ChildWiki

From ChildWiki, the children's liberation encyclopedia

ChildWiki is the children's liberation encyclopedia that anyone can edit. This site hosts articles, essays and other material concerning the philosophy, culture and activities of the global movement to establish liberty, equality, justice, tolerance and personal responsibility for all peaceful people, regardless of age. Readers are welcome to contribute research and novel arguments that will further the search for the truth.

Philosophy

ChildWiki's creation was motivated by a belief that the classical liberal school of political thought holds the most promise for protecting the rights of the most vulnerable members of society and giving them the opportunity to reach their full potential. The claim to speak on behalf of "children's rights" had largely been arrogated by adherents to paternalistic ideologies who sought to imprison children within a system of "stewardship" that actually amounted to institutionalized slavery — both of the chattel variety, in which children were forced to submit to the will of their household masters, and of the socialistic kind, in which young people were consigned to the grey, bureaucratic tyranny of municipal indoctrination centers, where a pointless, tedious, mind-numbing, soul-crushing, spirit-sapping routine masquerades as instruction.

Some of the people who operate this system truly have good intentions; but this does not make their behavior any more ethical or the results any better. The relentless subjugation of children to the will of parents and teachers, and the forcible stifling of children's efforts to pursue their own interests, breeds resentment and teaches them that violence and domination by the strong, rather than civilized, peaceful exchanges and voluntary cooperation, are the solution to problems. The system manifests an example of a group choosing by majority vote to oppress the individual; and then people wonder why young people later join criminal gangs or bully those who are different and wish to live by different standards than the herd.

ChildWiki sets forth a vision of a freer society in which children can choose their own destiny. In this society, the role of parents and their various proxies will be to provide guidance and resources (with the consent of all parties involved) rather than to control. There will be no arbitrary government-imposed distinctions made based on age. Instead, the self-ownership and non-aggression principles will be applied equally to all, and children will have the same rights as anyone else to seek out the means of protecting those rights in a free marketplace.

Motto

The motto "The Children's Liberation Encyclopedia" emulates the phraseology of the women's liberation movement and is also an ironic takeoff on the terminology of collectivist entities such as "The People's Liberation Army". Wikis are by their nature collectivist entities, in which the collection of articles is a commons tended to by the users, operating under the authority of a (hopefully benevolently) dictatorial site owner. However, it is different from the unethical sort of totalitarian dictatorships in that the users are welcome to leave at any time and set up one or more competing websites without opposition from the wiki from which they withdrew their consent to be governed.

External links

• ChildWiki