I am going to assume by sex crime you mean sex crime and not something like a bad joke (as some people like to hyberbole about) or simply having different preferences. Since I remember how one person wanted to ban tea bagging in videogames as a sex crime... But benefit of the doubt.
Well, yes, that seems to be a reasonable assumption... I do not think I referenced any of those examples, but to be clarify; with sex crimes, I mean various form of rape. Someone being involved without wanting to.
But the thing about the internet isn't that it is suddenly creating this but rather it gives people an avenue to express it with people who are more spread out. So instead of maybe one "degenerate" for a small village of 100... You can get all the villages together for 100 to congregate in one location.
The fascination with "degeneracy" is an incredibly old one that you see all the time. Heck, it is biblical!, the sexcapades written right into the bible aren't wrought with descriptions of tawdry filthy events but given pageantry and appeal.
As well another thing that happens is that people do not realize the implications of what they see. Very few trolls, for example, honestly want to hurt the people they harass... Yet the disconnect prevents them from realizing what they are doing in its entirety.
As well the shame you are often referring to tended to take the form of overbearing near puritan levels of control over people's everyday life. Where degeneracy was often just not living the way. It is a system that was far more destructive then any of this facebook. Double bonus is that the shame system DID NOT prevent the sort of degeneracy you are referring to, it made it that much more secret and because of that it often made it MORE prevalent.
For example Japan is a shame society (relatively speaking) and it has HORRIBLE issues with Sex Crime. It does everything you are asking for Silverthrone including harsh penalties, intense shame, and even the public will get right into the bashing of offenders... Yet that never got it to go away.
There is, of course, a matter of too much. Believe it or not, I am not proposing a full transplant of the Japanese honour and shame-culture. Shame as a discouragement is not the only thing that will help, naturally. There is a lot more at work, which the Japanese example illustrates. But I would argue that there is also a case when there is too little shame, when it is not applied where it ought to be. Knowing that those actions will 'stick', that will influence how one is treated and reguarded, is a powerful deterrent, where basic empathy and respect obviously fail in some individuals. knowing that chances are good that those actions will not stick, that it will just be business as usual once the court process is completed, means that deterrent is lost. It is a splendid principle, in itself: once justice has been done, it is done, and the perpetrator is free to resume their life. But for cases of simple cruelty, such as this, I do think that it is far too generous to afford, since it means the loss of a very powerful deterrent and consequence.
I also worry that a lack of shame and consequence will help to normalise sexual abuse further. It will, of course, never go away, and it is fair to suspect that a tightened grip might simply frighten it underground. It will, also, never be entirely accepted, either. Well. It is very unlikely, at least. But, shame is a very important part in establishing what is considered right and what is not. Committing, and endorsing, this sort of crime is wrong, and being shamed for doing either would re-inforce it.
Some of the audience in these scenarios might very well be the sort that do not actually and honestly wish that harm on someone else, but are too disconnected to reflect properly on what they are seeing, doing and saying. That is very true. But I still believe that it being connected to shame would help. That sort of very concrete shame about having done something very wrong, something concrete in a disconnected life, would help cause some reflection.
Naturally, is is not a new thing at all. It is not caused by the internet; it happens because the internet is there. However, it is a problem, and a problem that appears to be growing. Attitudes are changing, disconnection does not help, and neither, I believe, does the lack of concrete consequences. It is not a positive change, and ought to be resisted.
I do agree that I were awfully categorical with my statements. I "wish" for that registry in the same I "wish" for an EU task force to be deployed in the middle east, for instance. That is, not really, when it comes down to it. It's a simple wish, outwardly agreeable to me, until examined closer. It starts to fall apart when taken into question. Luckily, I suppose, neither is very likely.
To provide something... Lighter to the thread; I gave haggis a try, and I think I have found a new favourite. It is lovely. The reason why it is a 'WTF' is that it is not at all as nasty as advertised. It is a fairly restrained and normal dish. It is just a little sack filled with meat, albeit delicious. I thought there would be more bits, chunks and membranes. I have eaten stranger things in my days.
Haggis; heartily recommended. A lot less nasty than described. Dense as a brick, however. Very, very filling.
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Topic: Things that made you go "WTF?" today o_O (Read 14957569 times)