BY FR. SHAY CULLEN
THIS IS A report in the defense of children. It calls on all the good people that read it to respond with a strong commitment to do good, protect children from abuse, and bring them healing and a chance for a life free from abuse and exploitation. That is the duty of every human being, but not every person has the compassion, empathy, moral strength and the conviction that caring for the abused and exploited children will one day crush the head of the serpent and win the moral battle for the minds, hearts, spirits and lives of all the children in our communities.
The evil serpent turning innocent children into fearful, intimidated and controlled persons is the runaway, uncontrolled and wild internet platforms like Facebook, TikTok and many others. They, through neglect, allow the evil content that damages and infects the minds and hearts of children. The uploaded images and grooming on-line lures the children to unknowingly participate in actions harmful to them. They are caught in irreversible situations that can lead them to take their own lives.
Everyone must know that there are alternatives to Facebook and we ought to direct children to safe and secure social media platforms like Kidzworld, Cocoon, PX Kd, and Zigazoo. Good got kids age 5 and older, a very creative platform. Azoomee provides kids with games and videos. Then, there is Kinzoo Messenger for Families. Yet another is Blinx, great for children aged eight and older. Also, GeckoLife and the website Franktown Rocks.
Adults that want a safe and cleaner alternative can transfer to other platforms and persuade their friends and contacts to join them and change to Masodom or Ownmates. Also Signal and Telegraph are safer platforms and an alternative to Facebook for communicating.
Many people find child abuse too shocking to read or think about, let alone form a determination to act for the good and oppose evil. That’s because there are so many millions of child abuse victims that are now adults that live with repressed memories. They turn away from the thoughts and memories of the evil crime from which they continue to suffer from. The memory of childhood sexual abuse cannot be totally erased. Victims, although already adults, could heal if they fought back, joined campaigns against this evil and saved other victims. Failure to act allows more crimes and abuse to continue.
Others ignore the evil done to children and continue to use Facebook and other harmful sites. Thousands of children are abused in the Philippines according to UNICEF research on these sites.
The platform can be used for good, too. Everyone with knowledge of good and evil and a conscience must control and limit their use to essential contact and advise and persuade their friends to transfer to a cleaner, more morally correct platform.
Every person concerned in safeguarding children should invite friends to join a petition to their governments and make a campaign to appeal to the public, hold a rally however small at first, and demand international action in the EU and the United States for laws imposing stringent control of social media platforms and supporting changes to Section 230 of the US Communications Decency Act of 1996.
This law makes social platforms immune from being sued for any information that others may post there. Because of this law, they are not legally responsible but they are morally responsible. (To be continued)/PN
