Is there a place for fear mongering?
Friday, February 8, 2008 at 02:09PM Yesterday's keynote speaker at a small tech conference in Marshall, MN, was Mike Detloff, a police officer from Moorhead, MN, working in the Crimes Against Children Unit. His topic was, of course, the dangers children face online.
Now I tend to dislike these sorts of presentations for a number of reasons, and Mike's talk was very similar to many I've heard from law enforcement agents - FBI to the local folks. Heavy on the gory stories of the repulsive acts of pedophiles. The innocent child snatched from the jaws of an online predator in the nick of time. A strange brew of information about online predators, child pornography, child abuse, public masturbators, missing and abducted children and even serial killers. Of today's popular evils, only Bin Laden usually seems to be missing.
MIke's view of the civil rights of criminal suspects was, shall we say, at odds with the ACLU's. Some of the uses of hidden surveillance cameras he bragged about seemed like entrapment to me. His conclusion that reading books about serial killers showed a propensity to become one did not seem exactly logical. (If we become what we read, I should by now be a gumshoe or a space alien.) And since these things were being addressed at a tech conference, all technology was guilty by association.
I guess I am weary of the use of fear by the government and businesses in this country to sell an ideology or a product. Were one to listen only to law enforcement, the Center for Missing and Exploited Children, or the manufacturers of webblocking/monitoring software, pedophiles lurk behind every web page and every click pushes a child closer to defilement or death. There are too few objective studies and analyses done in this area to help us gain some perspective. I appreciate the Nancy Willards and Ann Colliers and Larry Magids. (The ConnectSafely website has a good list of less sensational articles about Internet safety.)
But Mike made me think as well. More than I really wanted to. I don't want to think about this topic!
- Mike asked: If you are heterosexual, how many years of therapy would it take to make you homosexual? If you are homosexual, how many years of therapy would it take to make you heterosexual? If you are a pedophile, how many years of therapy would it take to make you no longer sexually attracted to children? (Why sex offenders are regarded as such for life.)
- Lonely, neglected children are those most at risk from the solicitations of online predators. His line was memorable - "If you don't tell your children you love them, someone else will." YIkes!
- He showed the video, The Eleventh Commandment: Honor Thy Children - a wrenching music video on child abuse that is nearly unbearable to watch. (Which also made me feel guilty for ever hollering at my kids.)
- I don't know how a person like Mike can work in crimes against children field for years. I have the highest regard for his sense of mission and dedication. I know he does this work for his own children's sake as well.
When I do workshops on Internet safety, I tell participants that while I believe the threat of online predators is over blown, even if there is only ONE such creature, we need to help kids learn to guard against such a threat. It's an unpleasant, uncomfortable topic. But it is one we need to acknowledge and understand. Even when we don't really want to.
Did I mention that Moorhead is the sister city to Fargo - just across the Red River? When Mike is working to protect the area's kids, those kids include my two grandsons. We may not agree on a lot of things, but I am awfully glad Mike is on the job.
Reader Comments (7)
If there is a place for this it needs to be in perspective. While I agree that even one case of child abuse is worth stopping, the fact is that you and I both know that child abuse is like 90+% among relatives and the numbers of cases involving children being victimized by strangers online is almost zero. (check the Pew Internet Caucus report on that).
Which means we have way too many of these presentations, media reports and as you put it gorification of these rather obscure issues which are in my opinion directly connected to the paranoia and fear in schools and homes. And thus, it leads to block the crap out of everything to insure the safety of our kids.
Time to bring out your ban the pencil post. I'm just tired of the press these types of people get. Fear sells I guess.
Dear Doug,
I love your blogs, first of all and learn so much for you. I presently conduct workshops about Technology in the Classroom for the Bureau of Education and Research. One of the biggest problems I face aligns itself with the problems that you have written about on online safety. My question to you is, how much blocking is too much? And, when we want the websites more accessible for students - how do they take some control?
You can not imagine how many websites i talk about, especially Web2.0 tools that i am told are blocked at their school. Google Earth = can't be downloaded. Photo Story from Microsoft - oh no! Can't be downloaded. Wiki's, Blogs,-nope!
I had a question from one of my participants from two weeks ago and i answered her email immediately. It was bounced back because my email address was blocked from her school!
How is a teacher supposed to integrate technology when he/she cannot even receive email and communicate with other educators?
I am finidng this so frustrating. I would appreciate any one helping me with what they should be telling the powers that be in their schools?
Hi Dean,
I hear what you are saying and I agree for the most part.
My only hesitation to condemn fearing mongering totally is just wondering if a little isn't need to reach the truly clueless adults in this world - those that have no idea there are any dangers to students online at all. Not just predators, but cyberbullies and kids themselves doing stupid things like posting beer-swilling pictures to a public Myspace account.
As Wooden says, love and balance. Finding the balance is the trick, I guess.
Thanks for the comment!
Doug
Hi Judi,
Thanks for the kind words. Hey, I did a few workshops on libraries for BER (or its farm team) back in the mid 90s I think. My buddy Judy Freeman still works of them as well. A challenging job!
Like you, I encounter the over-blocking (at least IMHO) problem throughout the country. When asked about how to counter this, I usually suggest some of these things:
All tech policies need to be made by an advisory committee that includes educators, students and techs – each giving voice and perspective.
Techs need to be relieved of complete responsibility for insuring student safety via blocking.
If there is a request for blocking a website or resource needs to be given the same due process as removing a book from the library or classroom.
My own district's approach to filtering can be found in:
http://www.doug-johnson.com/dougwri/a-good-policy-for-policies.html
and
http://www.doug-johnson.com/dougwri/maintaining-intellectual-freedom-in-a-filtered-world.html
I hope this helps. Like I’ve said before, I feel like a lone voice crying for a more sensible filtering policy in schools. Glad to know you are talking about this too through BER!
All the very best,
Doug
Doug - I agree with you. While I'm not into the fear mongering aspects, Johnson did something very valuable: He scared his audience to death thinking about how little they did to educate their children as to danger and how weak their own relationship with their kids might be. Focusing on those issues addresses the problem of child abuse from all kinds of different angles, whether family or technology induced.
Excellent post.
Doug, I am sorry to point this out but being originally from Moorhead I have to, it is Moorhead not Morehead. Not trying to be the grammar/spelling police but rather a friendly correction.
Thanks, Roger. I corrected my spelling. Never been my strong suit!
Doug