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View Full Version : The author of the sXe article brings you another!



Lost Prophet
02-03-2006, 12:49 PM
ive been writing a lot for my school paper, and some of you might remember my article i posted outlining what it was to be sXe.
this is another one im kind of proud of
let me know what you think.

"Silence.

Think about that word for a second. Imagine what it sounds like, what it feels like, when everything is dead still and a single word could break its frailty into thousands of pieces. Now, add a “d” to the end of that word. Silenced. Now it’s dead still, but your voice is chained down so you can’t break the calm. Everyone looks and acts the same. Self expression and free speech is limited to the point of non-existence.

For thousands of years protestors have been silenced in order to maintain a simple, uneventful lifestyle in which everyone has the same opinion and life goes on without problems. However, silencing the voice of the people has never worked. Instead, it has generally helped the oppressed to gain support from those who had previously gone against those protesting.

The most vivid image of the silencing of the voice of the people happened in China. In 1989, approximately 100,000 students and workers gathered at Tienman Square in Beijing. Students protested for a free media reform by going on hunger strikes and using peaceful demonstrations. However, troops and tanks from the 27th and 28th Armies of the People’s Liberation Army were sent in to “reclaim the city,” resulting in an estimate of up to 7,000 civilian deaths.

Now let’s take a look at something a little closer to home. It’s 1968 in Des Moines, Iowa. John Tinker, 15 years old, his sister Mary Beth Tinker, 13 years old, and their friend Christopher Echardt, 16 years old, are all suspended for wearing black armbands in protest of the Vietnam War. School officials said that the armbands could “provoke disturbances in the student body” and were unsafe for use at school.

Ironically, I, too, have been the victim of student censorship. A patch, which I proudly displayed on the back of my jacket, one many of you reading now have seen, was deemed a violation of the Modesto City Schools’ Dress Code, and I was forced to remove it or face suspension. The reason? The patch was a political statement on a simple piece of cloth drawn with a sharpie. It had “Abortion is Murder” written around a picture of a fetus with a gun pointed at its head. School officials said that the gun in the image “disrupted class activities and promoted violence.” The patch was intended to demote violence and was designed to show the evils of murder, not to glorify it.

The students suspended in Iowa took their case to court, and fought all the way to the Supreme Court. In their case, Tinker v. Des Moines, the Supreme Court declared that the actions of the Des Moines School District were unconstitutional and a violation of the students 1st amendment rights. Unfortunately for me, however, I don’t have the means to take this to court but instead must protest the censorship of students, and censorship in general, to an even greater degree.

I may not make a difference, but in all seriousness I may be suspended, or even expelled, for making my voice heard. If that is what it takes then I no longer live in the country I grew up in, where free speech was a right given to the young and the old alike. Censorship will always hang over us, and the majority of our youth will simply accept it, but in the process we will lose ourselves forever.

Now, c’mon, what’s up with that?"

xRodboi!x
02-03-2006, 02:22 PM
i find it good,but ask the wise straight-ed lol,he's the master of knowledge!

pittstonjoma
02-03-2006, 06:43 PM
Cool article. I myself am extremely anti-censorship.

straightXed
02-04-2006, 10:58 AM
Cool article. I myself am extremely anti-censorship.

If you had kids would you censor what they were exposed too?

straightXed
02-04-2006, 11:22 AM
Ironically, I, too, have been the victim of student censorship. A patch, which I proudly displayed on the back of my jacket, one many of you reading now have seen, was deemed a violation of the Modesto City Schools’ Dress Code, and I was forced to remove it or face suspension. The reason? The patch was a political statement on a simple piece of cloth drawn with a sharpie. It had “Abortion is Murder” written around a picture of a fetus with a gun pointed at its head. School officials said that the gun in the image “disrupted class activities and promoted violence.” The patch was intended to demote violence and was designed to show the evils of murder, not to glorify it.

The students suspended in Iowa took their case to court, and fought all the way to the Supreme Court. In their case, Tinker v. Des Moines, the Supreme Court declared that the actions of the Des Moines School District were unconstitutional and a violation of the students 1st amendment rights. Unfortunately for me, however, I don’t have the means to take this to court but instead must protest the censorship of students, and censorship in general, to an even greater degree.

I may not make a difference, but in all seriousness I may be suspended, or even expelled, for making my voice heard. If that is what it takes then I no longer live in the country I grew up in, where free speech was a right given to the young and the old alike. Censorship will always hang over us, and the majority of our youth will simply accept it, but in the process we will lose ourselves forever.

Now, c’mon, what’s up with that?"

