amand_r: (the server is robust)
amand_r ([personal profile] amand_r) wrote2010-01-25 11:54 am

man. for reals?

I am not a serious person here that much, so I like to think that when I do get serious, it means something.

One of my greatest fears, aside from Jaws, zombies and gas station coffee, is someone telling me what I am and am not allowed to see. What my kid should be seeing. You are not my child's parent. You are not my parent. Not even my parents tell me what I can and cannot look at, because I am a grown up now, with real coffee and real debt and a brain inside my skull that is capable of higher thought processes, even when I'm wanking to porn that I got off the interwebs.

Because that's what the censorship issue in Australia is all about: kids, wanking, getting off, who does it, who's not getting any, and who gets to decide any and all of these things.

I forget sometimes, that Australia doesn't have a bill of rights, and so this is a very real thing.

And I can't really do anything about it, except direct you here, so that you can read it yourself and decide if you think it's real. I think it is. And I don't know what legal recourse Aussie citizens have if this goes through, to appeal. It makes me very grateful that we are actually capable of saying, "that's unconstitutional", because they don't.

Woah. For srs. So look. If we can do anything as non-Aussies, it's raise awareness.

This week, from the 25th to the 29th is the Great Aussie Website Blackout. If you're an Aussie, I feel for ya, and this is ridiculous.

I have a small soapbox, so: information should be unfettered by censors of this nature (I'm not going to fool myself into thinking that all information is running free through a daisy field, even as a society we often ourselves censor and each other, but that is for another day.). No one gets to decide what's appropriate for me to read/watch. You don't like spanking? Fine, DON'T LOOK FOR IT, AND WHEN YOU FIND IT BY ACCIDENT, GO AWAY. You don't remove it for everyone.

Seriously, people who thinks this is a good idea? And how much are they not getting laid? Or what? I got nothing.

[identity profile] amand-r.livejournal.com 2010-01-27 06:17 am (UTC)(link)
why oompa loompas?

[identity profile] oncomingscone.livejournal.com 2010-01-27 06:31 am (UTC)(link)
Because 'no-one ever goes in, and no-one ever comes out' (ref: Willy Wonka and The Chocolate Factory).

Ergo. North Korea: Oompa Loompas.

[identity profile] amand-r.livejournal.com 2010-01-27 06:34 am (UTC)(link)
Haahahah I forgot that part.

[identity profile] oncomingscone.livejournal.com 2010-01-27 06:39 am (UTC)(link)
My grandmother tatooed that movie on my brain when I was 7. It won't come off.

But really - well done for posting about this. Hopefully you're not Chicken Little (or Chicken Licken as we called him in England for some reason).

Thank you and goodnight.

[identity profile] debitha.livejournal.com 2010-01-27 10:05 am (UTC)(link)
I see no reason why it shouldn't. Someone should email them. Anna Paquin's a kiwi - she might go for it.

[identity profile] debitha.livejournal.com 2010-01-27 10:11 am (UTC)(link)
Oh Australia. No.

[identity profile] kin-you-bi.livejournal.com 2010-01-28 09:47 am (UTC)(link)
I didn't comment when you posted this, because I'm an Aussie, and I spend approximately 97% of my time talking about this at the moment. But today I found out about this (http://www.somebodythinkofthechildren.com/australia-bans-small-breasts/) (followed up by this) (http://www.somebodythinkofthechildren.com/classification-board-responds-to-small-breasts-ban/) and just thought you might want to see just how stupid my country is getting. Like... we always used to say (no offense) "at least we don't live in America", and now we're saying "damn we should move to America". Because at least you have a constitutional right to free speech. And classification systems that understand the difference between 'under 18' and 'looking like your under 18'. So, um yeah. And thank you for rabble-rousing on your side of the planet on our behalf!

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