For the Children

I generally tune out as soon someone appeals to The Child. Meaning as soon as someone starts talking about how we must do something to protect the children, or otherwise for the children, I stop listening.

It's a bankrupt appeal that relies on raw emotion without any substance. It's an appeal to the abstract idea of people, some not even existing yet (future generations).

I'm not interested. Worse, politicians use these appeals to strip personal liberty. It's as bad as appeals to safety and security in terms of its deceptive power. It appeals to such base feelings that it's nearly impossible to separate those from the actual policy proposals, and people end up giving up rights and freedoms because of it.

And who really wants a childproofed world? Do we want a world where all media, games, events, indeed, entertainment in general is "safe" for children? No more Pride parade. No more violent TV shows. No more Law and Order: SVU. No more Rockstar games. Hell, no more hockey when it comes down to it. No cigarettes, no alcohol, and no swearing. No westerns. No provocative art or poetry. No adult video, nor magazines. Power tools all must be childproofed. No more firearms. Nothing that might endanger The Child.

Here's a modest proposal: The children don't matter. The Child does not matter. It's abstract empty symbolism. People matter.

Watch your own children. It's nobody else's job to keep them safe.

Another trap is trying to look out for future generations. The past and the future are illusions - more abstract concepts. The present is real. Righting the wrongs of the world as it exists pays for itself in the future. Things like peacemaking, fiscal responsibility, investment in community, all these things help the present and the future.

We cannot truly predict the future. At best we can model it statistically using various tools, and we're wrong as often as not. In some cases, like climate and overpopulation predictions, we've virtually always been wrong. On the other hand, things like climate change can be addressed by way of our pollution and consumption problems in the present - things that are causing us problems in the present.

The present is real. The Child is not.

Don't let anyone take your eye off the ball.