The social construction of digital danger: debating, defusing and inflating the moral dangers of online humor and pornography in the Netherlands and the United States

Abstract

This article discusses reactions to two forms of ‘dangerous’ digital entertainment: ethnic humor and online pornography. It compares the way in which the dangers of these entertainments are socially constructed in online discussions by Dutch and American internet users. Ethnic humor is virtually absent and widely considered dangerous on the Dutch part of the internet, but circulates widely on the Anglophone internet. Online pornography is considered dangerous but mostly manageable by Dutch internet users, but has become the subject of moral panic in the United States. The comparisons between the four cases show the influence of ‘national cultures’ on the transnational internet, as well as the mechanisms involved in the social construction of online dangers; they show how these concerns can be defused and normalized as well as inflated and dramatized into moral panic.

Beyond obscenity: an analysis of sexual discourse in LIS educational texts

“…LIS texts should not reflect a society in which we turn away from educational and professional guidance when talking about controversial topics, and instead turn to filtering, prohibiting and shielding (Kuipers, 2006). These cultural biases trap us in our own cultural constructs of what is appropriate.…”

Online Pornography: Ubiquitous and Effaced

“…While the Bush administration waged a war on porn online and offline, this should not be generalized as a global trend. As Kuipers (2006) illustrates in her comparative analysis of Dutch and US debates on online pornography, the construction of moral panics in the US involves "highly emotional and polarized debates, sustained media attention, the founding of organizations of distressed citizens, skewed and exaggerated representation of the nature and amount of pornography and sex on the internet and numerous attempts at government regulation" (p. 390). US debates are structured by the principle of freedom of speech on the one hand, and the practices of filtering, prohibiting, and shielding on the other.…”

“…Locally, the question is then one of regulating access -something that has been done with child pornography but less with other kinds of pornographies in Western countries. In a global perspective, the regulation of online pornography (and of the Internet in general) varies considerably, as do understandings concerning the category of pornography (Kuipers, 2006;Paasonen, Nikunen, & Saarenmaa, 2007, pp. 15-16).…”

Investigating Saudi Parents’ Intention to Adopt Technical Mediation Tools to Regulate Children’s Internet Usage

“…There are evidences that use of Internet may expose young children to certain risks such as becoming victim of cyber bullying, negative emotional impacts due to unwanted exposure to pornography, violence, explicit language, revealing personal information to sexual predators etc. Since young children lack a sufficient level of ematurity to be able to manage these risks, some authors state that this generation is not only to be called "whiz kids" [2], but also "risk-kids" [3]. Therefore, the Internet impact on children and younger generation has become a global concern resulted in demands for safeguard to protect online privacy when involved with a wide variety of commercial websites and activities.…”