War Journal Entry number 613 - England sucks
OK, England doesn't totally suck, but there is some significantly stupid BS working its way towards becoming law.
New pornography laws 'could make comic books illegal', say campaigners
Yeah, I'm appalled by most of this, though I find the comicshopvoice.co.uk argument about mainstream comics weak at best, but what had me shouting at the screen was the following -
"portrayals of such extreme activity by actors will be allowed on screen. However, imitations by characters on paper will not enjoy such an exemption."
Wait, it's OK for actors to pretend to do it, but not drawings? Ink on paper can't be as dirty as real live people???That's the biggest bowl of cognitive dissonance I've had to swallow in quite a while. I still can't wrap my brain around the logic of it, the only thing I figure is that the film industry has enough money to protect their interests but the print industry isn't as organized. And a law that has loopholes owing to who has money to get out of it isn't a law worth having.
Admittedly, America has plenty of those type of cash-bought loopholes on our books, and plenty of things that make little to no logical sense to anyone that is open-minded enough to only be outraged by hypocrisy and the infringement of individual rights.
They are also introducing "a similar law banning the possession of any image involving sexual activity and children." I've never gotten that. It's drawings. Yes, I am opposed to child pornography because, since they are children, they don't have the wherewithal to consent and are therefore being abused. You don't need to get consent from ink because it's inaminate. Plus, interpreted loosely, this wouldn't just be against porn but also a great number of "legitimate" stories that are meant to horrify and inform, not arouse. Issues of Sandman and Hellblazer come to mind.
It may not always feel like it, and we have to vigilantly protect it, but at least America has freedom of press on the books. And I'm thankful for that.