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Topic: RE: virus: The internet's a dangerous place (Read 3652 times) |
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Blunderov
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"We think in generalities, we live in details"
  
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RE: virus: The internet's a dangerous place
« on: 2003-09-26 04:46:51 » |
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(Cross post from chess discussion group.)
It seems to me that there is almost what could be termed an hysteria
abroad in the world about childhood. Perhaps this means no more than a
primary concern with child-rearing in our species, but I find it hard
not to wonder whether some of the intensity which is brought to the
debate is not a more general sexual repression traveling incognito.
Also to be wondered is why the age at which a human is considered to be
a child varies so widely according to both circumstance and culture.
(The famous example is of course that in some places is legal, even
compulsory, for a child to kill at a certain age but not to vote or
purchase alcohol.)
The thought strikes me that the whole subject of childhood is probably a
giant petri-dish for toxic memes offering as it does a ready-made, but
deeply emotionally appealing, glittering prize. I think oft recurring
theme of intervention in parent/child relationships in recent TV shows
is indicative here.
Just to clarify: I am not arguing to allow child pornography - I am just
wondering at the apparent imbalance of both attention and intensity
which seems to attend the topic.
What follows is, IMO, a good example of this new Zealotry.
<q>
Louisiana News
Jury finds Maryland chess star innocent in Internet sex case
The Associated Press
9/25/2003, 7:26 p.m. CT
MOBILE, Ala. (AP) ? A federal court jury found a 32-year-old Maryland
chess star innocent Thursday of using an online relationship to cross
state lines in hopes of a sexual encounter with a 15-year-old Alabama
girl.
Alex Sherzer had claimed he was entrapped by investigators who assumed
the girl's online persona after her mother told them about her
daughter's e-mail exchange with him.
"Now I get on with my life," Sherzer told the Mobile Register afterward.
"I'm just so happy this nightmare is over."
Sherzer reportedly had moved to Louisiana for a new job at LSU Medical
Center, Shreveport, but hospital spokeswoman Elaine King said Wednesday
he was never hired.
He was arrested May 9 outside a Mobile juvenile detention center, where
he was expecting to pick up the girl, referred to in court as Jane Doe.
Sherzer testified he sensed the meeting could be a setup, but went ahead
with it anyway.
Authorities said they found he had rented a nearby hotel room with a hot
tub and had bought alcohol, condoms and sex toys. Sherzer, who was
trained overseas as a physician and was attending a Maryland college
where he was a star on the chess team, said the arrest cost him a
medical residency in Shreveport, La., and could have jeopardized his
entire career.
His lawyer, federal defender Carlos Williams, contended that Sherzer
never would have attempted such a meeting if he had not been encouraged
by Alabama Bureau of Investigation agent Stan Stabler, who was posing as
the girl online.
Sherzer said he began e-mailing the girl in December after seeing her
self-posted Internet profile. But after four months of friendly
messages, he testified, he started receiving questions such as "What do
you want to do with me?"
U.S. Attorney David York said Stabler had posed such questions to
clarify Sherzer's intentions.
But jurors speaking to Sherzer after the verdict was read said they
believed Sherzer's relationship with the girl would not have taken on
sexual overtones had Stabler not intervened.
"You admitted you were wrong. We all knew you were wrong," forewoman
Jessica Jones told him. "The question was were you tricked, were you
induced? And that's it ? you were tricked."
Neither side called the girl, now 16, to testify.
"You always wonder if a potential jury will view this as a victimless
crime if the defendant does not actually physically come in contact with
the juvenile," York told the Register.
Asked whether he considered Sherzer a danger to other juveniles, York
responded, "The Internet's a dangerous place. ... Hopefully he's learned
his lesson."
Copyright 2003 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material
may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
http://www.nola.com/newsflash/louisiana/index.ssf?/base/news-4/106453645
4278470.xml
</q>
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Mermaid
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Bite me!
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RE: virus: The internet's a dangerous place
« Reply #1 on: 2003-09-26 11:03:05 » |
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[snipped article]Authorities said they found he had rented a nearby hotel room with a hot tub and had bought alcohol, condoms and sex toys. Sherzer, who was trained overseas as a physician and was attending a Maryland college where he was a star on the chess team, said the arrest cost him a medical residency in Shreveport, La., and could have jeopardized his
entire career.
[Mermaid]While its arguable whether a 16 year old is a child, this individual definitely acted against his better judgement. Or rather, what should have been his better judgement. It is *always* the adult's responsibility when it comes to dealing with a child. The internet is not the place to determine the level of maturity of an individual. Why! There are adults who act like a juvenile online and you'd never know!
