Is child pornography just "pixels on a screen?"

Great Debates
81

Just to clarify why I said earlier that the professor should be reported:

There are two possible reasons he brought up his position on the matter of pedophilia; either he wanted a classroom discussion in which he presented himself as the antagonist, or he wanted to share his views with the class.

I think it’s unlikely he wanted a discussion, because tbh the point he is trying to make is pretty lame. Pixels on a screen is all very well, but arguing that children should prostitute themselves to support themselves is a stupid point, it does little good towards any form of debate. Also, it isn’t clear to me that this took place within the context of debate at all.

If it is not the case that the professor brought up the subject in order for students to practice debating skills it is likely he brought it up because he actually believes this to be true. If this is how he feels, I would think it etremely likely that he is a pedophile and that he possesses child pornography on his computer. Report him to the police, they will find out if he has child pornography.

I really don’t see how this could stifle academic debate or freedom of expression: it’s usually pretty clear from the situation what the intention of the debate is. If someone comes on this board saying “I want it to be legal for me to have sex with children, because I want to have sex with children”, that’s pretty different to someone saying “let’s debate whether sex with children should be legal”. In the first case, they’re probably a pedophile and you should report them.

If it was obvious to the OP that the professor expressed these views to start a discussion, then let him say that. If that is the case I take it back: don’t report your professor. I understood it to be his honest opinion, and reacted to that saying “report him”, because I consider it likely he owns child pornography.

82

In any sort of social studies/humanities class, how can you not expect the professor to play devil’s advocate at some point? When I was at uni, there were certain profs that trolled us constantly, going down certain roads to an absurd extreme in order to foster discussion and help us build a more substantial position. It’s ridiculous that, without any context, people are already talking about this guy like a criminal.

Child porn is our society’s most taboo topic, and pedophiles among the most hated (child rapists probably take first prize). For that reason alone, I can see how it would be very useful in training students to let go of their knee-jerk lynch mob reactions and rationally discuss something so “beyond the pale”.

Hell, most people involved in modern political discourse on the airwaves could use such training.