[plug] What do you school-age members think of SlashDot'sHellMouth articles?

[Rob Potter]

I've been reading all you messages about guns/kids/Doom etc and thought it
was about time I stuck my oar in.

Yes, guns don't kill - people do, but a sick person with a gun kills a lot
more people than someone without.  There is no denying that and that is why
there are so many more of these dreadful occurrences in the US and
countries where getting a gun is relatively easy.  I'm sure there are just
as many loonies (per head of population) in the UK, but getting hold of a
semi-automatic is much harder there.

That said, you also have to be realistic and say that banning guns in the
US (as has been tried in Australia with a somewhat limited effect) is
probably not a political option and so since we all agree the 'someone
should do something' the 'someones' will go for another target.

It is also true that playing Doom/Quake etc. doesn't turn people into mass
murderers (or there would be a lot of mass murdering PLUGgers out there!).
But to think that children aren't getting desensitised to killing and death
in our society, through many more things than just playing Doom it must be
said, is also a bit naive.  That computer games and the Internet thus
become a target for the 'someones' (usually older middle-aged men with more
than their fair share of technophobia) is hardly surprising.

Now, where does that leave us - essentially responsible members of society
with more than passing interest in seeing freedom of expression remain a
guiding tenet of the internet?  I don't really know, but I'm certainly
going to fight against censorship whenever I see an opportunity along with
a personal push for some human responsibilities to be included along with
those human rights we all seem to fighting for.

The first response of our society to all disasters is 'someone should do
something' as though there is always a way to prevent the disaster
happening if only someone else would take responsibility.  How about we
start taking responsibility ourselves?  Again, I don't really know what I
mean by this, but take a look at how we behave here on PLUG.

Newsgroups like PLUG are great, we can pretty much say what we like and
plenty of time there is good robust discussion (aka flame wars), probably a
lot more robust than we would say in person face to face.  This is going to
be a pretty contentious point I expect, but by having a rant and a rave
electronically are we more or less likely to do the same thing physically?
Most people would say less - get it off your chest and go home and cuddle
your loved ones a happier person.  But maybe there are people out there to
whom a good flame war is a red rag to a bull, who will go out and torch a
Microsoft service provider because we have said some nasty (even if true)
things about Bill.  In short (because I'm beginning to rant myself now)
should we take some responsibility for our comments here - ie 'I have the
right to freedom of expression, with the responsibility to avoid lying or
inflaming/inciting/insulting others'?

Well, that's my bit of input.  Please don't take this as criticism and
please don't take it personally - I really enjoy the content on PLUG and
I'm only using this as a rather poor example and as a forum for discussion.

Cheers

Rob
Dr Rob Potter
WA State Ag Biotech Centre
Murdoch University
Perth, WA 6150
Australia
Ph: +618 93602920  Fax: +618 93606303
Internet: potter at central.murdoch.edu.au;  Compuserve: 100113,1537