Tuesday, March 20, 2007

Filtering out the "bad"

Having been asked to investigate internet filtering software for a medium sized business, I have noted one feature of all internet filtering software websites.

They all contain pictures of children using computers.

If this is not a blatant attempt at blackmailing parents of a generation of children who dont know otherwise, I dont know what is. Why cant the parents take a little more pro-active control themselves, instead of relying on software to curtail their childrens activities? Remove computers from private spaces (bedrooms), and expose them a little more. Restrict hours via a simple push of the "OFF" button.

And what if one of these undesirable sites is allowed to be displayed because it doesnt contain any keyword that the filter will pick up? God forbid, that as a parent you may be forced to explain the difference between wrong and right, natural and unnatural, science and religion...

The push for advertising and the using of children as a metaphor for the new living standards, "your children can have what you never had as a kid!" is quite frankly disturbing. Look at the kind of society that has evolved now that people can "have what they want" at almost any time, and think what it might turn into if another generation is taught the same thing.

There is little or no sacrifice for material gain any more. I myself am guilty of this on occasion. Though I have resisted the urge to go so far into debt that my children will be paying for my life when I am gone, unlike a great many people in my area of Australia.

Only through the values of work, sacrifice, and the earning of material possessions can children be taught the future.

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