"Opt-In" for Pornography

HELLO! 

I didn't necessarily want my first blog post to be like this and hopefully I’ll have an introductory post soon… but I have a rant to give. So, read on, reader, read on.

Lately I've been seeing a bucket load of people sharing a petition on the White House Petition page requiring cable/internet providers to provide an "opt in" option for pornography so their kids don't "stumble upon" it while surfing the web.

Let's just start off with this: I hate pornography. It has damaged and ruined many beautiful and wonderful things in my life. If there was anyone in this world that wants to see pornography banished from the face of the earth more than anything... it would be me. I know there are plenty of people in the world that feel the same way.

However, with that being said, I urge you all NOT to sign that petition with hopes that the petition will die. Let me explain...

This petition has great intentions, but it also has many issues that are going unaddressed and is mostly accepted as a good measure without question. There are both political and social flaws in a petition with this much power.

I don’t want to make this too much of a political post (because in actuality, I want this post to be focused on something much greater to humanity than any government), but I need to explain all angles of my opposition.

Not too long ago, people of all political views joined forces to stop open government censorship of the internet (CISPA, SOPA, etc.). Because of this uproar, we defeated the bill initially. What most people don’t realize is that the bill never died. That’s right! IT NEVER DIED. It was altered slightly and reintroduced in the House of Representatives and passed in the House THIS YEAR. The government STILL wants this power. The power of the people to freely use the internet for whatever purposes one might have (even if that be to watch pornography) is willingly and openly being offered up to a power-hungry government and no one seems to be realizing it!

I hear some of you readers already… “Oh Sela, we obviously don’t have the same political views so the rest of what you say must be garbage” or “Sela, that’s ludicrous! It’s not the same thing as CISPA or SOPA. It’s just giving people the option to remove unwarranted images from entering their house.”

To that I respond, “You’re right. It’s not the same. It’s actually quite an ingenious and devious way for the government to take a supposedly good measure and twist it for its own wicked purposes.” The petition of mention (Say that 10 times fast!) is a cute, little loophole perfect for Congress to fit through. “Give them an inch, they’ll take a mile.”

Enough of the political mumbo-jumbo… Let’s get into the deeper issue here.

In my mom’s day and age (which wasn’t THAT long ago), pornography was something you’d go to an adult movie theater and see or a magazine that you hid under your mattress. However, today, in my day and age, you can click twice on the internet or watch your favorite romantic teenage drama and be exposed to a plethora of pornography.

With the rapid and ever changing state of technology, the question of pornography has also changed. It’s no longer a question of “WHAT IF my child is exposed to pornography” but WHEN. Yeah, I winced too.

See, the true beef I have with this petition is where the responsibility lies for protecting the innocence of children and teens alike. This is the part of my post where I get a bit frank and if you get offended, I apologize in advance and at the same time #sorrynotsorry.

It’s absolutely reasonable to want to filter or censor the internet as a parent in your own home or someone who has seen the horrors of pornography first-hand! Kudos to you, *clap clap* that’s fantastic. But let’s get real here. You can do the same thing with almost the same success rate (slim to nothing) by unplugging the computer or the router or changing the WiFi password. As a 20-year-old, I can maneuver past all of those seemingly “stressing” roadblocks to the internet… so what’s to be said about the 5-year-olds that seem to be born with an integrated iPhone attached to their hand?

I got my first phone when I was 11 and it wasn’t even because I wanted it. I’m the eldest of three under a single mother and it became a necessity. It wasn’t even that cool either… but let me tell you… it won’t ever break #nokiaproblems. Today, I see a 6-year-old with an iPhone, iPad, mp3, and a laptop. What the heck does a 6-year-old need with all of those? He should still be in the “eating dirt stage” of his life. As a college kid, my bank account can barely supplement my ramen and grilled cheese, let alone anything that kid is packin’. So, who gave them to him? Oh yeah… HIS PARENTS.

To me, this seems really contradictory and counter-intuitive. I can’t be the only one, right? Buy all these access tools to the internet and then become shocked that your 6-year-old watched a “cool, new video” of Miley swinging nude on a wrecking ball.

It has almost become an eighth world wonder why parents can’t connect as well with their children or their children speak a foreign language like: “Mom, have you seen this vine? There was a meme about it with, like, 5 hashtags on it” or “Dad, I just got 500 likes on my Instagram”. I, too, am guilty of using such language and my mom’s reaction? “Huh? What’s a vine or a mum?”  

Reality of this situation? Parents don’t know what their kids are accessing on the internet or what they are doing. Why is this? Have we all become so accustomed to our kids wasting away their lives and brain cells keeping busy on the internet so mommy and daddy can get stuff done at work, in the house, or with errands?

Kids shouldn’t have to learn about sex and other important things from the internet. It should be a discussion that takes place in the home with parents. Evil will always find a way around a preventative measure – even a censorship of internet. There are magazines, books at Target like Fifty Shades of Grey, shows like Vampire Diaries and Glee that feature soft-porn, those perverted kids that sit in the back of the bus, and there will always be sex… and as long as there is any of the latter, there will always be a way to pervert and distort the beautiful gift of love-making God gave us.

“Well, Sela… now that you just dissed all the parents… what do you suggest?”

Do you remember the VMAs? Do you remember the astonished parents that wrote on their blogs the next day… “Letter to my Daughter”, “Letter to my Son”, “Don’t be like Miley”, “Let this be a lesson”, and so on… The kids and adults of today are being exposed to much worse than that theatrical foam finger stunt. The reactions and discussions of concerned parents in those blogs should be happening in the home more than ever.

Talk with your kids, monitor your KIDS, teach your kids about pornography, get rid of unnecessary distractions, limit time on the internet, stop watching raunchy “ABC Family” shows and YOU, as a PARENT, be the one to filter what comes in your home. Don’t rely on your internet provider to filter your internet for you. (Not to mention, you’d probably have to pay more for an “OPT OUT” option from your provider, because really… who would openly “opt-in”?) Remember, it’s a question of WHEN will your kids be exposed to pornography. You’ll want your kids to be the ones who know of its wickedness than the ones who are curious and suffer for it. No matter how much you try to push it out of your child’s life completely, it will always find a way to introduce its ugly self somehow or another. Prepare yourself and your family.

How does this all tie in with the petition? Internet providers should not be held responsible for what parents should already be doing in their home. Parents… take charge of your home and your internet and be responsible for raising your kids to know right from wrong – don’t delegate that sacred responsibility to a filtration system that can’t remotely compare.

That’s just my two cents.