"Think of the Children" Trope

Comments critique or reference the 'think of the children' argument as a manipulative trope used to justify policies, rights restrictions, or surveillance, often sarcastically on Hacker News.

📉 Falling 0.5x Politics & Society
4,792
Comments
20
Years Active
5
Top Authors
#7948
Topic ID

Activity Over Time

2007
2
2008
16
2009
42
2010
84
2011
60
2012
113
2013
166
2014
101
2015
154
2016
170
2017
185
2018
227
2019
391
2020
271
2021
525
2022
626
2023
677
2024
378
2025
569
2026
35

Keywords

HN wikipedia.org WOMEN en.m AND ycombinator.com CHILDREN children think children women protecting kids argument protect death porn dare

Sample Comments

seanw444 May 2, 2023 View on HN

Wow, even HN has taken the "but think of the children" pill.

dependenttypes Aug 28, 2020 View on HN

Seems like yet another instance of "give up your rights, think of the children" case.

mjwalshe Feb 11, 2012 View on HN

Normally "protecting children" comes into it some where :-(

bryanrasmussen Aug 24, 2021 View on HN

uh, 'to protect the children' would like to have a word.

hayksaakian Mar 18, 2014 View on HN

"think of the children" works for a reason

haberman Jun 13, 2012 View on HN

Hey HN: bet you never expected "think of the children" to support an argument you agree with. :)

omt123 Dec 16, 2025 View on HN

It's a good question, but please no "think of the children" argument which is being abused in other contexts.

throwaway290 Nov 19, 2025 View on HN

they telling us to "think of the children" again am I right? /s

soulofmischief Apr 19, 2025 View on HN

It's protecting the parents at the expense of the children.

data_maan Mar 26, 2023 View on HN

This is yet another instance of "Think of the children":https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Think_of_the_children