I may have mentioned that last year I joined a forum for writers. It has been ... interesting. This was actually the third such forum I joined. I left the first within 10 days of joining, because it was blatantly leftist political, and most discussions were about politics rather than about writing. The next was better, until I got into a dispute with a moderator who whacked by for violating a rule that, by any intellectually honest reading of the rule, I had not violated. When I asked that the issue be referred to the full panel of moderators, he flat out refused. "I said you violated the rule, so that's the end of the discussion."
I've never before encountered an Internet forum that didn't offer some form of dispute resolution or appeal channel. So ... I moved onto forum #3. It's been pretty good, but every once in awhile I'm left shaking my head. Yesterday and today presented a real head shaker. A member asked what jobs a pre-teen could hold for part-time employment in 2010. I responded by asking what country, and mentioning that actual paid labor by pre-teens is illegal in many countries.
The person responded by asking why the country matters.
I am struggling to understand how anyone today doesn't know that in most western countries child labor laws prohibit or severely restrict hiring pre-teen children. I don't know if this person is in the U.S., Canada, or the UK -- the forum has members from all three. Shouldn't matter. I'm pretty certain all three look equally askance at child labor sweatshops. What rock are these people living under?
