site about refurbished laptops (according to the description, anyway) and ended up at a porn site with about 10 popups with nude pictures! I DEFINITELY was NOT searching for that, but it landed right on top of me! The point is that it is now a lot harder to avoid garbage than it once was.
Going to the original issue, parents do have a responsibility to care, protect, and guide their children. No, you do not have to hang over them all the time. Maybe at first (face it, when you were a kid you did stupid things too), but as they grow older you should allow them more of the responsibility of deciding what is right and what is wrong. If you are teaching them correctly you won't have to hang all over them. I agree with AOL's censorship because some things should NOT be propogated, and my heart aches to know that they must sift through such garbage everyday, but much of the responsibility of protecting the kids lies in the parents. Those children will copy what they see you do and will learn your ideas and values. Our world is slowly sinking into a moral flood; it's hanging onto so much garbage that it is slowly sinking down. Soon, we will even be drowning in it, and all because we won't put the trash out.
Sometimes you find that one thing that simply captures your interest and by creating a fanfic, by redoing it with your own character ideas you are opening the doors of your own imagination to create your own masterpiece. I am a part time author, but I cannot write an original mecha sci-fi like GW. It doesn't make me any less of a person because I fell in love with a character from another show and want to make up my own stories about him. That's why doujinshi [professional fanfics, moreorless] is so popular in Japan! We like to take the characters out of their world and discover what they would do and how they would react to the world of our own creation. I am a proponent of using one's own imagination, but, at the same time, I love to share my ideas about known characters. People already know their characteristics then and don't have to get to know brand new ones. Yes, it's like discovering new friends, but sometimes I prefer my old friends thank you very much. ;)
Anyways, I will now stop ranting as well.
Yes, it really stinks that some studios are out there trying to promote their movies with fake fan sites. Still, haven't you ever made a shameless plug about something you've made? *glances pointedly at her URL to a fanfic* What got my goat, however, was the suggestion to force the site to be marked about the creator's financial interest. That hacks me off because that is a direct violation of our First Amendment rights. We are allowed to make shameless plugs about potential financial profits for ourselves. It goes with Free Speech and Free Market. We like things to be free because we want to make a profit. So let them be scuzzy and money makers, that's what we all are at some point anyway.