Page 2 of 2 [ 18 posts ]  Go to page Previous  1, 2

stevens2010
Snowy Owl
Snowy Owl

User avatar

Joined: 7 Jun 2009
Age: 71
Gender: Male
Posts: 149

24 Oct 2018, 4:30 pm

Enigmatic_Oddity wrote:

It's hard for politicians and the media to discuss it because the other side invariably will always say something like arguing for privacy and security is arguing in favor of child pornography. Then sense goes out the window.


I like your point, because those who want to control society through surveillance often will try to put you on the defensive for "supporting illegal pornography."

During the period of the Harper Government in Canada, the security minister, Vic Toews, proposed a sweeping bill that would have greatly expanded the government's right to trawl massive amounts of data from citizens' on-line and telecommunications presence, without warrants and without any suspicion of wrongdoing. The bill was very unpopular. The Globe and Mail, perhaps Canada's most important newspaper, opined in an editorial that, "if it is a choice between supporting this policy and the child pornographers, then we are with the child pornographers." I found this significant, because a major newspaper was standing up to the slut-shaming tactic of accusing people of being in favor of the abuse of children if they are not in favor of Stalinist surveillance of citizens. So I'd say you're not as alone in your viewpoint as you might think.



Enigmatic_Oddity
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 4 Nov 2005
Age: 38
Gender: Male
Posts: 2,555

25 Oct 2018, 5:51 pm

No, I never thought that that was a unique perspective. It's the most common tactic in the rulebook of advocating for mass surveillance. Unless you're China and it doesn't matter what people think, characterising the opposition as a pack of child molesters has been very effective time and time again.