The exposure of a pedophile ring in Belgium and the children's summit is Sweden several years ago have highlighted the tragedy of children being used for pornography and prostitution. This is an international problem that is finally receiving the attention of the media and ordinary people in "advanced" nations.
We can only hope that the outcry will prompt the Japanese government to truthfully criminalize (not only a "tatemae" or an afficial stance) child pornography, but I doubt it. Not only is child pornography apparently accepted in Japan, but pornography of all kinds is readily made available to children.
Vending machines sell it on the street (even in small country towns); the manga (comic books) read by young people contain both pornographic photographs and drawings; schoolgirls disrobe in some video games; and shockingly, it is even given away as prizes in some video game centers!
Two years ago, a Japanese man who sat next to me on the plane from Fukuoka to Aomori told me that he was in a video game arcade somewhere in Tokyo; and some of the prizes offered were playing cards with pictures of naked women and pornographic videos. According to him, those videos didn't appear to be "soft porn." They were hardcore and the cover of one depicted a woman engaged in a sex act with a farm animal! Isn't it nice to think that a grade-school boy or girl could win that and take it home?
Young people should be educated about issues of sex and sexuality but not through books and videos that degrade women, abuse animals, make children "sexy" or depict rape as something a woman enjoys.
The blind acceptance of all forms of pornography in Japan is perpetuated by Japanese women who allow themselves to be portrayed in this way and who ignore what their children are being exposed to.
It is about time that women in this country stood up for themselves and their children as women have been doing in many other countries for a very long time.
People maybe have the right to produce pornography but I believe they also have the duty to control its distribution.
Japanese women (because I think most Japanese and non-Japanese men living in Japan aren't going to do it) must get pornographic vending machines off the streets, pornography out of children's comics and video game arcades, and fight have child pornography FULLY criminalized (by all means necessary) as much of the rest of the "advanced" world has done already.
Nota Bene:
For us men, if we do really love and respect women (our grandmothers, mothers, wives, girlfriends, aunts, sisters, daughters, nieces...) we must stand up and fight for their welfare and dignity!(Joel Assogba)
Sunday, September 03, 2006
Quotes for Thought (Voltaire)
Voltaire is great! I would like to share some of his quotes with all of you:
1) "...the safest course is to do nothing against one's conscience. With this secret, we can enjoy life and have no fear from death."
2) "A witty saying proves nothing."
3) "All sects are different, because they come from men; morality is everywhere the same, because it comes from God."
4) "Animals have these advantages over man: they never hear the clock strike, they die without any idea of death, they have no theologians to instruct them, their last moments are not disturbed by unwelcome and unpleasant ceremonies, their funerals cost them nothing, and no one starts lawsuits over their wills."
5) "Anything too stupid to be said is sung."
6) "Appreciation is a wonderful thing: It makes what is excellent in others belong to us as well."
7) "Doubt is not a pleasant condition, but certainty is absurd."
8) "Every man is guilty of all the good he didn't do."
9) "God is a circle whose center is everywhere and circumference nowhere."
10) "God is a comedian playing to an audience too afraid to laugh."
11) "God is always on the side of the big battalions."
12) "I have never made but one prayer to God, a very short one: 'O Lord, make my enemies ridiculous.' And God granted it."
13) "If God did not exist, it would be necessary to invent him."
14) "Indeed, history is nothing more than a tableau of crimes and misfortunes."
15) "It is dangerous to be right when the government is wrong."
16) "It is forbidden to kill; therefore all murderers are punished unless they kill in large numbers and to the sound of trumpets."
17) "Judge of a man by his questions rather than by his answers."
18) "Love is a canvas furnished by Nature and embroidered by imagination."
19) "Love truth, and pardon error."
20) "Marriage is the only adventure open to the cowardly."
21) "Men are equal; it is not birth but virtue that makes the difference."
22) "Prejudice is opinion without judgement."
23) "Regimen is superior to medicine."
24) "The art of medicine consists in amusing the patient while nature cures the disease."
25) "The multitude of books is making us ignorant."
26) "The secret of being boring is to say everything."
27) "There is a wide difference between speaking to deceive, and being silent to be impenetrable."
28) "Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities."
29) "To succeed in the world it is not enough to be stupid, you must also be well-mannered."
30) "Use, do not abuse; neither abstinence nor excess ever renders man happy."
Question to all:
Which one is your favorite? Why?
1) "...the safest course is to do nothing against one's conscience. With this secret, we can enjoy life and have no fear from death."
2) "A witty saying proves nothing."
3) "All sects are different, because they come from men; morality is everywhere the same, because it comes from God."
4) "Animals have these advantages over man: they never hear the clock strike, they die without any idea of death, they have no theologians to instruct them, their last moments are not disturbed by unwelcome and unpleasant ceremonies, their funerals cost them nothing, and no one starts lawsuits over their wills."
5) "Anything too stupid to be said is sung."
6) "Appreciation is a wonderful thing: It makes what is excellent in others belong to us as well."
7) "Doubt is not a pleasant condition, but certainty is absurd."
8) "Every man is guilty of all the good he didn't do."
9) "God is a circle whose center is everywhere and circumference nowhere."
10) "God is a comedian playing to an audience too afraid to laugh."
11) "God is always on the side of the big battalions."
12) "I have never made but one prayer to God, a very short one: 'O Lord, make my enemies ridiculous.' And God granted it."
13) "If God did not exist, it would be necessary to invent him."
14) "Indeed, history is nothing more than a tableau of crimes and misfortunes."
15) "It is dangerous to be right when the government is wrong."
16) "It is forbidden to kill; therefore all murderers are punished unless they kill in large numbers and to the sound of trumpets."
17) "Judge of a man by his questions rather than by his answers."
18) "Love is a canvas furnished by Nature and embroidered by imagination."
19) "Love truth, and pardon error."
20) "Marriage is the only adventure open to the cowardly."
21) "Men are equal; it is not birth but virtue that makes the difference."
22) "Prejudice is opinion without judgement."
23) "Regimen is superior to medicine."
24) "The art of medicine consists in amusing the patient while nature cures the disease."
25) "The multitude of books is making us ignorant."
26) "The secret of being boring is to say everything."
27) "There is a wide difference between speaking to deceive, and being silent to be impenetrable."
28) "Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities."
29) "To succeed in the world it is not enough to be stupid, you must also be well-mannered."
30) "Use, do not abuse; neither abstinence nor excess ever renders man happy."
Question to all:
Which one is your favorite? Why?
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