You Should Read His Powerful Article

When Dax Shepard and Kristen Bell announced their boycott of celebrity magazines that pay photographers for pictures of celebrities' children last week, and urged fans and consumers to do the same, it caused a huge stir. The married actor couple feels that their daughter's life will be in danger if she's stalked by the paparazzi from a young age, for fear of growing up thinking that people pushing and shoving to get a picture of her and being followed by bodyguards is the norm. This goes for other children as well, who are subject to voyeurism and being photographed against their will as a minor. On Friday, Dax Shepard published an essay in The Huffington Post that explained the reasoning behind he and Bell's Twitter announcement so that the public could better understand his thinking in the whole matter.

Shepard addresses how he wants to protect his child, like any parent, and says that people who like seeing paparazzi photos of celebrities' children probably like children in general, and would hopefully want to protect them.

It would be miraculous if the situation changed and celebrities' children got to be just children, Shepard writes. And it would be even more miraculous if that change came from the will of the people and not legislation. I think this could be a good step in our ever evolving social consciousness.

Then, Shepard listed negative tweets he got about his boycott, and addressed a few.

You knew what you were getting into when you signed up to be famous.

First of all, god how I wish there had been an actual "sign-up" sheet. That would have saved me the eight years of no work I endured. Secondly, yes, I do know what comes with the job, which is why I'm NOT asking you to boycott magazines with my photo in them. I'm only asking on behalf of my child who did not "sign up."

There are way more important things to boycott than your rich kid getting her picture taken.

I couldn't agree more. This is very low on the list indeed. But, it is, nevertheless, on the list. We aren't asking you to ignore a man on fire for this cause, but after you've helped extinguish him, there's no reason you can't whisper in his ear, "Hey, don't buy Us Weekly. They display photos of children being stalked."

Why don't you just post your own pics so it will devalue the paparazzi's?

We don't believe it works that way. A photo from us won't satiate curiosity; it will simply introduce a new character into the soap opera. We think out-of-sight, out-of-mind is the best defense.

Boo-hoo. Cry me a river. Why don't you get a real job and stop whining.

Hmm. Well, I understand you resent what I do for a living. There is no arguing that there is very little lifting involved. However, there couldn't be a more detestable racket than Bernie Madoff's Ponzi scheme, and yet, I would never want to see his two year-old sons ambushed for his repugnance.

Stop acting like you're Brad and Angelina. No one cares about you or your kid.

Another strong point. This is very true. We don't deal with anything close to what they deal with. If paps were cancer, they'd have small cell carcinoma and we'd have a suspicious looking mole that should probably come off just to be safe. Despite the different threat level, it's still best to seek treatment.

You're a shitty actor and your movies suck.

...that's subjective?

You're awesome, Dax. And this well-written article deserves to be taken seriously because children everywhere deserve our support.