I know this might be harsh, but it needs to be said…. If a thirteen or fourteen year old is dumb enough to pose for webcams or go meet strangers for god knows what, then maybe we should just let nature run its course and see if they make it.
I was going through the channels a few weeks back and I came across the nineteen year old "Justin" on Oprah. Knowing it related to class, I decided to watch for awhile. I believe he also appeared at the Congressional Hearing, but wasn't on the clip that we saw. If you don't know his story, but he was a F*cking moron and decided he was going to take off articles of clothing on his webcam to make some money. He eventually masturbates for them as well and they started to send more money and gifts. It became a mess and well you can read about it, because I don't really feel like trying to explain how stupid this kid actually was.
Now we were all his age at one point and yes the opportunity to make money and get free gifts does sound good, but most of us would have been smart enough not to actually try it. That's because most of us are "winners" and will succeed in life. (Sorry, but some of you just happened to slip through to this point and are going to be weeded out in the next few years, but that's another discussion.) This is where natural selection comes into it. If teenagers are going to be this dumb then maybe we should let them. I'm all for protecting children from predators, but there needs to be an age where we stop coddling them.
If this idea is too harsh then another option would be that, if parents with dumb children don't want their kin to fall victim to these predators, then they need to keep a very close eye on them. I know it's hard to track what one's children might be doing all the time, especially since parents are usually behind their kids at all things technical, but if one watches close enough a lot of the bigger problems can be controlled. Sure, there are going to slip ups where the kid looks at the occasional porn pic or clip, but if the parents keep a close enough eye on the situation then you won't see a situation like "Justin's" happening as much.
I've seen a lot of blogs and have written a few myself of how to protect children from predators, but maybe we need to take a step back and let parents and the teenagers protect themselves. Why should we waste our time trying to protect them if they aren't going to do it on their own? If nature wants them gone, well then maybe just maybe…..
