trinko wrote:i do watch what my kids view. however i shouldn't have to have the full burden. i mean when we go shopping or drop in to a Camera store i don't have to be constantly on the look out for nude people wandering around.
When you go shopping you have the weight of US society to back you up and that society loathes nudity in any form unless they can hide it (for the most part). The internet is an international place and not bound by the social constrants of the US. It is a place to be exposed to different cultures and learn how others view the world, expending who and what we are. Of course, in our typical fashion, we Americans think it should conform to how we see the world.
And for the record, when it comes to the internet, you do bare the full burden of what your kids see and where they go. That is why current home interent connection equipment comes with easy to use firewalls that can block access to certain IP addresses, full domains or little individual sites. That is why many providers provide parental controls in their access software. That is why Microsoft made the security settings in IE individual to the user account and not by whole machine. Everywhere around you there are controls that will allow you to practice life the way you think it should be and raise your kids in as big or small a world as you wish without inconveniencing your fellow man.
Nor do I want that burden. I have my hands full now. I do not want have to try to determine if the photo of a women breast feeding her new born is inside or outside what you consider appropriate. Or the shots of the paintball match I did over the weekend are too violent for some. Or if the shot of my dinner with a glass of wine offends others. Do you see where I am going with this? You are asking the world to figure out what you want and do not want you kids to see and to regulate it. This is not fair to the world as we can never get it right for you.
And yes, I have read your extreme examples of photos involving death and violent crimes. Please, those would be outside the limits of any society, not just ours in the US. Going to the far extreme where the examples are not acceptable to any but the tiniest percentage of even the most devient of any society is not really a supporting arguement and does not lend any strength to your case.
trinko wrote:France has banned toplessness--is that a word--and string bikini's on the beaches in Paris. See
http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?from=rss_A%20Step%20Beyond&set_id=1&click_id=&art_id=iol1154336210588S513
So i guess it's not just us backward Americans.
And yes the article does point out that such attire, or the lack there of, is still fine at most French beaches. It does seem though that even the French, the worlds only truly civilized people believe there are reasons to limit nudity.
This proves nothing in reality. I have not noticed anyone in this thread pointing to the French as an example of anything. More to the point, I have not seen any French on Pbase calling for the removal of nudes from the popular galleries. Again, I only see Americans doing this and to date you have yet to address my question about why this is. I am left to conclude that you do not wish to answer the question.
For the record, a significant number of states in the US (I forget the actual number but it is somewhere just above or below half and includes CA, TX and NY) have what is refered to as topless equality laws on the books. These laws allow for women to go toples anywhere a man can legally go topless. Now, I will grant you that I have not seen it and I do live in one of those states but the point remains that is is legal many places. Women chose not to take advantage of it but that is all that is stopping them.
No one here is opposed to limiting nudity either. I have not seen a single post supporting total repeal of restrictions on all public nudity yet you continue to make statements which indicate that you think that is what those of us who disagree with you are after. Let me assure you that it is not. I do not, for example, what someone to walk into church on Sunday morning and sit down next to me naked. Nor do I wish to sit next a naked person on the airplane on my next business trip or sit at the next table in the resturant for dinner tonight. However, I do resent art being shoved off in a back corner because it contains a bare breast or too much thigh. Frankly, I think those sorts of thoughts are what has made the porn industry so big in America. I can't help but think that if we were more accepting and open with nudity as a sociaty that we might not spend so much time and money facinated with real porn.