I keep coming back to kidnapping because the I think the example fits. I have been trying to avoid getting into super picky details because I consider the details to be obvious. I apologize for being obtuse.
If I stop by the local pool and convince a kid to take a trip with me and feed it ice-cream, take it to the zoo, and then return the kid to the pool before anyone else notices, was the kidnapping wrong? Would you even call it kidnapping?
If someone found out after the fact and charged me with kidnapping, could I use the defense, “But the kid liked it! It was fun and no harm was done!”?
This is from an above comment you made:
Removing a child from a parent is a harm (as witness the panicked parent). It’s not so much a matter of consent, as of making people worry and separating them from their family. The parents have a protective interest in the child, which is harmed by their non-consent to the zoo trip. This is the very thing that makes it “kidnapping” and not “visiting with friends”. It is a separate harm, which is why the distinction I drew is relevant.
You say that the reason kidnapping is wrong is because the parents will worry. Parents worry about all sorts of things and most of them were not made illegal. Many parents would worry if their child was having sex with an adult.
If you really don’t like the example we can just skip to the abstract view. If I consciously manipulate someone into wanting a particular something, can I use their desire as a justification for my actions? Or, if I brainwash them into having sex with me, is it considered consent?
What are the current laws about consent under the influence of alcohol? That also seems relevant. What about people with mental handicaps? The basic point is that “consent” is not a cut and dry excuse. Consent can be manipulated and it is much easier to manipulate consent out of a child than an adult.
This is not an argument one way or the other, but merely asking if consent from children should mean the same thing as consent from adults.
Didn’t we already beat that one to death? The child’s volition isn’t all that’s involved with kidnapping. It isn’t directly comparable.
I keep coming back to kidnapping because the I think the example fits. I have been trying to avoid getting into super picky details because I consider the details to be obvious. I apologize for being obtuse.
If I stop by the local pool and convince a kid to take a trip with me and feed it ice-cream, take it to the zoo, and then return the kid to the pool before anyone else notices, was the kidnapping wrong? Would you even call it kidnapping?
If someone found out after the fact and charged me with kidnapping, could I use the defense, “But the kid liked it! It was fun and no harm was done!”?
This is from an above comment you made:
You say that the reason kidnapping is wrong is because the parents will worry. Parents worry about all sorts of things and most of them were not made illegal. Many parents would worry if their child was having sex with an adult.
If you really don’t like the example we can just skip to the abstract view. If I consciously manipulate someone into wanting a particular something, can I use their desire as a justification for my actions? Or, if I brainwash them into having sex with me, is it considered consent?
What are the current laws about consent under the influence of alcohol? That also seems relevant. What about people with mental handicaps? The basic point is that “consent” is not a cut and dry excuse. Consent can be manipulated and it is much easier to manipulate consent out of a child than an adult.
This is not an argument one way or the other, but merely asking if consent from children should mean the same thing as consent from adults.