Dutch prosecutors: Second Life is "a school for pedophiles" |
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At the moment, the Dutch prosecutor's office as well as four political parties in the Netherlands, are all up in arms against virtual pedophilia. Specifically, they are requesting to ban virtual sex with virtual minors within the realm of the MMORPG, Second Life. In fact, Jos Buschman of the Van Mesdag clinic in Groningen, has even gone as far as to say that the game is "by definition a school for pedophiles".As a bit of a background before we move on, one has to be aware that since 2002, Dutch legislators have made virtual child pornography, or "Kinderporno", a criminal offense. Violators of this law may face a penalty of up to four years in prison or more, if they are proven guilty. The scope of this law includes "simulated" child pornography, and by "simulated", this could be anything from a convincing image of a child which was purely rendered digitally (no actual underaged model was used in the process, or it was not based on an actual child), to images or media which feature adults who perform or participate in lewd or sexual acts, while disguised as children.
While many have argued that these do not inflict actual harm on children and that it may even infringe on one's freedom of expression (as it is considered in the U.S.), the propagators of this law have argued back that such material, though it may be only simulated, may "encourage child molesters and, when shown to a child, may give the child the impression that the depicted acts are normal". (Quote, as taken from Wikipedia's entry on the subject.)
So, with that in mind, the Dutch government now wants a crackdown on child avatars in Second Life, who offer virtual sex services to other players for a fee. Faced with this issue, Linden Lab vice president of community development Robin Harper has noted that "if Second Life has evidence of child pornography or abuse that involves children in the real world, it will act to protect the child and notify the authorities". But what happens when all you've got are a bunch of adults who happen to have sexual preferences which they only act out online? Many have recently pointed out that in the game, all there is to find would be adults who happen to role-play as children, and many state that there can ONLY be adults within the game as you have to be of legal age to join the game in the first place.
At this time, many members of online communities are divided on whether or not this move is beneficial to everyone in the long run. One side states that possible child molesters should not be encouraged by the activities that they encounter online, while the other half believes that trying to prosecute people for their ideas which they explore via non-harmful means, instead of prosecuting them for what they actually carry out in real life, is unfair.
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Comments [refresh]
It is an interesting social maneuver that the hysteria over child sexuality, having totally colonized the off-line word, is now looking to online role playing games to expand its doctrine and economic empire.
As per the above posted picture of the book “Lolita,” pedophilia has existed in “virtual” worlds since, well, forever, but sourcing back as early as the pre-Socratics and ancient Pashtun love poetry in which a prepubescent boy WAS the ideal sexual eroticism; indeed, as in “Lolita,” pedophilia is often the path of philosophical and spiritual awakening. “Phaedrus” by Plato, one of the world’s greatest works of spiritual transcendence, explicitly states the beauty and pedagogical significance of men mentoring and making love with boys.
A cultural critic must ask, is the current trend towards obliterating pedophilia from the face of the earth the new inquisition? Compared to other historical instances of ethnic and social cleansing, the violence towards pedophiles (even concepts of pedophilia) fit the bill like a newly minted puzzle piece.