"parents who would tell their children not to read playboy 'don't really care about their kids growing up and learning to think and explore.'"
9/18/95 citizen , quoting judith krug ,
ala director of oif .
link/legal notice .

effects of ala policy: list of crimes and filters in libraries and schools ; please help an 8 year old library crime victim .

apa online - click for sexualization report
another effect is the sexualization of children . see: report of the apa task force on the sexualization of girls






speech

"how the internet endangers children and what to do about it"

here is a five to seven minute speech given during a toastmasters international "international speech contest" following specific rules . it was the "target speech" for the evaluation contest. toastmasters international is not responsible for the specific content of this speech. handouts will be distributed where appropriate. note that up to 50 of such handouts can be had for free by calling 1-800-the-lost. [[first draft, second version - not for publication]]

patrick henry, in his give me liberty or give me death speech 231 years ago this week, said, " for my part, whatever anguish of spirit it may cost, i am willing to know the whole truth, to know the worst, and to provide for it ." tonight, despite the pain it may bring us, we will learn the whole truth about children and the dangers of the internet, the worst of this truth, and what can be done to stem the damage.

mr. contest chair, fellow toastmasters, honored guests.

the internet as we all know is a wonderful resource for recreation and learning. but it has a dark side. it enables criminals and others to lead your children into great danger, sometimes even death. hiding our eyes from the problem does not make it go away. we must learn about the dangers, then act to protect our children.

  • who's heard of a web site called "myspace.com."? it's a web site that allows anyone to post online anything at all. great, right? well children are posting personally identifiable information online. a little snippet here, a little clue there, and suddenly your daughter is brutally attacked and left for dead. sadly, this happens too frequently.
  • im is another danger. what's that? that's instant messaging. you get to send a message to another person instantly. children are very naive and very trusting. they think they are indestructible. children have disappeared forever, without a trace, when pedophiles they thought were other teenagers instant messaged them to meet them at a certain place. suddenly, your child is gone without a trace. does you kid have dozens and dozens of screen names in his buddy list? guess what. about 10% of them are pedophiles that he thinks are sexy babes dying to meet him. oh yeah, know what lmirl means? that means "let's meet in real life." lovely.
  • bullying. remember that? bullying nowadays it's worse. now the bully uses the internet to harass your children. your children could get harassed hundreds of times a day. worse, the bully sends the message to your kid's cell phone, you get the huge bill for thousands of dollars, then you yell at your kid for running up a bill. the bully now has you literally doing the dirty work. think this is not a problem? just yesterday the new jersey state senate unanimously passed a bill to stem the tide of so-called, "cyber-bullying ."
  • chat rooms. have you heard of those? that's where you sit behind a computer for hours writing messages back and forth with people you don't even know. you can even do this now while playing online, multiplayer games! you know what happens? you start saying things you shouldn't. you start believing things you shouldn't. confidences are gained, pornographic pictures are exchanged, then suddenly its lmirl. there's goes another statistic.
  • public libraries. do you think public libraries are safe? who here thinks public libraries are safe environments for their children? let's see, raise your hands. if your public library is effectively controlled by the american library association, your children are in danger of being raped or molested even if you turn your back on them for a single second. why? pedophiles are attracted to the unfiltered internet access that allows them to drool all they want at taxpayer expense. sometimes those people act out and your child happens to be in the right place at the right time, so far as they are concerned.

    why are libraries unfiltered? didn't some law get passed requiring libraries to use filters? well, yes, and the us supreme court found that law to be constitutional, but the american library association still advises libraries not to use filtering unless they must. they are essentially defying the law and the court and, since they have de facto control over so many libraries nationwide, both public and public school, our children are in serious danger and it may be the direct result of the american library association's refusal to accede to community standards or the law.

as debra burlingame said, she's the wife of the downed pennsylvania 9-11 pilot, "i think people, when they get the right information, do the right thing." [11 mar 2006, wabc am] we all need to recognize the dangers of the internet and do our part to protect children. here's what you can do, and i have handouts to remind you.

  • get your child off myspace, severely restrict cell phone usage, prevent im usage, get blocking software for your computer, get software to spy on your kid's computer usage, and for pete's sake get the computer out of the child's room. at a minimum, if your kid is doing any of these things, you have to do it to so you learn what's what.
  • hear sad, personal stories at
  • learn about internet use by kids so they cannot outsmart you at wiredsafety.org .
  • discuss safe internet usage with your children at netsmartz.org .
  • read these handouts:
  • read media accounts of internet-related crimes in public libraries and public schools at plan2succeed.org .
  • learn how the american library association pushes porn on children at safelibraries.org .
  • public schools should have yearly, effective internet usage agreements where rules and consequences are clearly spelled out and, just as important, the school itself has the authority to act appropriately upon violation of those rules.
  • lastly, get active in your local communities to protect children. for example, expose the ala's influence over your public facilities, then get directly involved in taking action to remove the ala's influence -- but be ready to be persistent -- the ala has been at this for decades and has routinized its response to so-called "censors" like you!

as patrick henry said all those years ago, " we are apt to shut our eyes against a painful truth, and listen to the song of that siren till she transforms us into beasts. is this the part of wise men, engaged in a great and arduous struggle for liberty ?" are we wise to close our eyes to how the internet, pedophiles, and the american library association endangers our children? as patrick henry might say, we learned the whole truth about the dangers of the internet, the worst of this truth, and what can be done to stem the damage. now each of us, all of us, let's get out there and do something about it.

mr. contest chair.

[ this speech in its original form drew complaints that the graphics and content intended for twelve year olds was too jarring. so the above is the next major revision. kind of proves a point, huh?]

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