Censorship and Being a “Little” Pregnant

Recently, the Ao3 Reddit page brought up an oldie but a goodie in terms of Tumblr wisdoms, sharing a series of screenshots from the old, formerly-loved social media site. A user whose name was redacted in the share as per the subreddit’s rules had stated “‘I don’t think anyone should be allowed to read or write this because it’s disgusting to me’ is authoritarian.” which, if you’ve been following my newsletter for this long is just a simple uncontroversial statement. For most on the Ao3 subreddit, this is a simple and easy-to-understand truth that is objectively true. Naturally, there are some who do not agree.

For those who did not agree, the OP would simply re-write the sentence, driving home that this was the most concise and straight-forward method of stating this fact and that if they didn’t get it from this statement, they were simply of an authoritarian mind. For most of us here, this is pretty well understood as is the later points brought up by Tumblr users blathering on about banning books for “justifiable” reasons being used as a weapon against the people it’s supposed to protect. Another user finally because fed up with the naysayers and stated: “[…] you can’t have * some * censorship. Either you’re for it or you aren’t. […] When censorship happens, stuff YOU like can and will be banned. That’s how it works.” Another pointed out that bringing up children and pedophilia is an organized tactic designed to compel agreement. Though it is helpful sometimes to have things spelled out for those who still aren’t getting it, in my opinion, the first sentence was enough.

“‘I don’t think anyone should be allowed to read or write this because it’s disgusting to me’ is authoritarian.”

No leftist wants to be labeled as an authoritarian much like nobody on earth wants to be labeled a pedophile or a predator—it brings upon you a calumny that is not easily shaken and is something you could drag with you into the “real” world. Though this could simply be considered a though-ending cliché (a rhetorical tool utilized by cults), it comes down to this: Can you be a “little” pregnant? Brought up by redditor xGraniteBluex, this thought is simple and straight forward. There are wavering states of all kinds of things in the world and blurred lines here and there and all over the place but there are a few states of being that are fairly solid. You are either pregnant or you aren’t. You either have and uphold censorship or you don’t. Some people erroneously believe that the concept of censorship is inclusive of things that directly harm—that those who fight against it fight on the side of things like exploitative acts such as filming a crime or disseminating revenge porn. Anti-censorship advocates don’t fight on the side of tangible, real-world based crime, they’re very clearly fighting for the existence of fiction and books and speech.

Republican Utah Senator Mike Lee has proposed a bill that would hobble most if not all of the internet with the SCREEN Act. In the spirit of all think-of-the-children censorship motions, the act would require any online entity such as a website, forum, or social media site to implement age-verification if there was even a chance that adult material could be present (he disingenuously calls these “pornography websites” but there is no proper distinction made as to what qualifies other than a percentage of possible content). This would encompass not just pictures but also text, making it against the federal government’s policies through the Federal Trade Commission to have a possibly “pornographic” website open to anyone who could not provide proof of their age. This kind of nuclear bomb dropped on the internet would destroy ready access to not just social media or fiction on Ao3 but also troves upon troves of knowledge provided by Wikipedia or Sex Ed web pages or even just historical webpages that might have a female-presenting nipple catching strays. A bill like this would effectively destroy the internet as we know it and deprive millions of children of information that could save them from victimization which occurs within the home. Children who do not have the words for what is happening to them could never have them. PornHub’s useful and clinical approach to SexEd through their sexual health hub would be just as subject to this as their videos, cutting off important access to knowledge that adolescent boys might not see otherwise if they weren’t curious about porn and clicking around. Not every household is going to be like mine: a mix of clinical medical texts freely available on bookshelves for any curious little kid to grab and peruse (which explains why I was never under the impression that you get pregnant by kissing).

Bills like these are a direct attack against children and the privacy of adults online. These are coming from places where parents have an inordinate amount of control over small people they think of as their property. Ruby Franke’s kids were not destroyed by porn on the internet. They were directly and irreversibly harmed by their controlling and ostensibly narcissistic mother. Kids who are held down and held captive by adults who keep them in the dark on purpose do far more damage to their psyche than any accidental viewing of a “pornographic” video or a Destial fic. We have seen a rise in the trend of going “no contact” with parents who’ve turned to the internet or therapists with their blame, trying to claim that these “took their children away” from them and so it makes sense that these adults, the true predators, should wish to tear down childrens’ access to knowledge, to potential friendship, to education.

You can’t be a “little” pregnant. You can’t have a “little” censorship. Idealists who live in fairy tale land of “choose to believe in the best of Republicans” get their faces eaten by the leopards along with everyone else—what they love becomes if not illegal, inaccessible. The dismantling of the internet as we know it is well underway under the Trump Regime, and it will have devastating consequences for the ability of the American people to not only organize but retain access to the knowledge they need to fight against the siege against their civil rights. Even if these tools are available, third parties will have all of your personal information to know exactly what you accessed. Your internet privacy would be gone forever. Knowledge and education has always been the enemy of conservative predators and they will seek to destroy it to consolidate power. For all those who believe in a “little” state-sanctioned censorship: wake up. You’re next.