LDC wrote:
Toby Bartels wrote:
>You may count me as insulted at the suggestion
that
>I would care for one moment about the person's age.
>...
>I can't let these unconscionable slurs against 9-year-olds
>stand.
Heavens! I said that children were immature and
irresponsible.
Next thing you know I'll be saying that Africans have dark
skin or that women have breasts. Shame on me for making such
sweeping generalizations.
You also said that free speech rights are reserved only for adults
(I suppose because valid speech requires maturity and responsibility).
You might as well argue that agricultural labour rights
are reserved to Europeans and people of European descent
(because only they have the delicate white skin
that needs protection from hard work under the hot sun)
or that travel rights are reserved only for men
(because only they are not tied down by nature to
feeding and otherwise taking care of the children).
These arguments have been made, from time to time,
and they are of the same nature.
There is also the issue of simple factuality.
Just as not all women have larger breasts than all men
and not all Africans have darker skin than all Europeans,
so also not all children are less mature and responsible than all adults.
Presumably you knew all of these facts already,
but they're just more reason why rights shouldn't be restricted,
at least not on this sort of demographic basis.
-- Toby