It's all there

"You can grab me 'cause you're nasty."

-- Filthy and Gorgeous, Scissor Sisters



It is truly amazing the filth you can find online.

I do a lot of research online for work, and I often come across shit that catches me off guard. One day I needed a digital picture of a Hershey's chocolate syrup bottle. Ever try Googling that? Don't.

Years ago I did a search for Edward Norton to fact-check something I was editing... and that lead to pop-up after pop-up of boobies on my very visible work computer.

I'm a huge fan of Ferris Bueller, and a recent search to find out what happened to the actress who played Sloan led me to plenty of sites and forums dedicated to her nude scenes. I don't know that I could ever watch Ferris Bueller again without those images surfacing in my brain.

When I opened my first online account in high school, the internet was limited to IRC and those bulletin boards you could DIAL INTO and post to... it was all very remedial compared to what you can snag online today.

I have another blog that I contribute to infrequently... but I check in on it once in a while to clear out the spam. Because that blog deals with more adult content, the comments are... well... more adult. The content of the blog itself is way less benign than the comments it attracts. Comments with links that make me blush.

It has made me start wondering how we -- a generation who grew up with the evolving internet -- will ever be savvy enough to hide this shit from our kids, when we know they are going to discover it at some point. I can't believe we keep debating about sex ed in schools when this shit is waiting for them right around the corner.

Our kids learn to operate a mouse shortly after they learn to walk. And we keep them inside so much because we are so afraid of predators... MOSTLY FROM THE INTERNET... stopping by our homes to prey on our kids.


What I wouldn't give to get back to the days when street lights coming on determined how late kids were getting home instead of how long kids have been missing.