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"Think of the children" (or "What about the children?") is a phrase which evolved into a rhetorical tactic.〔〔〔 Literally, it refers to children's rights (as in discussions of child labor);〔〔〔 in debate the plea for pity, used as an appeal to emotion, is a logical fallacy.〔〔〔 ''Art, Argument, and Advocacy'' (2002) argued that the appeal substitutes emotion for reason in debate.〔 Ethicist Jack Marshall wrote in 2005 that the phrase's popularity stems from its capacity to stunt rationality, particularly discourse on morals.〔 "Think of the children" has been invoked by censorship proponents to shield children from perceived danger.〔〔 ''Community, Space and Online Censorship'' (2009) noted that classifying children in an infantile manner, as innocents in need of protection, is a form of obsession over the concept of purity.〔 A 2011 article in the ''Journal for Cultural Research'' observed that the phrase grew out of a moral panic.〔 It was an exhortation in the 1964 Walt Disney Pictures film ''Mary Poppins'', when the character of Mrs. Banks pleaded with her departing nanny not to quit and to "think of the children!".〔 The phrase was popularized as a satiric reference on the animated television program ''The Simpsons'' in 1996,〔〔 when character Helen Lovejoy pleaded "Won't somebody please think of the children!"〔〔〔 during a contentious debate by citizens of the fictional town of Springfield.〔〔〔 In the 2012 ''Georgia State University Law Review'', Charles J. Ten Brink called Lovejoy's use of "Think of the children" a successful parody.〔 The appeal's subsequent use in society was often the subject of mockery.〔 After its popularization on ''The Simpsons'', the phrase has been called "Lovejoy's Law",〔 the "Helen Lovejoy defence", the "Helen Lovejoy Syndrome",〔 and "think-of-the-children-ism".〔〔 ==Background== Sociologist Joel Best wrote in 1993 that during the late 19th century, adults developed an increased concern for the welfare of children. Best noted that societies experienced decreasing birth rates after industrialization, with parents focusing their attention on fewer children. According to him, at that time adults began to view childhood as a sacred period of development and children as invaluable, adorable, guiltless beings. During the 1970s and 1980s, Best wrote, adults saw children as potential victims and sought to eliminate perceived threats.〔Best 1993, pp. 3–6.〕 In the 1995 compilation ''Children and the Politics of Culture'', anthropologist Vivienne Wee analyzed the perception of children by adults and how it supported the concept of children's rights. Wee wrote that in this model (which she called the European pattern), children were seen as defenseless, unadulterated, and in need of protection by authoritative adults. According to Wee, this European pattern led to the idea that children required the sanctuary of the United Nations Charter and the Convention on the Rights of the Child.〔 Wee wrote: "Alternatively, children's vulnerability could be interpreted as purity and innocence, needing the protection of responsible adults. It is this second, protective mode of interpretation that underlies the very idea of children's rights, needing the protection of a UN charter -- hence the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child."〔 She observed that the view of youth as weak and innocent focused on what might occur if children's rights were not shielded.〔Wee 1995, p. 188.〕 Wee argued that this behavior towards children was not entirely positive. According to her, this mindset may lead to hypocrisy by adults who assume that all their actions intend to protect children and creates the risk that adults may wield power "for the children's own good". Noting that adult authority may be masked as empathy, Wee concluded: "These alternative cultural interpretations of the vulnerability of children would thus generate their own respective political and psychological consequences."〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「think of the children」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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