« Blackberry bug sends mystery emails | Main | Apple accused of copying iPod ad »
Catholic school adds 11th commandment: thou shalt not blog
The Pope John XIII catholic high school in the state of New Jersey has instated an immediate ban on blogging for its students, according to a report in the The Daily Record.
The school's principal reverend Kieran McHugh told the 900 students that the personal journals attract sexual predators. Students have to cancel their MySpace, Typepad or Blogger accounts or face suspension.
The Catholic Church is an authority in knowing how great the threats from child molesters really is. The institution after all for years moved around child molesting priests between its parishes in an effort to cover up the sexual abuse scandal inside its church.
Mind you, McHugh isn't telling students not to blog from school – his blogging ban extends to after school hours.
"I don't see this as censorship," McHugh told The Daily Record. "I believe we are teaching common civility, courtesy and respect."
The story goes on to quote concerned parents and other parties who voice their fear of the gore that is apparently spreading on these blogs – that most parents never heard about until the ban. Of course something like that would never happen within the walls of a respected institution like the Catholic Church… oh… wait.
Never mind the free speech violations that the ban is obviously violating. The Pope John XIII high school is a private school, meaning that they board can come up with any rule it wants.
But then again, if the Church is fighting a new trend, you know it has to be good.
Forgive me father, for I have blogged.
Photo: Michal Adamczyk
Tags: blog, blogosphere
October 26, 2005 at 10:32 PM | Permalink
Comments
What Silicon Valley Sleuth does here is called an "ad hominem" attack; attacking the character of those with the opposing view[the school authority] rather than actually attacking/addressing the subject at hand, which is the decision made by them.
His title is misleading/false...There was no ban on blogging. There was only a ban on specific websites that apparently were represented to the school authorities as attracting predators, not having adequate predator protection, or encouraging things such as "gore" that concerned parents. It apparently was seen as responsible to not bolster those blogging avenues.
If the Silicon Sleuth would like to contact me regarding the very separate subject of pedophilia within the catholic church, maybe I can offer some perspective for him, so long as he first gives me a written promise to not revert to his ad hominem tactics.
Posted-by: bill heimiller | 16 Aug 2007 01:36:35
Spanish
