It's a damn shame that any 'free' country censors this stuff, or anything, for that matter.[/SIZE]
I beg to differ. Seeing as I come from a national background where the magical idea of "Freedom" is not an all-encompassing vague catch-all that it, perhaps, is in some different countries, I wouldn't say allowing an individual to buy (obtain) anything, without any restrictions, can lead to good things.
You can go around shouting "Freedom! Freedom!" (that with a capital letter), but I implore you to think about it for a while. Opening the gates to everything can let some nasty **** in. Besides, many restrictions are already in place. And the lawsuit hysteria that makes the US the place it is, only proves that total, unrestrained Freedom is a myth and is, in fact, detrimental. Because when someone burns their mouth while drinking hot coffee, they cry like they didn't know that hot coffee can burn your mouth. People at their current stage of development are simply not ready for complete Freedom. Not in Poland, not in Iraq, not in the US, not anywhere in the world, They have to be baby-sitted and people have to realise that when governments try to regulate various aspects of our life, this has nothing to do with oppression or anything of this sort. Seriously, you don't go accusing the government of oppression when it requires the drivers to follow some rules, so that its difficult for them to bring harm to either themselves or others. However old it may be, its "for their own good". The rule is easily extrapolated to other fields (
i.e. housing regulations to minimise fire risks, hell, I don't know, loads of things). Obviously, in some cases the boundaries are fuzzy or the governments try to encroach on your personal freedom in a way that is not acceptable (and the exact boundaries of how far the state can go are subject to incessant debate, or they should be, at least). It's a matter of the People who should constantly engage the State in dialogue. If they keep finding compromises that satisfy both sides, then all's going to be well. If either side finds they are not getting enough from that deal, then you can ring up Houston and tell them that we've got a problem.
Give it a thought, should a kid be allowed to buy the following:
- any kind of a game
- alcohol
- tobbaco
- drugs (soft, hard, medicine, you name it)
- guns
- pornography
- machine tools
- pencils
- Teddy bears
Sure, some of these are going to be acceptable, but you try and think about the future consequences of allowing people (not just kids, anyone really) to freely purchase all the things on the list.
Call me a conservative, fascist, whatever, but if I got it all wrong - hey, let me know!