[snipped article]His lawyer, federal defender Carlos Williams, contended that Sherzer never would have attempted such a meeting if he had not been encouraged by Alabama Bureau of Investigation agent Stan Stabler, who was posing as the girl online.
[Mermaid]Huh?..lets see if a corporate executive is 'persuaded' to let a child he met online run his corporation. I am sure everyone thinks that their offsprings are a direct competition to Einstein's genius, but you think they will allow their children to take that shiny new Porsche out for a spin by themselves on their first day on the roads without prior training. Or...have you heard of that pilot who let the bouncing child on his lap steer the plane.
Right..I didnt think so..
[Blunderov]Just to clarify: I am not arguing to allow child pornography - I am just wondering at the apparent imbalance of both attention and intensity which seems to attend the topic.
[Mermaid]I dont call this child pornography. I call it old, sweaty, fat farts trying to score easily. I call it greedy exploitation of adolescents who, in all probability, still may be children.
[Mermaid]Just as it is unfair to call a 16 y/o a child while it is possible that 16 year olds might as well be well equiped physically and emotionally to come across as an 'adult', it is also unfair to assume that this individual has had more than his fair share of attention and intensity. As far as the attention and intensity to the topic, I think its well deserved to deter other perverts to take advantage of children behind the screen. Lets face it. Most children are not as smart as we would like them to be...with the right environment, they might even turn out to be *gasp* well adjusted, intelligent young adults...it is our duty and obligation to provide it to them...most kids outgrow teenage stupidity...maybe its the hormones..even if it means that we have to hog tie the kids and take away the offending adults kicking and screaming, clear instruction about responsibility, accountability and punishment needs to get out there...
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Kalkor
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Kneading the swollen donkey...
 
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RE: virus: The internet's a dangerous place
« Reply #2 on: 2003-09-26 11:56:27 » |
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[Mermaid]I dont call this child pornography. I call it old, sweaty, fat
farts trying to score easily. I call it greedy exploitation of adolescents
who, in all probability, still may be children.
[Kalkor]
Who DOESN'T want to score easily? I thought I'd do a little imagination
/empathy exercise and put myself in this guy's shoes for a moment.
Alright... I'm a college chess team champion. Which means I'm probably not
very popular, and have a difficult time establishing contextually meaningful
social relationships in the environment in which I live (uh, college, duh).
This could be due to many reasons, such as my inability to grasp social
procedure, or my realization that every eligible mate around me is just
plain stupid. Hell, I can plan 5 moves ahead with little effort, and they
can't even plan 3 intersections ahead to use the back roads to get from the
campus to the mall in rush hour. There's gotta be more intellectually
stimulating female companionship elsewhere. That's it, the internet!
Look up a few profiles, wow these ladies are all kinda secretive... no
pictures, no ages... oh well, if what I'm really looking for is an
intellectually stimulating female, who cares what she looks like, or how old
she is? As long as she's past the age of consent, momma would be proud of
me.
So relationships get established in a "dangerous" text-based or gui-based
online single- or multi-user chat system... and there's one really witty,
smart girl that I find appealing, and apparently she finds me appealing to,
if only for the afforementioned intellectual stimulation. Well, that's more
than I had before dodging vacuuous sorority girls.
(insert, without his knowledge, mother calling the feds... witty smart girl
is replaced by balding perverted federal agent who likes to pose as barely
nubile females online)
Somehow, she must have realized something, because now her conversational
skills seem a bit different. Instead of the stimulating banter of before, I
get the professions of love and the scheming to meet. I've asked her age,
and she says she's of consenting age, but we all know EVERY woman lies about
how old she is. The personality change, while not TOO drastic, could be
explained by the discovery of her own love-emotions. She may be telling the
truth, but she may be leading me on. It's been known to happen before, hell
my high school and college experience tells me that's how women operate
typically.
But hell yeah! Of course I'm gonna agree to meet her. What other chance have
I got to pick up some nookie? Granted, my attraction to her started as
intellectual stimulation, but when she started cyber-nibbling my ear and
moved to my nutsack, what am I to do? Resist a blatant come-on? Still, as
always with matters of the heart, I need to be cautious.
HAH! You don't know how cautious! That little 15 year old, pretending to be
a 19 year old, longing for a father-figure older male sexual companion is
QUICKLY and EASILY replaced by an authoritarian predator, bent on entrapping
you by creating a situation you'll respond to, regardless of if it existed
previously.
But, then my sweaty, old, fat perverted self gets busted trying to meet this
girl. Suprise, of course this is a classic case of greedy exploitation of
children.
Kalkor
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