And here we go again
Sunday, December 20th, 2009 at 9:21 amThink of the porn, censor the children. Oh, wait, that should go the other way around. And the bestiality. Gotta get the bloody bestiality back where the kids can’t see it — out in the back paddock where it’s a private matter between a man and his livestock. The current (KRudd) Australian Labor government just doesn’t want to give this one up.
So that communications minister Stephen Conroy announces legislation to Censor The Internet And Keep Australia Pure will be introduced….just before next year’s election. Bearing in mind that opposition leader Tony Abbott is an outspoken wowser with a support base of religious nutjobs, it isn’t a huge stretch to see the strategy behind the move.
Putting aside the possibility of the legislation getting through both houses of parliament and actually going into effect, which is scary enough, what worries me more than the possibility of a national-level internet (really World Wide Web) filter is the opportunity the Rudd government has just handed “Mad Monk” Tony Abbott.
They must be assuming that Abbott and the Liberal Party will support the legislation. Which they might. But if they do, will the antediluvians and troglodytes have any reason to change their vote to Labor, who after all still support the right to abortion, birth control, schooling for girls, etc?
And they also might not support it. Abbott’s response to minister Conroy’s announcement was notably guarded. There are certainly Liberal MPs who don’t want it. And Abbott, well, what he wants is to be Prime Minister. Very, very much. If he can learn to subdue his personal agendas to the demands of his ambition, learn patience and mature in guile, he could recast himself. Be seen to put his own extreme views aside in the name of supporting the views of the majority. Be a bloke of the folk, just like John Howard. And get elected, just like John Howard. And then gradually, when the door of opportunity opens, shove his own agenda through it onto the country, just like John Howard.
If Abbott plays his cards right, he could conceivably pick up a fair few swinging or simply furious voters. If those voters are in marginal seats, there’s your election. The Exclusive Brethren will be happy, and the rest of Australia will be wondering what they’ve gone and done.
Or am I wrong? I’ve been away from home for four years now, and haven’t spent long enough on visits to pick up the pulse of the zeitgeist. Has the place really changed that much? Has a tide of wowserism swept in, and a tide of stupidity too? Because censorship will not make the internet a nice place for children to play, and filtering the web will not stop the electronic circulation of child pornography and other criminal material. Errors are inevitable (a leaked list of “planned” sites to ban included a dentist’s web page) and the scope for abuse enormous. It really isn’t too hard to understand this. And it’s easy to be either appalled that our federal government doesn’t understand, or offended that they think we don’t, however you interpret their actions.
I hope that at next year’s election KRudd & co do get back in, because the alternative is dismal. But I hope their majority is so thin that their arrogance won’t be able to squeeze through it.
December 20th, 2009 at 11:10 am
Everyone I know over here is D= D= D= D= at the internet filter. They’re also D= D= D= D= at Abbott, and I imagine they’ll sigh and vote Rudd because, like you say, abortions, birth control and so on are nice things to have. (Please tell me you are joking about the schooling for girls.)
(I still can believe your Liberal party is so conservative. MISNOMER, ANYONE?)
An extra level of stupidity is that, according to Penny, actual experts and saying, “No, really, internet speed is really going to be affected.” Meanwhile the government insists no one’ll notice the difference. I can’t help but suspect that, while broadband users will probably cope, those on dial-up in the countryside are going to have a hellish time.
Ludicrous and stupid and offensive and, seriously, how hard is it for parents to censor their own children’s access, and for adults to use the internet with whichever level of care they choose. Unless someone really thinks this is going to deter kiddy fiddlers, etc. Which, uh, it’s called IP proxy. People are going to get around this quite easily.
December 20th, 2009 at 11:10 am
*I still can’t believe.
LOL typing fail
December 20th, 2009 at 4:47 pm
The issue of slow connections for country users is another reason for the Liberals to vote against this legislation — or for their senators to turn it down, even if it gets through the lower house — since they and their coalition partners, the National party, rely on rural electorates for a big chunk of their vote.
If the Labor party really do make this an election issue, it might actually backfire in a good way; worried voters might elect more Greens (who occupy the socially liberal position lately vacated by Labor) to the Senate.
Yes, I’m kidding about schooling for girls. It’s awfully hard to believe that the gov’t really wants to risk the ire of the majority to go after a few odd folk on the religious fringe, which is why I wonder whether I’m wrong about the majority opinion these days. It’s good to hear that aghastness is being voiced — but if you’re hanging with Penny’s friends, they’re probably all intelligent.
December 20th, 2009 at 5:38 pm
I feel that We as australians need another party, not the toothless tigers that is the greens, I am tired of Cairman Rudd, and Mad Monk does not sit well with me.
Turnbull was a bastard who couldn’t lead at all sadly I am hoping for one of 2 things happen and both are messy and complicated either a giant space rock lands on all the liberal and labour party leaders or John Howard comes back. I never liked him as a leader but he wasn’t a complete dick head
If it makes you feel any better or worse I plan on setting up as an idipendant who wont give a preference vote. I checked I can do that.
I will stand for truth, or open corruption
December 20th, 2009 at 6:40 pm
I don’t like political parties in general — they get caught up in ideology and lose interest in facts. If the greens were actually in power, I don’t know what they’d be like — I mean, look at how Peter Garrett turned out. But I vote for them, as Don Chipp used to say, “to keep the bastards honest”. And because I love nature and would like for it not to be shat upon. Good on you if you’re going to stand as an indie. Stand for truth, go on.
December 20th, 2009 at 7:09 pm
How much of it is intelligence and how much of it is addiction to torrenting/questionable websites I do not know…
I think a big problem is that most people don’t understand why a mandatory ISP-level filter is a bad thing, and it’s very difficult to get them to pay enough attention to explain it. From some online discussions I’ve seen, quite a few people instantly go “oh so you like child porn do you!!!” when arguments against the filter are brought up. :/
I miss the Democrats.
December 20th, 2009 at 8:07 pm
Perhaps the best tactic with those people is to forget the technical facts and remind them that this legislation will give this and any future government the power to block any website it wants to.
I miss the dems too, and I worry that the greens will go the same way when Brown goes the way of Chipp. I hope that doesn’t happen.