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Friday, May 15, 2009
David Harsanyi :: Townhall.com Columnist
Hookers Over Censors
by David Harsanyi
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Nevertheless, attempts to control Internet speech (in the end, impossible) are picking up pace.

Take, for instance, the 2006 tragic suicide of Megan Meier, who killed herself after being harassed on MySpace. It has led to a frightening attempt to crack down on speech. The Megan Meier Cyberbullying Prevention Act was introduced in the House of Representatives last month by Rep. Linda Sanchez, D-Calif.

Exploiting the suicide of a young girl, this proposed law would punish anyone who "transmits … communication, with the intent to coerce, intimidate, harass, or cause substantial emotional distress to a person, using … email, instant messaging, blogs, websites, telephones, (or) text messages … to support severe, repeated, and hostile behavior."

Imagine the wide-ranging latitude law enforcement would have in applying a law that allows them to judge "intent" and discern what is "hostile" language online.

How many e-mails, comment sections and blogs would fall under this category? How easy would it be to use this law to threaten political opponents or stifle debate?

Now, however serious the problems of "cyberbullying" or prostitution happen to be -- and I believe they are wildly exaggerated -- it's attacks on free expression that should cause us emotional distress.

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Reply # 1
Date: May 16, 2009 - 1:04 PM EST
It's too late
We've been on the path of eroding Constitutional liberties for at least 100 years.

Over time, enough educators, intellectuals and journalists have accepted the worldview that the state should rule over the individual, so as to convice or educate enough people to accept that view as well.

This is a gradual process, almost geologic in its speed, but as surely as the silt settles to the bottom of the sea, so do these processes work.

And like a geologic process, there is inertia built up in the government, until it cannot be moved from its course without some cataclysm. Like a glacier, it moves inexorably on to its destination.

We're not going to be able to vote our way back to some ideal society based on a strict, literal interpreation of our Consititution. Rather, we're slouching along to the kind of society Anthony Burgess postulated in "A Clockwork Orange".
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Reply # 2
Date: May 16, 2009 - 12:55 PM EST
Sex Workers, Sex Managers and Tuition
Hey David-

Since you favor legalized prostitution, I was wondering how you feel about legalized pimping?
Since a prostitute's peak earning years co-incide with the standard college years, wouldn't it make more sense if mom and dad sat their high school seniors down, way down, and discussed the pros and cons of going off to college (and going into debt) or going off to the whorehouse (just for a few years, you know, to save enough for tuition and a drug problem)?

No coercion, of course. Just consenting adults,
and almost adults, discussing what makes the most sense when you leave your soul out of the mix.
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