To more fully enjoy this story in living, breathing HTML, please visit our website at: /~vivian Now offering over 140,000 words of pure prurience! -------------------------------------------------------- Freedom of Speech by Vivian Darkbloom [October 11, 2005] No matter where you stand on the issue of child eroticism: whether you feel children should repress or express their sexual impulses, or whether you feel that adults should disparage or celebrate the same, it should be clear than the apparent present effort to stifle discussion on the topic will harm everybody. Prohibition against free verbal discourse will never promote sensible decisionmaking. It yields solely fear of the unknown. If the government rules out explicit verbal fantasies involving child sex what happens next? Will it become unacceptable to record such ideas using pen and paper in the privacy of your home? Will they try to outlaw the fantasies themselves? Where it leads is simply ludicrous. The fact is, erotica describing child sex inherently IS a political statement, implicitly in opposition to the current legislative and social taboos. True, obviously: it's offensive to many, and deviates from the ridiculously narrow and unrealistic categories of sexual behavior deemed acceptable by our painfully puritanical culture. But an essential principle this country is based on, is the right to voice opinions in opposition to that of the established view. And without such freedom, any "war against terror" is completely meaningless. Because whenever one gives up freedom, it means that terror has won. It is in our struggle against those who would oppress with fear, that we may sometimes be forced to discover the courage we truly possess. Courage based on hope and vision of a world where understanding and tolerance reign. And always remember the friendly words on the front of the hitchiker's guide: "DON'T PANIC!" _______________________________________________________ For more stories, please visit our site: /~vivian