Another warning about new dangers facing children

A 12-year-old girl and a 23-year-old male are accused of murdering three members of a family. That's unsettling enough, but what adds a special chill to the story is the information about how these two got together. "Accused killers met on vampire website":

The tie that binds the two -- aside from the criminal charges they now face -- is the Internet.
According to a friend of the 12-year-old girl, she met Steinke online at VampireFreaks.com, a website that caters to "gothic industrial culture," and claims to have over 500,000 members. ...
"Usually we hear about the Internet being used by predators to lure teens to be victimized," said John Manzo, a sociologist at the University of Calgary. "This is an unexplored danger of the Internet, that it gives people who would normally be isolated in their desires a social network to find like-minded people. ..."

In another generation, this kind of thing would provoke some anguished conversation about the need to protect our children. These days, though, it seems far more likely to provoke urgent appeals not to over-react by restricting the free flow of information. These days, it seems the greatest evils are censorship and restrictions on free speech.

In former generations, adults routinely endured inconveniences for the sake of the children. Society as a whole worked to support parents in the difficult task of child rearing. The most important thing was protecting the innocence of children.

But lately, it seems the attitude is "when did your kids become my problem?" Adults bristle at even the most minor restrictions on their free expression or access to whatever they desire. So what if a few kids get trampled in the process? Isn't that the parents' responsibility?