Academics voice concerns over children policies

NO MOLLYCODDLING:One speaker pointed out that, while protecting children is necessary, overprotection would not serve to benefit children

Academics yesterday voiced their worries about rising conservatism in policies toward children and adolescents, which, they believe compromise hard-earned freedoms of the press and expression.

“When we talk about a crisis in democracy, we would usually think of government abuse of power or repression of dissidents, but in Taiwan, it’s the overprotection of children,” Josephine Ho (何春蕤), coordinator of National Central University’s Center for the Study of Sexualities, told a conference in Taipei.

“More and more restrictions on TV broadcasts and newspaper content in the name of protecting children and adolescents is compromising freedom of expression, and strengthening conservative values,” Ho said. “This is the crisis of democracy we are facing now in Taiwan.”

According to laws, such as the Children and Juvenile Welfare Act (兒童及青少年福利法), images of violence, bloodshed, corpses or nudity have to be processed or mosaicked out before being broadcast on TV.

Since its foundation in 2005, the National Communications Commission has penalized several TV channels — going so far as to threaten to turn down license renewal applications — in response to channels showing “inappropriate images.”

Recently, lawmakers have proposed revisions of the law to control newspaper content as well, sparking debate on whether such “protection” constitutes interference with the freedom of the press.

Ho pointed out that, while protecting children is necessary, overprotection would not benefit children as they grow up.

“You run into bad things and bad people in your life, and when you experience such things as you grow up, you learn to deal with them. However, if you grow up mollycoddled by the government and schools, it does you no good,” she said.

Saying society is shared by both children and adults, Ning Yin-bing (甯應斌), a professor at National Central University’s Graduate Institute of Philosophy, remarked that: “It does not make sense to ‘juvenelize’ a society, and pretend that adults don’t exist”

Ning said that the rise of conservatism starts with restriction of content aired or published by media outlets, and would gradually penetrate into other aspects of society.

Citing newly amended regulations on fireworks and firecrackers, Ning said they not only require a child to be in the company of a parent or guardian when using firecrackers, but also ban children from playing with firecrackers and fireworks that shoot into the sky.

“Playing with firecrackers is a centuries-old tradition, and perhaps the most fun thing for a kid during Lunar New Year. Why put so many restrictions on the activity now?” Ning asked. “That’s the influence of conservatism.”

He said that, at the moment, people think the regulation is awkward but “in a few years, people would think of it as normal.”

Academics called on the public to consider the issue, and where possible resist such restrictions.