Well perhaps you should talk to your school about anyways you could get your message across, perhaps a debate on abortion, this way you get to put forward your ideas and so do opposing people. Saying abortion is murder isn't actually true its just an opinion you hold, to get others to understand why you hold that opinion would do a lot more than just giving people a slogan to throw around.

The main problem i see with your action is it does violate a dress code to which you should adhere to, those are the rules of the school and you should accept them. Your views on abortion are not carried by all, some my find what you have put very distressing especially if they have undergone an abortion and so along with not following dress code it does also present a message that can be distressing and not one that the school wishes to have associated with it, remember you are part of that school and do actually represent it. Would it be ok for a church to ask you to remove a patch supporting satan? Of course, thats not unreasonable as it goes against what the church supports, your school is understandably against any messages that have imagary of guns and slogans of murder. Thats a good thing to be honest, and as abortion isn't legally murder it could easliy promote violence between opposing partys that feel differently, it could esculate toward something a lot more negative.

You really should ask your teachers what you could do to raise awareness of your opinion within the schools protocol. You can get your message accross you just need to go the right way about it, and you may make a much larger impact than a patch would do. Remember you aren't being censored so much rather than you are being kept in accordance with an orderly way of conducting your opinions.

pittstonjoma
02-04-2006, 12:52 PM
If you had kids would you censor what they were exposed too?

Hell no.

xsecx
02-04-2006, 01:02 PM
Hell no.

high 5 for kids watching porn and faces of death at the age of 8!

straightXed
02-04-2006, 01:08 PM
Hell no.

Please, don't have kids.

pittstonjoma
02-04-2006, 02:22 PM
Well they wouldn't be seeing porn.. because I don't like that and wouldn't have it in the house.

There's nothing wrong with kids seeing the truth for what it is instead of it being hidden from them.

straightXed
02-04-2006, 02:54 PM
Well they wouldn't be seeing porn.. because I don't like that and wouldn't have it in the house.

There's nothing wrong with kids seeing the truth for what it is instead of it being hidden from them.

A computer gives access to porn and there plenty of other things that are a lot worse than porn. Just because you don't like porn why wouldn't you give your kids access to see it, i mean i hope you aren't suggesting you censor what your kids would get to see in accordance with what you want to see.

pittstonjoma
02-04-2006, 03:02 PM
There are also things called passwords to the computer.. I don't want anyone viewing it in my house. That includes adults. I think it's more a matter of preference and respect than censoring anything. I don't think there is much worse than something that causes people to be viewed as nothing more than penises, boobs, and vaginas rather than as people.

Everything else is fine as far as I'm concerned.

straightXed
02-04-2006, 03:17 PM
There are also things called passwords to the computer.. I don't want anyone viewing it in my house. That includes adults. I think it's more a matter of preference and respect than censoring anything. I don't think there is much worse than something that causes people to be viewed as nothing more than penises, boobs, and vaginas rather than as people.

Everything else is fine as far as I'm concerned.

But by using passwords you are censoring what the kids see, thats the point.

I guess you are happy with your kids seeing imagry of torture and humiliation even though that will objectify people also just as porn does, only instead of the end result being a paycheck its death. If your reasons for not wanting them to see porn was due to the objectification then that should pass through into other things also. But of course to you, you aren't even censoring it because censoring is an evil word to you and you don't want to admit its necessity.

I mean if it is about preference and respect, who's preference and who's respect and why is it only applicable to porn?

pittstonjoma
02-04-2006, 03:29 PM
How is setting a password on a computer I own censorship?

I don't understand? Give me an example.

When they're of age, they could go and look at their own porn as much as they damn well pleased. I just don't want them doing it in my house.

It's my preference and they're respecting me.

Violence and bloodshed is something that happens every day.. and a vast percentage of violence and bloodshed in video games and television is fictional.. There's nothing wrong with something that isn't even real..

Words are just words. There are no "bad words".

Censorship is not at all necessary.

straightXed
02-04-2006, 03:52 PM
How is setting a password on a computer I own censorship?

I don't understand? Give me an example.

When they're of age, they could go and look at their own porn as much as they damn well pleased. I just don't want them doing it in my house.

It's my preference and they're respecting me.

Violence and bloodshed is something that happens every day.. and a vast percentage of violence and bloodshed in video games and television is fictional.. There's nothing wrong with something that isn't even real..

Words are just words. There are no "bad words".

Censorship is not at all necessary.

You implied you were setting the password to stop kids from seeing porn on said computer, that is censoring what the kids could be exposed to.

So you don't think its healthy that adolescents view porn and wouldn't allow it in your house?

By enforcing your preferences you are censoring theirs.

Sex is also something that happens everyday, you are happy with glorification of violence for entertainment purposes but not sex, wheres the consistancy in that? And just because people aren't dying the message is very real and very easily misconstrued by younger audiences, hence having age restrictions on movies, video games and television.

