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Witch hunts
OK, I think I'm cooled off enough to write about the stupidity of SixApart's behavior without blowing a gasket. If you don't want to hear it, skip over this.
This incident was nothing less than a witch hunt. Witch hunts NEVER reflect well on those who perpetrate them. They are ALWAYS judged badly when viewed from a historical perspective. It is made that much worse when the inspiration for the hunt was the accusations of an obvious lunatic fringe group that is dedicated to hating EVERYONE who is different from themselves. Not just possible or potential pedophiles, but everyone. Like gays, blacks, immigrants, women, non-Christians, ethnic minorities, and, no doubt, anyone who doesn't vote straight right wing candidates.
As with witch hunts everywhere and in every century, the utterly innocent were dragged into the pit along with the guilty or possibly guilty, merely because of association, vague resemblances, or semantic misinterpretation. SixApart acted like fools and assholes. There's no other way to put this, folks. They followed the hue and cry raised by a shill, and like a wild mob, started the lynch party rather than due process and fair evaluation.
You cannot condemn people for taking an interest in, discussing, or being curious about anything. I don't care what it is. Will you put the author of a murder mystery in jail? Yes, murder is illegal in our society. Will you put everyone who likes to read murder mysteries in jail as well? What if the author writes a novel in which the murderer gets away with the crime? What about a suspense novel in which an unpunished rape takes place? Furthermore, you can't assume, as SixApart did, that everyone who writes about or discusses murder is a murderer.
Whether it is 14th century Spain, 17th century England or Massachusetts, or 20th century Germany, the witch hunt is always, inevitably, and irrevocably wrong. It incriminates and punishes the innocent, and is manipulated to the personal glory and power of the perpetrator. Joseph McCarthy was just as wrong as Adolf Hitler, and Franklin Roosevelt committed equal atrocity when he allowed the Japanese Internment. The Bush administration is engaged in secret persecution and probably torture of innocent or only vaguely guilty people right now, simply because they speak the wrong language, are of the wrong religion, and happened to be in the wrong place at a bad time. SixApart is no better than these great criminals of past human history, and their apologies and promise to do better have no more value than those offered in the past by such people.
In a society that is supposedly dedicated to freedom of speech, religion, race, and culture, we seem still to be extremely narrow minded and quick to jump to potentially wrong conclusions. Worse yet, unlike chat rooms and other more notorious internet venues, LiveJournal is hardly a suitable forum for a genuine pedophile to use in attracting and injuring the innocent. Believe me, people who are up to such acts know how to choose their methods much more effectively than that.
Who will you go after next, SixApart? Homosexuals? Communists? Drug users? Illegal immigrants? Furries? Anyone who speaks a disparaging word about the current administration in Washington?
Frankly, this is an incident that calls for more than just empty words of apology. Those who decided to take this unilateral action and overreacted so extremely should resign their positions in the organization. It would be ludicrous, except that they are messing with people's lives and reputations here, and appointing themselves as a secret inquisition without appeal.
This incident was nothing less than a witch hunt. Witch hunts NEVER reflect well on those who perpetrate them. They are ALWAYS judged badly when viewed from a historical perspective. It is made that much worse when the inspiration for the hunt was the accusations of an obvious lunatic fringe group that is dedicated to hating EVERYONE who is different from themselves. Not just possible or potential pedophiles, but everyone. Like gays, blacks, immigrants, women, non-Christians, ethnic minorities, and, no doubt, anyone who doesn't vote straight right wing candidates.
As with witch hunts everywhere and in every century, the utterly innocent were dragged into the pit along with the guilty or possibly guilty, merely because of association, vague resemblances, or semantic misinterpretation. SixApart acted like fools and assholes. There's no other way to put this, folks. They followed the hue and cry raised by a shill, and like a wild mob, started the lynch party rather than due process and fair evaluation.
You cannot condemn people for taking an interest in, discussing, or being curious about anything. I don't care what it is. Will you put the author of a murder mystery in jail? Yes, murder is illegal in our society. Will you put everyone who likes to read murder mysteries in jail as well? What if the author writes a novel in which the murderer gets away with the crime? What about a suspense novel in which an unpunished rape takes place? Furthermore, you can't assume, as SixApart did, that everyone who writes about or discusses murder is a murderer.
Whether it is 14th century Spain, 17th century England or Massachusetts, or 20th century Germany, the witch hunt is always, inevitably, and irrevocably wrong. It incriminates and punishes the innocent, and is manipulated to the personal glory and power of the perpetrator. Joseph McCarthy was just as wrong as Adolf Hitler, and Franklin Roosevelt committed equal atrocity when he allowed the Japanese Internment. The Bush administration is engaged in secret persecution and probably torture of innocent or only vaguely guilty people right now, simply because they speak the wrong language, are of the wrong religion, and happened to be in the wrong place at a bad time. SixApart is no better than these great criminals of past human history, and their apologies and promise to do better have no more value than those offered in the past by such people.
In a society that is supposedly dedicated to freedom of speech, religion, race, and culture, we seem still to be extremely narrow minded and quick to jump to potentially wrong conclusions. Worse yet, unlike chat rooms and other more notorious internet venues, LiveJournal is hardly a suitable forum for a genuine pedophile to use in attracting and injuring the innocent. Believe me, people who are up to such acts know how to choose their methods much more effectively than that.
Who will you go after next, SixApart? Homosexuals? Communists? Drug users? Illegal immigrants? Furries? Anyone who speaks a disparaging word about the current administration in Washington?
