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Today as I was browsing through the morning newspapers something really wound me up. Actually it was someone - John Beyer, leader of self appointed moral guardians Mediawatch.
Mediawatch was founded by Mary Whitehouse in the 1960's and was formerly known as the NVLA (National Viewers and Listeners Association). They are basically a pressure group, mostly made up of fundamentalist conservative Christians. It was independently set up to preserve 'moral values' in media and film (and now games) in the UK.
Mary Whitehouse would protest about anything and everything that could in some way cause offence. She also held a ridiculous notion that what we saw and heard would in some way influence grown adults to copy, monkey see, monkey do. This is a terrible insult to any right minded individual residing in the United Kingdom. And none of this had any scientific or psychological foundation. Whitehouse just believed it herself, so by default it must be true, even though she freely admitted that a lot of the things that she took exception to she hadn't actually seen.
Unfortunately quite a few people decided to join her on her moral crusade and John Beyer was one of them. Up until this month John Beyer (or "The Fascist Formerly Known as Mary Whitehouse" as I like to call him) was the director of Mediawatch. He's obviously missing his old job already as he's now decided to chirp in about the Lars Von Trier film Antichrist which has recently been released in cinemas.
His problem with Antichrist is that it's been released by the BBFC uncut. It's a film that has graphic sex acts, genital mutilation and is being bandied about (in the media) as a right old gorefest. And apparently four people walked out of it at the Cannes Film Festival this year. So for these reasons John Beyer wants to get rid of the BBFC as he doesn't believe they've done their jobs properly.
Part of this is because the BBFC have generally been much more liberal since the 80's and 90's where they would take the liberty of cutting films themselves in order to make them 'safe' to release. Now their role is to inform rather than censor.
Because John Beyer doesn't believe the rest of the country can make an informed decision for themselves he wants to reform the way films are classified and bring back strict censorship laws to the United Kingdom.
A scene in Antichrist shows someone getting their penis mutilated. So is this going to be the start of some kind of mass penis mutilation copycatting? Obviously not because believe it or not, men are quite fond of their old chaps. And those that do like hurting their penises do it with or without seeing a Lars Von Trier film. It's because they like it. And you can't censor someone mangling their cock. If it's going to happen, behind closed doors it will.
Now Julian Brazier, who is the conservative MP for Canterbury and who has called for tougher censorship laws in the past, has also jumped on the bandwagon. It was only a matter of time before an MP saw the potential gains they could get from such a media outcry.
It's proposed that the government gets rid of the BBFC and creates a new government ran agency to censor what we as grown adults do and don't see.
Now I think I'm probably a good case study for proving these idiots wrong as I've seen many extreme films in my time, some terrible, some great, and in my 32 years I haven't killed anyone. I'm not a violent person and I don't take drugs. I'll admit I swear but I learnt that at primary school (so why don't we ban schools?). I'm pretty damn sure that the vast majority of people are likewise not affected by violent, graphic or so called 'offensive content'.
What does make me literally shake with anger is people who think they can decide for me what I can and can't watch. I feel like smashing something, far more than after watching the latest violent action or horror movie. And after a google search it seems other people are similarly angered in this way. So what can we do about this?
I propose we ban Mediawatch and censor their ridiculous outbursts as one day someone may read one of their quotes and is patronized to the point of a machete/gun spree killing. Trust me on this, as there's just as much foundation to this as any of Mediawatch's petitions, protests or claims. Lives could possibly be lost or corrupted by Mediawatch's very existence. When I read the quotes by John Beyer, I myself a mild mannered person punched a cushion in anger. I hate to think what would have happened if another person had been in the room - or I was a more violent man. It could quite easily have been someone's smiling face, a child or a pensioner. It could have been catastrophic.
I also propose we seek out and remove politicians that try to exploit the subject of fictionalized violence instead of tackling the real crime that happens on our streets. And in some cases using fiction as a scapegoat for real crime in order to win many misguided votes to keep them in a very large wage courtesy of you and I the taxpayer - who will as a result have our right to decide for ourselves removed.
For me, and frivolity aside, that truly is morally corrupt (far more than a grotesque film) and should be stamped out immediately.
