God Save The Queen

I'm still trying to figure out the U.K. Let's start by looking at this effort to ban "violent Internet porn." Look, I sympathize with the intent behind the law, but I think this guy asks some good questions...

So who gets to decide what goes too far, and how to define big amorphous words like "violent" and "abusive"? Are the Brits going to have a censorship committee that will earnestly discuss if a facial cumshot is allowable or abusive? And if the verdict comes down that that's permitted, how about a bukkake gangbang? Or how about a golden-shower scene — is that potentially abusive enough that it could land you in the pokey for a few years? Will the committee bravely tackle the possible violence in everything from fisting photos to extreme-bondage tapes? And if so, what about the fact that the performers, with maybe one exception in a thousand, are willing participants? They didn't get hurt — in most cases, they got paid!
Doesn't that tell-tale little truth somehow factor into all of this?

If it's not the abusiveness towards the "victim" in front of the camera that counts, but the raw depiction of sexual abuse, period, does that mean that viewing any movie with a rape scene could be enough for a conviction? The Accused? The Color Purple? The Hotel New Hampshire? Go ahead and scoff — and then remind yourself that nannies feel no compunction about going after mainstream movies, or any kind of art. Just ask some of the people who had the temerity to rent the Academy Award-winning movie version of Nobel Prize author Günther Grass's novel The Tin Drum.

(hat tip: Andrew Sullivan) Of course, while they're off protecting the children, they're also being more permissive...

A secondary school is to allow pupils to swear at teachers - as long as they don't do so more than five times in a lesson. A running tally of how many times the f-word has been used will be kept on the board. If a class goes over the limit, they will be 'spoken' to at the end of the lesson.

The astonishing policy, which the school says will improve the behaviour of pupils, was condemned by parents' groups and MPs yesterday. They warned it would backfire.

Parents were advised of the plan, which comes into effect when term starts next week, in a letter from the Weavers School in Wellingborough, Northamptonshire.

Assistant headmaster Richard White said the policy was aimed at 15 and 16-year-olds in two classes which are considered troublesome.

Yes, this should make them far less troublesome. I wonder if they'll compete to see who can curse the quickest.