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child pornography

2007-06-22 03:48:28

I don't get it

(Score:5, Interesting)

by TitusC3v5 (608284) on Thursday June 21, @04:06PM (#19599379)

(http://slashdot.org/)

Could someone please indulge me as to why there is such a dire focus on child pornography? It's a horrible crime, certainly, but I've never see the same status associated with other, and in my mind, just as horrible acts such as snuff films, brutal rape, torture, etc. Is this simply another act of 'think of the children' knee-jerking, or is there some reason why this is seen to be counted as worse than torture and murder by a large part of our population?

[ Reply to This ]

Re:I don't get it

(Score:5, Insightful)

by Hatta (162192) on Thursday June 21, @04:43PM (#19599995)

(Last Journal: Monday November 28, @01:21PM)

Could someone please indulge me as to why there is such a dire focus on child pornography?

When people have children something hormonal happens to their brains that makes them lose all perspective when children are involved. Think of how irrational your parents were? I remember one time when my younger brother got a ride home and didn't call. He was less than an hour late, and my dad made me drive around with him looking for my brothers body in ditches at the side of the road.

It's the Helena Lovejoy effect. Saying "think of the children" makes people revert to emotional thinking and makes them easier to manipulate. So it follows that if you're trying to grab power, appealing to the safety of children will make people fall in line.

Personally it works the other way on me. Any proposal put forth "for the children", I automatically assume is bullshit. After all, if it had real merit they wouldn't need to manipulate us into going along with it. If someone involved in neuropsychology is looking for a good thesis, pinpointing exactly what is causing this effect would be wonderful.