Frankly, this is an incident that calls for more than just empty words of apology. Those who decided to take this unilateral action and overreacted so extremely should resign their positions in the organization. It would be ludicrous, except that they are messing with people's lives and reputations here, and appointing themselves as a secret inquisition without appeal.
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Thank you for speaking up. I hope it helped find your center.
Love and peace to you and yours.
Light and laughter,
SongCoyote
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I read all your entries, though, even if I don't comment :) I've had a lot going on recently... wait, enough of that tired old excuse. In truth I just haven't felt like taking the time to comment lately on just about anyone's journal. I'm not withdrawn, just... distracted.
Don't think it's because of you. I recently re-read your letter to me and I pat the wee soft pony you sent regularly. You are in my thoughts even if I'm not saying much :)
Light and laughter,
SongCoyote
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LJ's apology was pure crap as well. They claim Both in the instructions for profiles and in other places on the site we make it clear that interests listed should be evaluated within the context of “I like x”, “I’m in favor of x” or “I support x”. The fact is that the interests page only has this instruction: Rule of thumb: You should be able to put the interest in the sentence "I like ________". A "rule of thumb" is a far cry from "making it clear that interests are in the context of 'I like'." If 'Interests' are supposed to be 'Likes', then label them as such.
They go on to say As many profiles are the only public part of a private journal and profiles serve partly as an advertisement for people of like interests, it is important that the content of a profile can be evaluated as if it stands alone. If your profile were to express interest in pedophilia with no other content that describes this interest as in helping survivors or protecting children from it we must read the profile as “I like or I support or I’m in favor of it.” For this reason we suspended profiles that meet this criteria. Excuse me? They have no way of seeing private entries to check into complaints? I don't buy that for a minute and if someone makes a complaint on a page they can't see, then that complaint is baseless, much like their shallow excuses.
Going from their actual Terms of Service page, the only document that actually counts since it's in effectively a contract, the only thing that comes close is in Section XVI, number 13: Promote or provide instructional information about illegal activities, promote physical harm or injury against any governmental entity, group or individual, or promote any act of cruelty to animals. This may include, but is not limited to, providing instructions on how to assemble bombs, grenades, and other weapons or incendiary devices. I'm sorry, even if Interests meant Likes, someone saying they like something like pedophilia is a far cry from promoting it.
Sounds to me like they're trying their damnedest to cover their asses when they have nothing to cover them with. Anyone with a paid subscription should consider filing a class action lawsuit for slander and breach of contract.
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Six Apart, buckling under pressure from some whackjob morality group merely changed the word "terrorists" to "pedophiles" and proceeded with the witch-hunt, and proceeded to play the role of judge, jury, and executioner.
Piss-poor behaviour from people who should know better.
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Corporations...
Re: Corporations...
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Maybe the next swipe will be at those who are against global economics and evangelical war-mongering - that'll be me gone then!
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There's no doubt somebody blew it. Big time. Resignations would be nice, but I doubt we'll see much of that. I'd join a class-action suit, but I'm not about to launch one. Besides which, I'm not even sure any lawyer would take on a class-action suit on these grounds. This particular morality card still carries too much weight in our society.
I don't know who started this or why. To me, it doesn't matter. SixApart's response should have been measured and considered beforehand, and they should have acted with restraint, not abandon. Instead, they were totally foolish. It's disappointing in the extreme, but I'm not sure how we can make that clear to SA and LJ administration. Which I dislike, because I much prefer making my grievances heard. Loudly.
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There needs to be a much better definition of a process. One that allows for evaluation and appeal, and does not permit LJ or SixApart to simply "disappear" people at will without comment or explanation, or hold them incommunicado without due process. The same rights should apply online as in real life. It appears that SixApart went totally apeshit on this thing and wildly suspended journals that contained nothing relevant to the accusations. Furthermore, in restoring some suspended journals, they have made threats against the users, telling them they must remain silent about what happened to them and why, or they will be suspended again. That is so much like the Bush administration that it stinks to high heaven.
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Though how would you interpret what happened on Myspace; or compare it to the Livejournal purge?
http://redtape.msnbc.com/2007/05/myspace_and_sex.html
Without making any value statements about the registry existing in the first place, it looks like they at least did some research first.
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I don't care WHAT the crime is that you want to accuse someone of, they are entitled to due process. That does NOT mean summary execution, in silence, without a presentation of charges, an opportunity to respond, and a proper trial with a chance of appeal.
I happen to have a very common name in real life. There are convicted drug dealers, rapists, and sex offenders with the same name. I have actually been accused of being one of them in the past. I don't think highly of this sort of "guilty until proven innocent, and we aren't going to give you any chance to prove your innocence" attitude.
Pedophilia is still one of the biggest, most hysterical taboos of our culture. People go nuts on it and just can't think rationally when they believe it is involved. A lot of wrong-headed and extremely unjust actions follow, along with a lot of false accusations. It is absolutely essential that such serious charges be treated rationally and with a cool head. SixApart has totally failed the test.
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OK. I can agree with that.
I happen to have a very common name in real life.
I've dealt with that problem myself. I toyed with the idea of changing my name for seven years before doing it. The catalyst was being mistaken for someone else which nearly caused legal problems.
one of the biggest, most hysterical taboos of our culture.
Oh certainly. Someone in my parent's hometown got out of jail in two years for first degree murder (was crazy, but feels much better now). Yet this issue they follow you for life more than anything else.
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Time to get the Guilotine out
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