Aardvark Daily

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Have we gone insane?

I guess there's hardly anyone who doesn't read a good crime novel from time to time or watch TV dramas and films which portray murder, assault, theft and sometimes rape.

Some of our most celebrated authors and directors have specialised in creating works that contain significant violence and deal with the darker side of human nature that results in illegal activity.

Fortunately, relaxing in the Lazy-boy and watching a movie such as Straw Dogs, A Clockwork Orange, The Godfather or whatever is not illegal. Likewise, I believe that Sky TV has a full-time porn channel or two in which the act of coitus is regularly depicted.

However, if you are foolish enough to watch cartoons depicting totally fictitious creatures such as pixies engaged in the same acts --well then it's likely to be jail-time for you.

Yes, an NZer has been imprisoned for possession of "pixie-porn" in cartoon form.

The rationale for treating the possession of this anime art as harshly as that for possession of child pornography hangs on the assertion that people who watch this stuff will eventually go on to offend against children.

Well while I am as strongly opposed to the exploitation of children for *any* purpose, I really have to wonder if the thought-police have dropped an oar on this one.

If what we watch really can have such an effect on our future actions then ought we not ban all those war comics, cowboy comics, RoadRunner cartoons and the like -- for fear they will lead to violent offending by those who read them?

And certainly, those very realistic TV dramas which expose us to a regular diet of murder and violence on the box (now in HD) must be several orders of magnitude worse than some clearly unreal cartoon characters engaged in acts of procreation.

Surely this conviction must have some hidden elements.

Surely there are things about this case that have not been disclosed to the media.

Was the offender also in possession of *real* child pornography?

Had he offended against children in the past?

I think the public has a right to know because if there are no such additional factors then every person in this country ought to be very worried that we now have "thought police" whose allegations are accepted by the court at face value and result in custodial sentences for those accused.

In the wake of this, NZ is becoming something of a laughing stock and appearing to be prudish beyond belief. The world's media (including its tech-media) are running stories like this one which make us look very bad.

That anyone 18 or older can walk into any video shop and grab very realistic portrayals of people having sex or killing each other by way of popular movies without penalty (yet) also seems to highlight the hypocrisy of this ruling by our courts.

Is anyone other than me worried -- or is this another SBRM ("She'll Be Right" Moment)?

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