Nanny State

Now there are some things you just don't want to know about people aren't there? Just to give an example Nemi (Metro-August 25) tells her friend Cyan - "It's much more natural to get to know people over time! I never begin a conversation by telling people what I think about when I masturbate"
So you don't really want to know what I think about fetish models, do you? But I'm going to make some remarks anyway...eventually. The UK government have announced a consultation document to make the posession of Extreme Pornography illegal and with a maximum sentence of 3 years in prison. Why? Because of pressure groups campaigning for this material to be banned following the murder of a young woman at the hands of an individual obsessed with violent fantasy, who claimed to have been influenced by such porn - no doubt in a futile attempt to reduce his sentence - Murder is murder and life imprisonment should mean just that.
So now we're back to the passive imitation of aggression argument posited by Bandura and used regularly for attempts to ban things ranging from tastless films like Crash to the Mutant Ninja Turtles. Research used for dubious purposes again - remember that the misapplication of research is one of the things that led to Nazi racial policy. So we're now back on the slippery slope.
Anyway the actual material they wish to ban is:- beastiality, necrophilia, serious violence in a sexual context and serious sexual violence. Not that I have any objections to some or all of this being banned but who will make the decisions?
So what's this got to do with my original mention of fetish models? Well I have a particular affection for the Morticia Addams type character, a femme fatal vampyre siren in advanced corsetry really does it for me. Now this seems to me to be a little close to some of the material that they want to ban, so what will happen to images of Gothic Horror - Will pin-ups of Morrigan Hel or Lilith Leda become illegal? Will possession of images of Dita von Teese lead to a "Go directly to jail do not collect your £200" card?
When will our govenment realise that of all forms of censorship the most effective is self-censorship and that an education which includes the basis of morality might just be more effective than legislation in the end?

Yours from the Lichen Fort...