[Editorial]
A long, long, long time ago, around the turn of the century, we got PCs and the internet at work. I’ve told this story many times, but the point I want to make today is how it was the internet that opened the door for me. I found others who thought and felt like me. There was a community out there. As a trans person, the internet showed me it was possible to transition and have a life.
But now they want to throttle the internet. There have been bills introduced to prevent children from accessing parts of it. The question is: who decides? The government or the parent?
You know how the Republicans are always screaming, “parental rights!”? Well, now the Republicans want to judge who can see what and when. They want you to prove you are over 18 or 21. How the heck can you do that? When I go onto a pot store website, they ask, “Are you 21 or over?” Oh yeah, like that will stop kids from lying.
But it's deeper than that. If the government decides what is "adult," they often lump LGBTQ+ resources, transition support, and sex education into that bucket. They claim they are blocking "harmful content," but they are actually cutting off lifelines for kids who are just trying to understand who they are.
If you want to stop children from accessing actual adult websites, here is a very simple way to do it. You have to be 18 to get a phone or an internet plan, so all you have to do is have a checkbox when you open the account: “Do you want to block access to adult websites on this device?” It is as simple as that. Put the choice back with the parents, and leave the government out of it.
[/Editorial]
No comments:
Post a Comment