Mediawatch was founded by Mary Whitehouse in the 1960's and was formerly known as the NVLA (National Viewers and Listeners Association). They are basically a pressure group, mostly made up of fundamentalist conservative Christians. It was independently set up to preserve 'moral values' in media and film (and now games) in the UK.
Mary Whitehouse would protest about anything and everything that could in some way cause offence. She also held a ridiculous notion that what we saw and heard would in some way influence grown adults to copy, monkey see, monkey do. This is a terrible insult to any right minded individual residing in the United Kingdom. And none of this had any scientific or psychological foundation. Whitehouse just believed it herself, so by default it must be true, even though she freely admitted that a lot of the things that she took exception to she hadn't actually seen.
Unfortunately quite a few people decided to join her on her moral crusade and John Beyer was one of them. Up until this month John Beyer (or "The Fascist Formerly Known as Mary Whitehouse" as I like to call him) was the director of Mediawatch. He's obviously missing his old job already as he's now decided to chirp in about the Lars Von Trier film Antichrist which has recently been released in cinemas.
His problem with Antichrist is that it's been released by the BBFC uncut. It's a film that has graphic sex acts, genital mutilation and is being bandied about (in the media) as a right old gorefest. And apparently four people walked out of it at the Cannes Film Festival this year. So for these reasons John Beyer wants to get rid of the BBFC as he doesn't believe they've done their jobs properly.
Part of this is because the BBFC have generally been much more liberal since the 80's and 90's where they would take the liberty of cutting films themselves in order to make them 'safe' to release. Now their role is to inform rather than censor.
Because John Beyer doesn't believe the rest of the country can make an informed decision for themselves he wants to reform the way films are classified and bring back strict censorship laws to the United Kingdom.
That last sentence highlights the lack of understanding that goes on at organizations like Mediawatch. John Beyer doesn't like the sound of it, so other people shouldn't see it. Hitler would have been proud.
A scene in Antichrist shows someone getting their penis mutilated. So is this going to be the start of some kind of mass penis mutilation copycatting? Obviously not because believe it or not, men are quite fond of their old chaps. And those that do like hurting their penises do it with or without seeing a Lars Von Trier film. It's because they like it. And you can't censor someone mangling their cock. If it's going to happen, behind closed doors it will.
Now Julian Brazier, who is the conservative MP for Canterbury and who has called for tougher censorship laws in the past, has also jumped on the bandwagon. It was only a matter of time before an MP saw the potential gains they could get from such a media outcry.
It's proposed that the government gets rid of the BBFC and creates a new government ran agency to censor what we as grown adults do and don't see.
Now I think I'm probably a good case study for proving these idiots wrong as I've seen many extreme films in my time, some terrible, some great, and in my 32 years I haven't killed anyone. I'm not a violent person and I don't take drugs. I'll admit I swear but I learnt that at primary school (so why don't we ban schools?). I'm pretty damn sure that the vast majority of people are likewise not affected by violent, graphic or so called 'offensive content'.
What does make me literally shake with anger is people who think they can decide for me what I can and can't watch. I feel like smashing something, far more than after watching the latest violent action or horror movie. And after a google search it seems other people are similarly angered in this way. So what can we do about this?
I propose we ban Mediawatch and censor their ridiculous outbursts as one day someone may read one of their quotes and is patronized to the point of a machete/gun spree killing. Trust me on this, as there's just as much foundation to this as any of Mediawatch's petitions, protests or claims. Lives could possibly be lost or corrupted by Mediawatch's very existence. When I read the quotes by John Beyer, I myself a mild mannered person punched a cushion in anger. I hate to think what would have happened if another person had been in the room - or I was a more violent man. It could quite easily have been someone's smiling face, a child or a pensioner. It could have been catastrophic.
I also propose we seek out and remove politicians that try to exploit the subject of fictionalized violence instead of tackling the real crime that happens on our streets. And in some cases using fiction as a scapegoat for real crime in order to win many misguided votes to keep them in a very large wage courtesy of you and I the taxpayer - who will as a result have our right to decide for ourselves removed.
For me, and frivolity aside, that truly is morally corrupt (far more than a grotesque film) and should be stamped out immediately.
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