Censorship for Horlicks drinkers?
It would appear that there is a growing movement within America as well as this country that would have the scenes, be they photos or film, of September the 11th severely censored . As far as we can tell this is not a government backed notion but would seem to emanate from the politically correct. classes who cannot contemplate seeing some sort of public event or contemporary concern without trying to sanitise and control the information received by the rest of mankind. This attitude is not only deeply patronising and arrogant but is also dangerous for democracy and individual freedom.
I know not who these people are although I imagine them going to bed at ten with a cup of Horlicks and their pyjamas buttoned up right to the very top. But this constant assumption of theirs that we, the great unwashed, are incapable of making up our own minds and coming to our own conclusions is one I find deeply offensive. It is bad enough that the American government is buying up all the otherwise publicly available satellite images of Afghanistan (and so bypassing any court challenge to their right to simply prohibit the publication of the pictures) without do-gooding busybodies doing their murky work for them elsewhere.
Yes the picture of people jumping from the tower were moving but how can they be intrusive when nobody has the faintest idea who they were? And if we are to ban all images that may upset somebody somewhere let us start with our own governments present anti smoking campaign. A lady who is about to die appearing daily on our telly in a state of some upset hardly reassures those who might have cancer or are in remission. And what about those pictures of Afghan limbs wrent from the bodies of innocent farmers by misguided USAF bombs? No wonder the USA wants all such images removed from our screens. In fact I am beginning to think that the pressure groups seeking self imposed censorship are perhaps civil servants doing their masters bidding on their day off.
We can only gaze back in wonder at the freedom allowed journalists and photographers during the Vietnam war and this magazines coverage of the photographic record is only to be applauded. These gritty, unpleasant images of death and wanton destruction in the name of freedom and democracy only underline the complete lack of information we receive on present day conflicts, conflicts that are being fought in our name and at our expense.
Closer to home we are discouraged from seeing the less immediate consequences of wars by some sort of self imposed morel holiness. An example would be the primary school serving, amongst others, the SAS barracks near Hereford, this has, for the obvious reason, recently been enclosed in a high, grim, steel mesh fence that does little more than imprison the children within. As a father of children of the same age I shudder to think that my offspring should be educated in such a 'secure' establishment. But has a picture ever been published of this menacing development? and would any national publication do so anyway in a bid to promote debate about the militarisation of our society and what is acceptable in the name of security? I fear not.
David Blunkett made the statement "We may need to review the balance between security and freedom in this country". These are perhaps the most chilling words I have ever heard coming from a minister. George Orwell has already explained the true meaning behind such concepts in Nineteen Eighty Four. It is time we reread the book and then start to fight this benign totalitarianism with both pictures and words.
Justin Roberts.