Is that it's Art enough?
Current Music: Whiteslug -- Fucklove 
I'd largely let the Bill Henson thing pass me by until tcpip brought it up tonight. I was amused (but not surprised) to discover Rudd's level of condemnation, and dismayed (but not surprised) that the ABC clearly feels less able to take a stand than The Age.
Two separate polls on ninemsn apparently showed an overwhelming number of respondents didn't think the works themselves were pornographic, and I'd certainly agree. But I would question whether "the Caravaggio Defence"-that this is Art, intended for a self-selected, Art-sensible minority-remains defence enough today, when the media have gone to so much effort to alarm the public about paedophilia (and the internet is now the gallery).
It seems to me that this is a bit like the Jyllands-Posten thing: we may need to make allowances for the extreme level of brain-breaking outrage our free expression might cause to our more conservative fellows, or we risk being rightly accused of crass insensitivity. Or is that a craven argument for self-censorship? I have to admit, I'm having a hard time deciding whether I stand on this one.
Thoughts?
I'd largely let the Bill Henson thing pass me by until tcpip brought it up tonight. I was amused (but not surprised) to discover Rudd's level of condemnation, and dismayed (but not surprised) that the ABC clearly feels less able to take a stand than The Age.
Two separate polls on ninemsn apparently showed an overwhelming number of respondents didn't think the works themselves were pornographic, and I'd certainly agree. But I would question whether "the Caravaggio Defence"-that this is Art, intended for a self-selected, Art-sensible minority-remains defence enough today, when the media have gone to so much effort to alarm the public about paedophilia (and the internet is now the gallery).
It seems to me that this is a bit like the Jyllands-Posten thing: we may need to make allowances for the extreme level of brain-breaking outrage our free expression might cause to our more conservative fellows, or we risk being rightly accused of crass insensitivity. Or is that a craven argument for self-censorship? I have to admit, I'm having a hard time deciding whether I stand on this one.
Thoughts?