porn 80-20 rule

an interesting article in today's paper about the government proposal to filter hard core porn on the internet:
http://www.smh.com.au/technology/technology-news/opposition-grows-to-internet-filter-20100224-p3ma.html
Quote from the newspaper article: "Despite the vocal opposition, McNair Ingenuity research released a fortnight ago found support for the filter running at 80 per cent."

From all the rants on the internet, it sounds like most people oppose internet filtering or hard core porn, but it turns out to be only a small minority. Maybe it shows that 20% of the population either make money out of, or consume hard core porn. Depressing thought, huh?

On the other hand, Apple is removing explicit material from its iPhone/iTouch app store:

http://www.businessinsider.com/apples-war-on-porn-is-just-getting-started-2010-2
the obvious conclusion is that Apple want to make sure that when they release the new iPad next month, it doesn't get publicity for being a porn device. They clearly also believe that 80% of the population don't want the porn, so commercial reality makes them clean it up.

Its a pity some of the media who oppose internet filtering and therefore support internet porn aren't exposed to the same commercial (let alone moral) realities.

Still Waiting

I just saw some video of Venice and its canals and gondolas.
It occurred to me that for my whole adult life, I have been told:

• the Great Barrier Reef is being destroyed by either starfish, mining or acidic water
• the global financial system is collapsing, and
• Venice is sinking into the Adriatic Sea.

As far as I know, none of these have happened yet. Do I have to keep waiting, or is it over now?

Moral Panic

We are often told that wowsers are deluded in thinking that the moral behaviour of society is decaying at an accelerating rate these days. That is just uninformed moral panic, and really, nothing has changed much. We just read about bad things happening more because of increased media coverage, so there is nothing to worry about.
I hope all that is true.
But think of a few things that have happened lately:

• repeated examples of 12 year old children being threatened with knives by other 12 year olds.
• news reports of stabbings almost every day.
• half the sports reports seem to be about footballers being charged with rape, drug trafficking, glassing their girlfriends etc. Good old "drunk and disorderly" seems pretty tame these days.
• a campaign to introduce an MA15+ rating for video games, in order to allow violent video games to be imported and sold legally.
• 18,000 tickets have been sold for the first bout of the "Ultimate Fighting Championships" this Sunday at the ACER arena in Homebush. (http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/sport/more-sports/ufc-fighters-building-up-to-showdown/story-e6frey6i-1225831970755). I once had the misfortune of seeing a few seconds of this on TV, and it is nothing like wrestling. I remember one man flat on his back with his head against the cage and covered with blood. The other fighter was sitting on him and pummeling his face. It looks like a regression to the barbarism of ancient Rome.
• Operation "Titstorm" has started, which involves hackers attacking the computers in the Australian Parliament. They are objecting to internet filtering, which is aimed at stopping content on the internet which is "refused classification" and would not be allowed in any newspaper or video screen, like child porn and extreme violence.
• binge drinking and attacks on police are in the news regularly.
• children and women are degraded in order to sell clothes. One of the few people campaigning against this is Melinda Tankard-Reist (http://www.collectiveshout.org/ )
• a study in the UK indicates children are feeling increasingly unhappy with life (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/educationnews/7197888/Children-feeling-unhappier-with-life.html ). The solution from the government there is to introduce "happiness lessons".

Is all this just a lot of nonsense and nothing to be worried about? I really, really hope so. I think the worry is that in all these cases, there are a lot of powerful forces driving society in the wrong direction, but not so much pushing in a healthier direction.

Itty-bitty dresses

There was one letter in the Sydney Morning Herald yesterday which pointed out that there were actually some women at the Alan Border Medal ceremony on Wednesday because they could play cricket. But there was no other comment.  The TV news only wanted to know about the women with pretty (but very small dresses), to the accompanying sounds of drooling TV commentators (both men and women commentators). I'm outraged at this and I'm not a feminist, so where are the feminists? They seem to have rationalised themselves into an opinion that dressing like this empowers women. With respect, I think that is rubbish, and is only perpetuating stereotypes of women as dumb clotheshorses. Is feminism dead?