If censorship is not necessary then you are clueless and not in a position to bring children up, because whilst i understand children should understand whats going on i also understand how strong an impact certain media can have on a younger mind. And besides you are censoring your kids from seeing porn anyway so your whole argument is inconsistant.

pittstonjoma
02-04-2006, 04:04 PM
I never viewed porn. No interest in it. Then again, only guys have the "need" to look at it.

There's nothing wrong with sex.. but porn is more than just sex.. it's exploitation and smut.

If I pay the bills, buy the merchandise, and am the mother I have a right to do what I would like in my house.

I would set a password on my computer to stop people from doing things I wouldn't want them doing on my computer, but it's my computer!

I'm not clueless. I just think that people should see the truth instead of being ignorant sheep like 98% of society! So by doing my part in preventing the problems we all have, I suppose this makes me "clueless".

straightXed
02-04-2006, 04:22 PM
I never viewed porn. No interest in it. Then again, only guys have the "need" to look at it.

There's nothing wrong with sex.. but porn is more than just sex.. it's exploitation and smut.

Thats great, and the way violence is portrayed in video games and movies is more than the every day reality, is glorificated and hyped, seperated from the real consequences and can be dangerous for impressionable young minds in certain cases.


If I pay the bills, buy the merchandise, and am the mother I have a right to do what I would like in my house.

I would set a password on my computer to stop people from doing things I wouldn't want them doing on my computer, but it's my computer!

I never said you couldn't do what you wanted or that you shouldn't, just pointed out that it was in fact an act of censorship, if you weren't so obviously hung up on that being a bad thing you would see that certain censorship can be good.


I'm not clueless. I just think that people should see the truth instead of being ignorant sheep like 98% of society! So by doing my part in preventing the problems we all have, I suppose this makes me "clueless".

Well the truth is porn is a huge industry and does go on, and the truth is you won't let in ever be seen by people in your house - so the truth is you are stopping your children from seeing something that is very real and true. This isn't a bad thing, as you could spend your time educating them on why porn is bad and explain your stance on it. What makes you clueless is none of that but the fact that you don't see that what you are in fact doing is censoring what the kids see in order to give them a better grasp on what is going on and allow them to learn and be better children. Once you are able to accept that in todays world censorship is an important part of bringing up decent kids then you may also be open to the ideas of age restrictions of certain violent media and be aware that certain real life imagary is rather to horrific for a young impressionable mind. If you are able to transcend from the rather myopic view that censorship is evil you wouldn't be clueless.

Lost Prophet
02-04-2006, 05:02 PM
wow
gone from censorship to views on porn
lol, makes me giggle


I never viewed porn. No interest in it. Then again, only guys have the "need" to look at it.

guys arent the only ones who have a need to look at porn
i know many girls who are flat out addicted to porn

stepinsideissue
02-05-2006, 01:08 AM
How is setting a password on a computer I own censorship?

I don't understand? Give me an example.

When they're of age, they could go and look at their own porn as much as they damn well pleased. I just don't want them doing it in my house.

It's my preference and they're respecting me.

Violence and bloodshed is something that happens every day.. and a vast percentage of violence and bloodshed in video games and television is fictional.. There's nothing wrong with something that isn't even real..

Words are just words. There are no "bad words".

Censorship is not at all necessary.


No bad words... so it's okay if your 4 or 6 year old child would come up to you and call you a cunt or maybe your mother or a teacher.

Lost Prophet
02-06-2006, 12:51 PM
i think pittsonjoma should just give up...
theyre points are way more valid than yours

stepinsideissue
02-07-2006, 11:39 PM
i think pittsonjoma should just give up...
theyre points are way more valid than yours


Thats how we roll.

straightXed
02-08-2006, 10:14 AM
i think pittsonjoma should just give up...
theyre points are way more valid than yours

The points were fine, they weren't invalid as such (what is valid in the upbringing of kids) they were more inconsistant than anything, it became very obvious this person wasn't ready to bring up kids. The ideas just needed thinking through a little, giving up wouldn't achieve this. Its good to put your opinions out there and allow them to be challenged, it allows you to learn and see different perspectives on them, it should make you continually think about why you think what you think.

Lost Prophet
02-08-2006, 12:52 PM
The points were fine, they weren't invalid as such (what is valid in the upbringing of kids) they were more inconsistant than anything, it became very obvious this person wasn't ready to bring up kids. The ideas just needed thinking through a little, giving up wouldn't achieve this. Its good to put your opinions out there and allow them to be challenged, it allows you to learn and see different perspectives on them, it should make you continually think about why you think what you think.
good point
i like that