Censorship gone wild

Censorship gone wild

As if all the brouhaha in the lead-up to the Royal Gen Next Wedding wasn’t enough, the monarchy had to go and put the kibosh on what many were looking forward to the most — the live commentary planned by The Chaser. When news first broke of ‘#Chasergate’, the ether went into overdrive.

Twitter was abuzz with outcries.

A similar ban was also apparently in place on the use of social media during the Logies, off the back of Wil Anderson’s delightfully inappropriate tweets. Sure, he may have gone too far. But people have the option not to follow — the same as we’re all capable of switching the telly off if we find something offensive. But no, we’d rather be offended and complain.

What happened to freedom of speech?

If pernicious hate groups like the Westboro Baptist Church can picket the funerals of gay soldiers based on the assertion this is part of their right to free speech, why can’t we can’t take the piss with the royal wedding or the Logies?

While I was able to forget that the bill for the royal wedding was coming from the public purse, I actually found myself enjoying some of it. Which I’ll deny, of course.

But the Logies? Really? It’s one of the most tedious things on TV. Tuning into the Twittersphere was the only reason to watch. ‘Internet personalities’, ‘cyber experts’ and professional assholes converged to sprinkle their sardonic wit over Australian TV’s night of nights. Josh Thomas tweeted anyway.

Observational humour feeds social media. Yes, power on your smartphone or laptop, smiling and nodding. “It’s funny ’cos it’s true,” we ooze in admiration of the schmick observational banter. I’ve realised why I love Twitter. I’m a smart ass. I can finally put my acid tongue to good use, and be recognised for my sarcasm.

The nanny brigade needs to relax. We lost Big Brother on account of the self-appointed gatekeepers of our great unspoken moral code.

The Australian Christian Lobby and Family First loonies throw popcorn at the screen from the sidelines.

If the internet filter is ever installed, we can pretty much say goodbye to the worldwide web as we know it. No more porn, no more dating sites, no more anything, really.

I think I’ll go throw rocks at metal.

info: Follow SSO at @star_observer and
Damien @damientweeting

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8 responses to “Censorship gone wild”

  1. Why do you assume I am supporting a world without values ? Did you even read what I wrote above ? I advocate measures to protect kids online however I do not believe a multi million dollar Internet filter to be the answer. If you check the facts on the proposed scheme, it would not even deliver the proposed results !

  2. In that case jallybear, your supporting an already world of no values and yes there are people who disagree with you.

  3. Owen, kids will be kids will be kids. They will always find a way to access “undesirable content” So…….. what happened to effective parenting ? A good parent should have an honest relationship with their children and know what their online habits are. If they don’t….. there are squillions of antivirus programmes already available which offer more than sufficient parental control to protect children. Surely this is a better solution than the multi-billion dollar filter which imposes state sanctioned cencorship on consenting adults ? You may wish to check your research Owen, as the costly filter is not welcome in this country. It is also easy to get around for those with higher levels of tech savvy – VPNs etc. It is more than a costly piece of “feel-good legislation” aimed at gullible, paranoid families obsessed with so called Christian values ! Trust me, Owen, if it is ever installed, you will be eating your words

  4. Im all for internet filters as theres so much undesirable content and um kids use the internet. Jallybear, most of australians actually support the internet filter.

  5. The so called Internet filter is opposed by the majority of Australians and I believe what most who support it do not realize is that not only will it slow down our already sad DL speeds but consumers will not be aware of what is on the “blacklist” A simple google search on “breast cancer” or “erectile dysfunction” could be incorrectly blocked based on words flagged to prompt the filter. If you have ever had a really strict web filter at work, it would be similar to that, only worse. It would be a step back into the dark ages ! Censorship is alive and well in Australia, the Internet filter would see us in the company of some of the most backward and oppressive countries in the world. As this article says, if you are offended by something, turn the bloody thing off !!

  6. The so called Internet filter is opposed by the majority of Australians and I believe what most who support it do not realize is that not only will it slow down our already sad DL speeds but consumers will not be aware of what is on the “blacklist” A simple google search on “breast cancer” or “erectile dysfunction” could be incorrectly blocked based on words flagged to prompt the filter. If you have ever had a really strict web filter at work, it would be similar to that, only worse. It would be a step back into the dark ages ! Censorship is alive and well in Australia, the Internet filter would see us in the company of some of the most backward and oppressive countries in the world. As this article says, if you are offended by something, turn the bloody thing off !

  7. Go Damien,

    If I’ve said it once I’ve said it a thousand times to my friends, an uncensored net means freedom of thought and a healthy respect for other peoples points of view.

    Unfortunately some people will always want to censor it, in which case all I can say in reply is :- “What you can not enforce, do not command” – Sophocles