Techtonic

This is a lighthearted tale of censorship - and government regulation of our morals, tastes and personal judgments - an old and very respectable pastime for our regulators. It's lighthearted because there are two great ironies about censorship. The first is that some "respectable regulator" has the dubious pleasure of watching every bit of "unsuitable" program material before it can be properly classified as "naughty", "very naughty" or "too naughty to watch". This makes for some wild nights down at the ol' censorship viewing booth.

The second is that adult public taste - for better or for worse - is determined to seek out and obtain the program material it wants. Let a censor ban it from television - or any other media - and thereby is generated a multimilion dollar "underground" video hire and sales market to more than make up for this artificial government impediment. And so our regulators preach one standard in response to "community standards". Meanwhile, we practice another, particularly with our young people.

Although we're quick to guiltily slap legal restraints on widely-available broadcast media we're also are happy to turn a blind eye to magazine, video and cinema distribution of "unacceptable" material. The late Nineties might just be the time be to act as mature adults and recognise "human frailty" or better still, accept we viewers for what we are - responsible individuals capable of making up our own minds. Anything less would be an insult to our intelligence.

But we're not alone in accepting the government's cleanliness crusade on our behalf. In the US, proposed new laws require an electronic "key", the "V Chip" - a piece of electronics to exclude "violent" material - to be installed in all television sets to stop young people viewing certain programs. Program-makers and television stations will also be required to include an electronic "barcode" to signal to the chip in your set - on a scale of 1 to 4 - how "sexy" or "violent" each program will be.

Throughout the many manifestations of our media the hand of the moral regulator lies heavy upon us. The acts of parliament that oversee our use of newspapers, radio, television and, thanks to the heavy hand of the conservative NSW government, now also the computer-based Internet - have been put in place to save us from our worst excesses. Finally we can stop feeling anxious: our morals and standards will soon be electronically hardwired into our televisions, radios, telephones and computers. The circuitry may be willing - but the flesh remains weak.

Watch This and You'll Go Blind
Censorship and the V Chip, March 1996
This is a lighthearted tale of censorship - and government regulation of our morals, tastes and personal judgments - an old and very respectable pastime for our regulators. It's lighthearted because there are two great ironies about censorship. The first is that some "respectable regulator" has the dubious pleasure of watching every bit of "unsuitable" program material before it can be properly classified as "naughty", "very naughty" or "too naughty to watch". This makes for some wild nights down at the ol' censorship viewing booth. The second is that adult public taste - for better or for worse - is determined to seek out and obtain the program material it wants. Let a censor ban it from television - or any other media - and thereby is generated a multimilion dollar "underground" video hire and sales market to more than make up for this artificial government impediment. And so our regulators preach one standard in response to "community standards". Meanwhile, we practice another, particularly with our young people. Although we're quick to guiltily slap legal restraints on widely-available broadcast media we're also are happy to turn a blind eye to magazine, video and cinema distribution of "unacceptable" material. The late Nineties might just be the time be to act as mature adults and recognise "human frailty" or better still, accept we viewers for what we are - responsible individuals capable of making up our own minds. Anything less would be an insult to our intelligence. But we're not alone in accepting the government's cleanliness crusade on our behalf. In the US, proposed new laws require an electronic "key", the "V Chip" - a piece of electronics to exclude "violent" material - to be installed in all television sets to stop young people viewing certain programs. Program-makers and television stations will also be required to include an electronic "barcode" to signal to the chip in your set - on a scale of 1 to 4 - how "sexy" or "violent" each program will be. Throughout the many manifestations of our media the hand of the moral regulator lies heavy upon us. The acts of parliament that oversee our use of newspapers, radio, television and, thanks to the heavy hand of the conservative NSW government, now also the computer-based Internet - have been put in place to save us from our worst excesses. Finally we can stop feeling anxious: our morals and standards will soon be electronically hardwired into our televisions, radios, telephones and computers. The circuitry may be willing - but the flesh remains weak.
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Watch This and You'll Go Blind