Recently I was with my friends and one of them mentioned something that happened a few years ago. Now, I realize this is not new information, but it
was news to me. I guess that a man had self-published a book on Amazon.com called "The Pedophile's Guide". The context of the book is pretty clear in the title. This book explains the "proper" methods to being a pedophile in order to not only please yourself, but also the child involved. Obviously the book got loads of bad press. How could a book like this one be published in a place where pedophilia is illegal? The author argued that many children enjoy sexual activity. He would know. He was raped at a very young age. If you are a normal human being, then like me, you should be disgusted! But, then you and I have to realize that disgusting or not, the author of this book has rights. The Constitution advocates for "freedom of speech", and because Amazon.com does not censor the items that are put on their site, the author has his full right to write and sell such a book. (Thankfully though, Amazon.com finally made the choice to yank the book from the site.)
This issue, is not a new one. In 1989 a book titled "The Anarchist Cookbook" was published in the United States. This book explained how to make bomb and how to cause general mayhem. To this day, that book is one of the most controversial.
I do remember when this happened and I do find it both horrifying and interesting for the same reasons you describe in your post. I am curious as to when you think that Freedom of Speech does not protect you anymore. Is there a point when something is so offensive, so heinous that it does need to be censored? How do we decide what that is? I think that you have done a nice job here, I would just like to see you do a little more personal reflection and share that voice a bit more clearly as you continue to post on here. This is a forum for you to evaluate and discuss your feelings and I am not getting enough of that at this point.
ReplyDeleteI feel like that question is really hard to answer because everyone has different limits of what is okay and what is not. Personally, I feel like something like this is already crossing the line, but on the other hand, by people selling books like this and then having others buy them, it could also help lead to solving crimes. Obviously the man wrote the book because he is a pedophile, and although the book itself is not a crime, the police could know to keep a closer eye on him so that eventually he could be arrested, similar to the people buying them (although I am sure some people did just buy because they were curious what this crazy an had to say.)In America our laws to freedom of speech are what makes this country free, but even I am not sure where I stand when it comes to what should and should not be allowed to be said. I think maybe, freedom of speech should apply, but there should be limits on where someone can say something. If you want to educate people on pedophilia or talk over your hatred for a group of people, fine. You are awful, but fine. I just think it should not be done very publicly as to influence others. But, as I said, I don't know where I stand completely.
ReplyDeleteGreat response... in the future you want that in your original post!
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