From: Blunderov (squooker@mweb.co.za)
Date: Fri Sep 26 2003 - 02:46:51 MDT
(Cross post from chess discussion group.)
It seems to me that there is almost what could be termed an hysteria
abroad in the world about childhood. Perhaps this means no more than a
primary concern with child-rearing in our species, but I find it hard
not to wonder whether some of the intensity which is brought to the
debate is not a more general sexual repression traveling incognito.
Also to be wondered is why the age at which a human is considered to be
a child varies so widely according to both circumstance and culture.
(The famous example is of course that in some places is legal, even
compulsory, for a child to kill at a certain age but not to vote or
purchase alcohol.)
The thought strikes me that the whole subject of childhood is probably a
giant petri-dish for toxic memes offering as it does a ready-made, but
deeply emotionally appealing, glittering prize. I think oft recurring
theme of intervention in parent/child relationships in recent TV shows
is indicative here.
Just to clarify: I am not arguing to allow child pornography - I am just
wondering at the apparent imbalance of both attention and intensity
which seems to attend the topic.
What follows is, IMO, a good example of this new Zealotry.
<q>
Louisiana News
Jury finds Maryland chess star innocent in Internet sex case
The Associated Press
9/25/2003, 7:26 p.m. CT
MOBILE, Ala. (AP) ? A federal court jury found a 32-year-old Maryland
chess star innocent Thursday of using an online relationship to cross
state lines in hopes of a sexual encounter with a 15-year-old Alabama
girl.
Alex Sherzer had claimed he was entrapped by investigators who assumed
the girl's online persona after her mother told them about her
daughter's e-mail exchange with him.
"Now I get on with my life," Sherzer told the Mobile Register afterward.
"I'm just so happy this nightmare is over."
Sherzer reportedly had moved to Louisiana for a new job at LSU Medical
Center, Shreveport, but hospital spokeswoman Elaine King said Wednesday
he was never hired.
He was arrested May 9 outside a Mobile juvenile detention center, where
he was expecting to pick up the girl, referred to in court as Jane Doe.
Sherzer testified he sensed the meeting could be a setup, but went ahead
with it anyway.
Authorities said they found he had rented a nearby hotel room with a hot
tub and had bought alcohol, condoms and sex toys. Sherzer, who was
trained overseas as a physician and was attending a Maryland college
where he was a star on the chess team, said the arrest cost him a
medical residency in Shreveport, La., and could have jeopardized his
entire career.
His lawyer, federal defender Carlos Williams, contended that Sherzer
never would have attempted such a meeting if he had not been encouraged
by Alabama Bureau of Investigation agent Stan Stabler, who was posing as
the girl online.
Sherzer said he began e-mailing the girl in December after seeing her
self-posted Internet profile. But after four months of friendly
messages, he testified, he started receiving questions such as "What do
you want to do with me?"
U.S. Attorney David York said Stabler had posed such questions to
clarify Sherzer's intentions.
But jurors speaking to Sherzer after the verdict was read said they
believed Sherzer's relationship with the girl would not have taken on
sexual overtones had Stabler not intervened.
"You admitted you were wrong. We all knew you were wrong," forewoman
Jessica Jones told him. "The question was were you tricked, were you
induced? And that's it ? you were tricked."
Neither side called the girl, now 16, to testify.
"You always wonder if a potential jury will view this as a victimless
crime if the defendant does not actually physically come in contact with
the juvenile," York told the Register.
Asked whether he considered Sherzer a danger to other juveniles, York
responded, "The Internet's a dangerous place. ... Hopefully he's learned
his lesson."
Copyright 2003 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material
may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
http://www.nola.com/newsflash/louisiana/index.ssf?/base/news-4/106453645
4278470.xml
</q>
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