bethanne's rant #1: people who hate online blogging!

Hey y'all! I'm here and I'm going to tell you a little rant about an article I read via MTV News and it's not about Paul Wall's marriage.

A Catholic high school has updated their code of conduct that will barr students at their school from having an online blog/journal until the students take it down. As a blogger and a Livejournal/MySpace junkie (at least for four years on LJ), it disgusts me to see school officials tell students what they can and cannot do when they are not at school property. Yes, I can understand it when the students are on school grounds, but my god. This is a true case of paranoia going tenfold and these are the kinds of people that need to realize that blogging/online journal-ling (if that's a word) isn't all that bad. Yes, there is the threat of online stalking and solicitation (much evidenced with the Taylor Behl case that happened a few weeks ago), but school officials do not have the right to tell their students what they can and cannot do when not on school time. It's ridiculous.

Even though I grew up without that much influence over the internet (I am pushing 26 in a few weeks), I understand the power that the internet has given us. In fact, some of my dear friends, I have met online. But it saddens me to see people who are biased and so fucking paranoid over what the internet is. They think that the internet is nothing more than a bunch of perverts and sex-crazed lunatics, but it's not the case. There are people who ARE messed up in the head and they shouldn't even have a computer in the first place. And as I type this, a PSA played about online predators. A completely BIASED one at that.

Obviously, online predators are this year's anti-drug commericals. So not cool.

So all I have to say is this: Schools, as much of a safe-haven they claim to be, don't stoop to the low and try to limit student's freedom of expression. They want to have Livejournals and Myspaces and blogs and such. As a huge supporter of First Amendement rights, it's ridiculous to see school officials stepping in when parents need to take the responsibility and teach their teenagers about the dangers of online safety.

And that's all I wrote. I promise the next rant will be better.