Why is Innocence Important and Why Must It Be Preserved?

[Exarch]

commonly you'll hear xyz loss of innocence, or overprotective parents who wish to maintain their childrens' innocence for as long as possible and will call for censoring films/books etc etc,

but i wonder, what is this amorphous thing called 'innocence' and why are people obsessed about preserving it? maintaining it? why is loss of innocence considered a bad thing?

[leeho730]

Please define "innocence."

[Dominicvs]

Innocence of a child is beautiful. Don't ask me why, its like asking what is beautiful. It's just naturally seen as beautiful by human beings. People that don't find it as something good, they obviously have some deformity.

[sephodwyrm]

Innocence of a child is beautiful.

Innocence of a child tends to translate into thinking that everything he/she sees belongs to him/her.
Innocence is gone once they realize there's private property.

[leeho730]

I recall I was innocent... I thought women didn't go to toilet.

Nowadays it's like they're using too much freaking toilet paper!


I guess innocence is synonymous with ignorance?

[basics]

Exarch,

No-one is innocent, no not even little babies. Every single one of us is born in sin having been conceived in sin and by that I do not mean that intercourse is sin but because of the curse put on all mankind. But if we consider that little children have by interpretation innocence, naivety of the world, that they need protecting in many ways that is quite another matter.

It is so because no-one, not even its parents know how that so-called innocent will turn out and as history tells us so readily that has been the case since time began. But, if as you say or infer that they are innocent where does the evil that they do even from a very early age, come from? We all know of their demands and if we don't they soon tell us.

To get back on track, it is because we are all prone towards evil that laws have been made, not just to protect children but to protect us all. Looking at the Laws given to Moses but excluding the ones concerning how God wishes to be worshipped, we can see by them what men and women were capable of even in those early days. Have things changed for the better? I doubt it. Regardless it is good that children especially are coverd by these laws.

[Veliky Kaiser Theos]

Exarch,

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

No-one is innocent, no not even little babies. Every single one of us is born in sin having been conceived in sin and by that I do not mean that intercourse is sin but because of the curse put on all mankind. But if we consider that little children have by interpretation innocence, naivety of the world, that they need protecting in many ways that is quite another matter.

It is so because no-one, not even its parents know how that so-called innocent will turn out and as history tells us so readily that has been the case since time began. But, if as you say or infer that they are innocent where does the evil that they do even from a very early age, come from? We all know of their demands and if we don't they soon tell us.

To get back on track, it is because we are all prone towards evil that laws have been made, not just to protect children but to protect us all. Looking at the Laws given to Moses but excluding the ones concerning how God wishes to be worshipped, we can see by them what men and women were capable of even in those early days. Have things changed for the better? I doubt it. Regardless it is good that children especially are coverd by these laws.

Yes, we all care about the irrelevant statement.

I'd assume parents don't want their children to lose their innocence because it means they're growing up so fast.

[Misery]

Exarch,
No-one is innocent, no not even little babies. Every single one of us is born in sin having been conceived in sin and by that I do not mean that intercourse is sin but because of the curse put on all mankind. But if we consider that little children have by interpretation innocence, naivety of the world, that they need protecting in many ways that is quite another matter.
.

What curse put on man kind? What are you talking about?

[Jlop985]

Children are not innocent. Don't you all remember your childhoods? I was certainly not innocent when I was a child. There are other reasons to protect children, but innocence is not one of them.

[Vizsla]

I think because we spend most of our lives lying in the gutter looking up at the stars, often with some bastard kicking us while we’re down there.
The few years we get to spend happily unencumbered by the sheer horror of it all are a sacred trust.
The sad thing is no one ever appreciates it till it’s gone.

[Col. Tartleton]

I'm going to base my parenting on 1950s television and send my kids to elite boarding schools.

Innocence proves nothing.

[O.Chrysostomos]

Weren't we all innocent before we evolved Reason and Morals and ate from the Tree of Knowledge and learnt Shame?

Innocence is a construct of morality, it doesn't exist in nature and it doesn't exist in humans naturally. I've worked with children a lot, of varying ages, and let me tell you they are filthy creatures. Not just amongst themselves but with older people too.

In Islam it is permissible to marry a girl and consummate the marriage at 9 (or when she reaches menses), in Papua New Guinea for a prepubescent boy to become an adult they must ingest lots of semen, both anally and orally. Now, where does innocence fit in with these two examples?

In fact, I believe "innocence" is a Victorian construct. It didn't exist before 1830 or so.

[Ancient Aliens]

I don't really see why "innocence" is important. Japan has a hyper violent, hyper sexualized culture and their children seem more educated/more adaptible/more mature than British and American children.

[SonOfOdin]

I don't really see why "innocence" is important. Japan has a hyper violent, hyper sexualized culture and their children seem more educated/more adaptible/more mature than British and American children.

Indeed. If I was a small child and I saw a Japanese kid's show, I'd probably be scared to death though.
Inochi anyone?

[SPECTREtm]

I don't really see why "innocence" is important. Japan has a hyper violent, hyper sexualized culture and their children seem more educated/more adaptible/more mature than British and American children.

Long term side effects of nuclear bombings...

[Exarch]

Weren't we all innocent before we evolved Reason and Morals and ate from the Tree of Knowledge and learnt Shame?

Innocence is a construct of morality, it doesn't exist in nature and it doesn't exist in humans naturally. I've worked with children a lot, of varying ages, and let me tell you they are filthy creatures. Not just amongst themselves but with older people too.

In Islam it is permissible to marry a girl and consummate the marriage at 9 (or when she reaches menses), in Papua New Guinea for a prepubescent boy to become an adult they must ingest lots of semen, both anally and orally. Now, where does innocence fit in with these two examples?

In fact, I believe "innocence" is a Victorian construct. It didn't exist before 1830 or so.

can u expand a bit on 'innocence' being a victorian construct?

[hellheaven1987]

I am glad that I have not lost my innocence.

[Exarch]

I am glad that I have not lost my innocence.

that may be<glancing at your piles of human skulls>

when i think 'innocence' i think of the childlike wonder one has before one turns into a cynical person which is part and parcel of maturing and adulthood-as south park portrayed with stan growing up lol

then and again, as someone else pointed out ppl in other cultures and times have had to become adults at a much younger age which leads me to believe that kids of today are mollycoddled.

[hellheaven1987]

when i think 'innocence' i think of the childlike wonder one has before one turns into a cynical person which is part and parcel of maturing and adulthood-as south park portrayed with stan growing up lol

So you mean acting retarded like kids is innocence?

[Border Patrol]

Innocence is a stupid concept, and a recently invented one at that.