As far as children are concerned, isn it easy enough to assign responsibility for their online protection to their parents?
Telling parents that they should be responsible for their children’s Net exposure says nothing at all about the urgent issues. After all, parents should also be responsible for their children’s exposure to mortar shells in a war zone; but most of us would take that to mean: get the children out of this zone if at all possible, and if not, at least do what you can to work toward an end of the war. What, then, does taking responsibility for the Net mean? That is the question, and it requires much more of a radical mindset than is implied by simplistic, “put parents in control” rhetoric. It is intolerable to have congressional representatives (of all people!) setting cultural standards of decency. But it is also intolerable to commit ourselves, our society, our children to a medium in which it is virtually impossible for cultural standards — or anything recognizable as culture itself — to arise at all. The Net is, in its fundamental manifestations to date, as corrosive of culture as any
Related Questions
- Shouldn overseeing childrens television viewing choices be the responsibility of parents, not that of the Parents Television Council?
- As far as children are concerned, isn it easy enough to assign responsibility for their online protection to their parents?
- How should parents go about choosing an online home school for their children?
