What on earth is wrong with people?

Before you read this blog entry, read the item at this link here. Now, I have a very simple question. It's a question that I would love to have any person who works in law enforcement help me answer, especially if they're in New York State.

Is my picture of my son chewing on his toes after a bath that I posted on my blog child pornography?

Now, before you answer this, I have one more question to ask:

Am I responsible for the reaction that some one viewing my blog has to this picture?

With sex and sexuality, there's a really wide range of things that people find exciting. There is the distinct possibility that some one who views the picture of my son says "Wow, that's hot!" and then engages in a bit of masturbation. I really don't see any form of logic that can hold me responsible for the reactions of others to this photo either because there's a few monstrously huge holes in the logic that some one would attempt to use here to argue this is child porn.

The logical test for culpability asks a few simple questions:
1. Did you know the outcome was going to happen?
2. Did you intend for the outcome to occur?
3. Could you have prevented the outcome from happening?
4. Did you cause the outcome to occur by actions or inaction on my part?

Well, if you apply this logic test to the question of some one using the picture of my son as inspiration for masturbation, what do you get?

1. Did I know that some one was going to use this picture as inspiration for masturbation?

I did not know that was going to happen. I recognized it as a possibility at the time I posted the picture, but determined it to be of a low probability of occurring.

2. Did I intend for some one to use this picture for that purpose?

No, my intention was not for this to occur, but rather to show accomplishments my son has made.

3. Could I have prevented some one from using this picture for that purpose?

Yes, if I had not made the picture available for the public to view.

4. Did I cause some one to use this picture for inspiration for masturbation by actions or inaction on my part?

No. This action was done on the part of the individual viewing the picture. I have no control over the decisions they make at any given time, as I do not have the capacity to force another person to act in any fashion when I am not in their presence or have sufficient leverage (be it real or perceived) to force them to choose a given course of action.

Now, perhaps some one may go so far as to say that any picture involving the nudity of a child qualifies as child porn when it is available for view within the public setting. If this is the decision that the law intends to make, all ads featuring naked babies need to be eliminated, the vast majority of classical paintings showing Jesus nude need to be locked away, and each and every other occurrence of child nudity needs to be removed. If you think about it, it turns into a rather ridiculous list. It ranges from ads for diapers to classical paintings, to stamps, all depictions of Cupid, and much, much more.

We also need to consider one other thing, just who is the arbiter of how a child is raised? Is the responsibility for the rearing of a child the domain of the parents or of the public? Once the government begins to dictate how I raise my child, they are stripping my child of privacy. No, that doesn't say it quite right...

It turns my child into public property. Until my child is of legal majority, it turns my child into as much an item of public property as the highway you drive your car on. What is worse in your mind? Is it worse for me to have a few pictures of my son just out of the bath chewing on his toes here on my blog or the precedent that my son is chattel? By the way, it doesn't just say that my son is chattel, but also would say that I and each and every other citizen is chattel. I am not a slave and I am not a serf. My liberty is not tied to the amount of debt I owe to anyone, thus I am not an indentured servant. For the law to establish that my son, a natural born citizen of this nation, is common property, is to deprive him of his liberty.

Men have fought and died for such rights to be preserved for their children. To disgrace the nation founded by these men by a few strokes of a pen and pat words about how it's for the 'sake of the children' is disgusting.

And people wonder why I am so disappointed by the government that we have and it's repeated refusal to do the right thing?