flanerie.org

The British government is to outlaw the possession of violent porn, with 'possession' including anything cached on a PC after viewing online.

There is the obvious issue of how to define violent porn - one man's violent sex is another's slightly frisky encounter - and I probably know some people whose activity falls into a middle England definition. In fact I definitely do, but I can't name them without having my plums removed. And if that happened, it would be illegal to watch it. I wonder if it would be illegal to witness it myself as a victim? That would be a bitter pill - prosecuted for witnessing yourself being the victim of a crime.

Returning rapidly from that blind alley, the real issue is why ban it at all.

The cause celeb behind this law change is the murder of a teacher by a psychopath that was addicted to violent porn. Well that seems perfectly reasonable then.

Of course we would need to ban alcohol too since it is involved in fifty percent of rape cases. Fifty percent. That means if you think that alcohol should be legal you are supporting the rape of thousands of women each year.

Hmmm, now it isn't so clear cut.

Okay so alcohol is essential to the workings of society (i.e. big business), but what about video entertainment? Surely a ban is legitimate here - violent porn has no merit as entertainment.

True, but nor does 90% of television.

Okay, okay, but violent porn has no merit as entertainment and could lead people to violence.

Fox News does that to me already, so I say ban them both.