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Preparing this Web page made obvious several themes
that obviously have motivated many of these letters through
the years.
Homophobia.
For the sake of straight youth as well as gay,
homosexuality must be accepted as a routine
way of life, and the sooner the better.
As long as homosexuality itself is not fully
integrated into the culture, the destruction
wrought by homophobia will continue to
allow macho posturing and "early proof of
heterosexuality" to dominate young people's
lives, to their detriment.
And as for gay youth, the same homophobia will
continue to destroy their self-esteem and contribute
to their astronomical suicide rate.
Noise.
Noise is an environmental pollutant that needs to be
acknowledged, addressed and limited like other
environmental pollution.
Many laws that already exist are not well enforced, and
other laws that address emerging sources of noise need to
be enacted.
Overreaction to the Problem of Child Abuse.
In the late 1970s, child sexual abuse moved front and center
as one of our society's major problems.
There is no question that it is a problem that needs our
full attention.
Abuse of any person by another in any way is unacceptable.
Unfortunately, an establishment soon formed to take advantage
of the extreme emotional nature of the problem, and social
conservatives (among others) began to realize that they had
an opportunity to affect social policy in ways that were
previously impossible.
Those who take advantage of this issue for their own personal advancement and other reasons have been referred to in my writing and others' as the "Child Abuse Industry". It consists of psychologists, social workers, law enforcement personnel and others who claim to be working to eliminate child abuse (regrettably this is an unattainable goal, like trying to eliminate drug use), but engage in activities that make the problem worse, not better. It is an "Industry" in the sense that if the problem ever went away, these people know they would be out of jobs.
Those who use the emotionality of the issue to affect social policy are the same types who invoke the fear of terrorism to make exceptions to privacy rights, individual freedoms, even constitutional guarantees.
Excesses, even when the issues are as serious as these, must be monitored, identified and stopped.
Police Arrogance and Other Abuses.
I have no doubt that my attitude toward the police
was formed in large part by what I saw and heard about
(and felt, on a few occasions) during my first adult
years in the 1960s and '70s.
Obviously, police are necessary.
I know that, and so do they.
Considering the awesome power our society gives
them to limit the freedom of other human beings,
when they overstep their bounds, they must be held
accountable.
Society's Ambivalence Toward Adolescents, Particularly Boys.
Everyone loves babies.
After that, there is not much love left for any social group,
including -- maybe especially -- adolescents.
Paradoxically, adolescence is a time when lifetime social and
sexual patterns and attitudes are learned, just like early childhood
is a time when cognitive and motor skills are developed.
Instead of preparing kids for adulthood, they are
protected far too long, sheltered and deprived until some
magical birthday when they are pushed out of the nest without
functioning wings.
This can't be in our best interests as a society.