Mists of Avalon/Brass Eye

[John Walton]

Ebony AKA AngieJ said:

> But I *have* to see it!  I just read MoA last month and was majorly
> bummed that I'd be over here while it was airing.  Instead I get to
> watch intelligent British shows like "A Touch of Frost", the original
> version of "Big Brother" and "Brasseye".  ;-)

I think my Pagan shop owner has a copy that you could, ah, come around and
watch when you're in NY -- you should be here within the 30-day statutory
limit, right? ::grin:: Oh, and the original Big Brother was in the
Netherlands, not the UK. LOONy, I know :)

Eb:

> (Brits, I saw that controversial one Thurs. night... you KNOW which
> one... I can't even BEAR to post what the topic was here.

>From the BBC: 

>> Morris's 35-minute special [of Brass Eye, a satire showing how easily
>> celebrities and public figures could be manipulated, in this case concerning
>> paedophilia] was made to complement a repeat showing of his original Brass
>> Eye series which was equally controversial, again duping public figures to
>> show how they could be manipulated.

Eb:

> Let me just say that if such a show aired at 10:30 p.m. on a major network in
> America, you'd have mass burnings of TV sets in the street and Congressional
> hearings called at once.

Oh goody. That is, of course, the answer -- burn the TV sets, rather than
sitting down with your children and telling them how not to fall prey to
child molesters. Sweep it under the carpet rather than vacuuming it up.

</sarcasm, but well-meant sarcasm>

Eb, I find myself reacting quite sarcastically to this. I'm not sure why,
but I think it's that only now are people actually realising that child
molestation is a widespread problem -- in the *UK*. It's such a taboo in the
States that we can't discuss it, which means that abused kids will rarely
feel able to reveal or discuss their abuse. That's the problem here.

Eb:

> There were actual *children* who acted in that show!

I think Eb's referring to this (again from the BBC):

> In one scene from Thursday night's show, presenter Chris Morris brought a
> young boy into the studio and asked a "paedophile" locked in stocks if he
> wanted to have sex with him.

That, IMO, is just plain wrong and was an extremely bad judgment call on the
part of the programme-makers. I feel it is appropriate and healthy to bring
the issue out into the open (see the work that Carol Vorderman [UK TV
presenter, roughly as well known as Oprah] has done in publicising the
dangers of allowing children to surf the net unsupervised), yet the majority
of the UK public does not take it as seriously as the US public does.

> And the worst part is, we cannot even TAPE that insanity to PROVE to our
> American friends that such a thing actually aired on network television.)

Send them to the BBC:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/entertainment/tv_and_radio/newsid_1461000/1
461240.stm

(you may need to cut-and-paste that)

[Here follows John's liberal opinion take on it]

I think that it's a good thing that the topic was opened up to widespread
comment, even if that comment was criticism. It's often very revealing to
see how celebrities and people whose opinion people respect react when they
are put on the spot:

> At one point, DJ Neil Fox was seen hammering a nail into a crab shell, telling
> viewers that paedophiles shared more in common genetically with the crustacean
> than they did with other humans.

Yeah, that's right, let's attack them with nails and dehumanise them (it's
not murder if you kill one of Them, because They aren't people) rather than
attempting to deal with what is, after all, a psychological problem.
Greeeeeat. Welcome to Germany, circa 1933...oh, sorry, I mean Britain in
2001.

> Blackwood said paedophiles had the power to make computer keyboards emit toxic
> fumes which would make young users more "susceptible".

Heh.

Of course, such a public backlash *has* happened before:

> The ITC has had more than 500 - a figure only beaten by the screening of the
> movie The Last Temptation Of Christ, which prompted an organised campaign by
> Christian groups, and a TV ad for Levi's featuring a "dead" hamster.

I can still remember the furore that Queer As Folk caused (Channel 4 drama
based around the gay scene in Manchester that showed [shock, horror] some
partial back nudity). Absolutely brilliant series, but the Christian
right-wing conservatives were totally up in arms. IIRC one of the actors was
assaulted by a neo-nazi yob (none of them were actually gay, which made it
rather ironic).

> A Channel 4 spokesman said: "In the current climate of hysteria that's whipped
> up about paedophilia, it's impossible to have a debate about the issues
> surrounding it and you have to use shock tactics of this kind to force them
> into the public domain and get people to think about them.
> 
> "I think the programme shows the massive inconsistencies involved. People are
> quite happy for their 11-year-old daughters to go to Eminem concerts and watch
> boy bands gyrating and parents are happy to put children in beauty pageants.
> 
> "Obviously there are people who have found this deeply disturbing but if the
> programme makes people think about the issues, then it will have achieved its
> aim."

Moreover, it may help some previously abused kids to tell about their abuse,
have the paedophiles removed from society and given the mental health help
that they need.

--John, really hoping that the third time's a charm and that this topic
doesn't go up in smoke like the last few ones he's posted opinions to...

________________________________

John Walton -- john at walton.to

"Winter is icummen in, lhude sing Goddamm,
Raineth drop and staineth slop, and how the wind doth ramm!
Sing: Goddamm!
Skiddeth bus and sloppeth us, an ague hath my ham."
--Ezra Pound, to be sung to "Sumer Is Icumen In"
________________________________