In some parts of America, particularly amid the urban underclass where violence and economic hardship are epidemic, those fears for children seem not only valid, but understated. But for middle-class families that consume much of this controversial popular culture, such fears seem misplaced, exaggerated, invoked mostly to regain control of a society changing faster than our ability to comprehend it. The idea that children are moving beyond our absolute control may be the bitterest pill for many to swallow in the digital era. The need to protect children is reflexive, visceral, instinctive. All the harder, then, to change.
People have the inherent right to some measure of freedom.
Rules should be agreed upon, not imposed. Although this notion has become our most cherished political value, in the 17th century it existed in practice nowhere on the planet. When it did spread, slowly, it was first applied to men, usually white men. Bit by bloody bit, the idea has encompassed other groups, but it has yet to be applied at all to children. Locke preached that people naturally possess certain rights - life, liberty, and property.