The Times Advocate, 2005-03-30, Page 44
Exeter Times–Advocate
Wednesday, March 30, 2005
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Editorial Opinion
TIMES ADVOCATE
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Jim Beckett
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EDITORIAL
Use caution
online
Scary. That's one word that best sums up
how easy it is for Internet predators to
find out the real identity of children and
teens in chat rooms.
During an informative forum last week at
South Huron District High School, those in
attendance learned how important it is to mon-
itor their children's Internet use. One demon-
stration showed that just by posting one seem-
ingly innocent piece of personal information on
a chat room or Web site, it isn't hard for those
so inclined to discover a person's real name,
address and phone number.
The real project now is ensuring the children
understand this — as principal Jeff Reaburn
explained last week, children and teens are
naive and trusting when they're chatting on the
Internet. Unfortunately, they may not think
twice before revealing their name or other per-
sonal information to a complete stranger whose
intentions are less than honourable. Children
tend to assume the best from people; unfortu-
nately, chat rooms consist of many of the types
of people you would never want to meet in real
life. Any five-minute visit to a chat room on
Yahoo! or MSN will demonstrate that.
The Internet, as well as being a wonderful
tool for education and information, has also
made parents' jobs more complicated — now,
they not only have to worry about their chil-
dren when they leave the house, they also have
to worry about what kinds of risks their chil-
dren are taking when they surf the Internet
and chat to "friends" online.
The best thing, as always, is to stay involved
and teach your children to be careful online. It
may also be a good idea for children to actually
go outside once in a while and get some exer-
cise. The amount of time most youths spend on
the computer is ridiculous.
I'll take 49 per cent
According to a recent Angus Reid poll, 49 per
cent of you trust me.
Well, maybe not me personally, but journalists
as a whole. So, in other words, fewer than half
the people who read newspapers actually believe
what they're reading.
Those numbers are rather discourag-
ing, but to be honest, I'm surprised the
number is so high. When's the last time
you heard anyone say anything positive
about a journalist? We rank down there
with lawyers, politicians, cold sores, ath-
lete's foot and the bubonic plaque on the
popularity list.
To no surprise, the Angus Reid poll dis-
covered that Canadians most trust fire-
fighters (97 per cent), nurses (94 per
cent) and farmers (91 per cent). The fact
firefighters are the most trusted profes-
sionals in Canada shouldn't be a shock —
everyone likes and admires firefighters,
especially the Exeter Synchronized Skating Club.
Lawyers, trusted by 45 per cent of those polled,
find themselves with the dubious distinction of
being less trusted than journalists and just one
percentage point higher than insurance brokers. I
was actually surprised lawyers were so high on
the list.
It's the bottom dwellers, though, who bring the
most humour to the list — only 18 per cent trust
car salesmen, while a shameful 16 per cent trust
politicians.
Now, car salesmen have never been trust-
ed, but something tells me that Canadians
used to have much more trust in their
politicians than they do now. Frankly, in an
age where Dalton McGuinty can film televi-
sion commercials promising not to raise
taxes and then turn around and do just
that, I'm surprised anyone can honestly say
they trust anything that comes out of
Ottawa or Queen's Park. Call me cynical,
but I don't hear any truth coming out of the
mouths of the people who run this country.
And judging by the clowns in our federal
and provincial Opposition, that's not about
to change anytime soon.
But maybe that's just me — I tend not to trust
anybody or anything, particularly polls . . . and
those who participate in them.
SCOTT
NIXON
AND ANOTHER
THING
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