Hey, who wants to move to Vermont?
Question: You’re a liberal/Democrat law-maker from the Green Mountain State. How do you address a growing epidemic of young people engaging in something that’s illegal?
Answer: Just make it legal.
Now why didn’t I think of that?
I can see both sides of the “sexting” issue (photographing and transmitting nude pictures of yourself with your cell phone.) On the one hand, if you’re photographing yourself and sending it to people you want, then it’s your choice, right? On the other hand, if you are under 18, and that’s what’s been taking place lately, the image would be illegal if it were taken or viewed by an adult.
Then there are the unintended consequences of “sexting,” such as when a private photo somehow goes public. We’ve already had the problem of initally private nude shots ultimately getting e-mailed and going viral on Facebook. One such case was addressed at a Ridgewood, NJ, middle school (that’s 12–14 year-olds, in case you didn’t realize) just last week. Vermont law-makers who are currently considering making underage sexting legal may not have thought this far ahead.
There are morality- or values-based foundations to many laws on the books. Why is murder and stealing illegal? Because it’s morally wrong. That’s a moral absolute most humans (Americans, at least) can deal with. But when different groups of people have conflicting values, that’s when the passing of laws can get controversial. For instance, in New Jersey and many other states, smoking cigarettes and the selling of cigarettes to minors under 18 is illegal. Why? Because law-makers of that state have decided for us (whether we agree with it or not) that doing so is wrong. Thus, they made it illegal.
So, is sexting morally wrong? My personal opinion is yes, if you are underage. (If you’re 18+ and are into sexting, please add my number to your contact list!) I certainly don’t want my young daughter sending naked photos of herself to her friends, and I doubt that any other parent would theirs doing it either. I don’t know if any of these Vermont lawmakers have underage daughters, but I certainly wouldn’t want to move my family to their state if they have this mindset.
Don’t think for a second that the ultra-liberal mindset that exists in Vermont plays no part in this. For liberals, anything of a sexual nature should be not only legal but socially acceptable and even encouraged. That’s one of the legacies—for better or for worse—that the 60’s Left has left on our current society. But, as we on the Right know quite well, just because the Left is open-minded with regard to sexual issues, doesn’t mean they’re tolerant of any human activity. In fact, despite the Left’s talk about the Right’s religion-based intolerance about sex, abortion, etc., and their crusade to impose their values on others, there is no one more intolerant than a Leftist whose values have been violated by somebody else. And you can guarantee that, without the slightest bit of self-awareness, that the Left will not only crusade to impose their values, but they will make sure that politicians and even unaccountable activist judges enact legislation to ensure their values are imposed.
Case in point: Last summer I spent five days at a conference in Vermont. And it took those five days to learn that if you dared not put your regular garbage in the “garbage” recepticle and your plastic bottles in the “plastic” recepticleyou’re your newspaper in the “paper” recepticle and your compostibles in the “compost” recepticle, someone was truly going to haul your ass to jail! And don’t you forget to turn the light off as you exit a room lest you be branded in the town square with a big “Climate Criminal” sign around your neck. Those Vermonters are serious about the environment.
Apparently they (or at least the people they voted for) think that 12-year-old girls photographing and transmitting nude pictures of themselves should be a legally protected act, but leaving a light on is grounds for tarring and feathering.
I might be jumping the gun here; Vermont lawmakers haven’t made any decisions yet. But the bottom line is this: Making an activity legal encourages more of that activity. When you decide to legalize an act that is currently illegal, what you are saying is that the activity should be deemed acceptable by society at large. These decisions ultimately shape society as a whole.
So let me ask you: Is our society made better by making acceptable by making it legal for 12-year-old girls to snap and transmit nude photos of themselves?
Ponder that for a while. But if you happen to leave the room, don’t you dare forget to turn the light off!
Recent Comments