Organization: European Space Agency
Newsgroups: bit.listserv.allmusic
Date:         Wed, 29 Jul 1992 10:07:34 CET
From:         Sebastian Welton <SWELTON@ESOC.BITNET>
Subject:      allrep

Coll, Mr.Bloom and Herr ZZAJ, and anyone else,

Seb,
> I argree with you 100%.  I'm just wondering what your views are on what
>is exposed to the children of today's society.  Should we allow them to see
>all the violence and others things that people feel need to be censored?

-

>Interesting choice of words. Have you noticed how few of these busybodies get
>around to advocating any restrictions on violent content or imagery? You can't
>see an actual snuff film, but outside of that, it seems like anything goes. It
>has been calculated that the average American vidiot child has seen some 10,000
>murders by the time he's old enough to vote. But it's okay for him to watch all
>that carnage, whereas it's not okay for him to watch the act of love? What in
>the name of Christ are we afraid of?

-

>Which goes to show you that Amurrikka is headed in the WRONG direction... SO
>much of this crapola is about VIOLENCE... if we need something (on TV, albums
>or tapes) to censor (not that we SHOULD), let it be the National SEX Olympics!


>CONSERVATIVE?  Drugs..., sex..., screwin' 'round with neighbors wives... etc.,
>etc., et. al., ad nauseum... NAW, Michael, I don't AGREE, it's not the
>conservative form you think it is... it's the ACCEPTANCE of that kind of a
>flaky & knee-jerk lifestyle as man's/woman's CONDITION that I object to i
>country!  It PROMOTES such thinking, rather than trying to offer an ALTERNATIVE
>to it...


>AGREED, think the average child should be REQUIRED to watch a few (*good*)
>sex acts - violence promotes violence?  sex promotes sex?  Which is the
>better of the TWO?

Hmmm, where to start? I turned on my television last night to watch the
news. Here, in Europe, there's a civil war raging in the East, which is
good for the media. Every night I see dead human bodies lying in the
street, not made up actors. These are people who once had a future. This
to me is more sickening than watching Arnie, in a fantasy, kill x number
of policemen. Where do you start, where do you stop? The answer of course
lies with you. If you don't like what you see or hear use that button
that says on/off. The people who wish to impose their censorious views
on us wish to use their 'off' button for us.
Once again, turning on my television, this time at weekends, I can watch
any number of soft to medium core sex films. I find that, in my opinion,
there is nothing wrong with this. Harmless fun. Naturally certain types
of sex films I've had the dubious honour of seeing I wouldn't wish on
anyone, but that's up to them if they wish to view them. 'Violence
promotes violence, sex promotes sex', I don't know if this cliche really
stands. If man is really as intelligent as he makes out to be then he
shouldn't be so gullible to promote this maxim.

  FACT: The latest research indicates that there is no connection between
pornography and sex offences. Dr.Paul Gebhard has reported, in Sex
Offenders, An Analysis of Types (Heinemann), that, "A strong response
to pornography is associated with imaginativeness, ability to project
and sensitivity, all of which increase with education, and with
youthfulness. Interestingly, these very qualities account for the
differences we have found between sex offenders (who lack them) and
non-sex offenders. Since the majority of sex offenders are old and
uneducated, their responsiveness to pornography is correspondingly less.
Response to the sight or thought of actual females is a far more
effective stimulus to sex offenders." Happily, Dr. Roger Scrutton has
devastated this argument, pointing out that for a consequentialist, it
would lead to the banning of women. This would be absurd, and anyway as
Dr. Scrutton has shown in The Meaning of Conservatism (Pelican) the
argument against pornography is not consequential. "Statistics in this
area have no serious relevance. Suppose that statistics were to show that
in societies which periodically arrange spectacles involving the
martyrdom of consenting adults in public, before wild beasts or knife
throwers, incidents of public violence are fewer than in other
arrangements, where these healthy, cathartic practices do not occur. Does
this prove anything? Naturally not; for the evil lay not in the results
of the thing but in the thing itself. It is irrelevant that more or less
people do or do not go away from pornographic films and engage in this
or that practice".

Censorship in Germany is extremely different to a lot of the world. The
society is more open and willing to give new ideas a chance. You will
find violence censored to a point, although this has relaxed more. Sex
is virtually uncensored and music, well music is music, why the hell
should you censor it. I'm glad.
If my son came home with a record such as 'Lets get buck naked and fuck',
from one of those 'controversial' rap groups, or 'Blood and honour' by
Skrewdriver, a right wing band, I wouldn't tell him to take it away. I
would allow him to play it, I would listen to it with him and if he
wanted to, talk about it. As a parent I see it as my duty to instil
in him his own sense of moral values and to allow him to decide for
himself what is wrong or right. What I think is wrong or right is my
opinion and I would not force it down anyone's throat.

Another subject...
HYPOTHESIZE: I am a young white man, unemployed, living in a rundown
suburban area, I have a lot of friends like this. We form a group,
our songs concern killing people of another race, raping women, taking
drugs, etc. What would happen?

Seb

~                   Space - The Final Frontier                          ~
~ Sebastian J. Welton               SWELTON@ESOC.BITNET                ~
~ European Space Operations Centre  MVS + VM Operations Analyst        ~
~ Darmstadt, Germany                C.S.S.G. ECD/CS Meteosat Ops.      ~
~  Serco Space Ltd, Sunbury-on-Thames, England, Centre of the Universe  ~
~               Standard disclaimers ensue forthwith                    ~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 And oh, as yes the sky did turn to night, I shield my eyes and hide
 from the bright of day and cast the stone deep into the field of man
 and hide in shame, and low the flag raised in vain and close my mind
   to this lost day and shield my body with ferns of grey and ask no
   more of life unsaved and smile no more and lay here scaved, become
                     the tombstone of my grave.
                    .YNNi NUYCLiAr, diM diOLCh.