Aussie censors persist in making a bad fist of it Male masturbation and extreme anal fisting are now PG, as far as the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) are concerned. However, mainstream films such as V for Vendetta and American Gangster are prohibited content – at least if they happen to be distributed through the iTunes Store (ITMS) "Gift this movie" …
Yet by showing how ill conceived this was, you create a situation in which Conroy cannot back down. It would be admitting he screwed up and he cannot do that, nobody votes for a self confessed loser.
This filter should only ever have been for parents, to filter their children's internet feeds at their discretion. It was just a flip moment, when he decided without thinking it through, to extend it to everyone. Yes he's an idiot, but you need to give him a way out whilst saving some face, either that or his boss needs to step in and reshuffle the problem out of the way.
Why can't Conroy simply quietly abandon it?
Ten years ago the Liberal communications minister, Richard Alston, was pushing for the implementation of a keyword-based internet censorship regime. It was attacked for being the monumentally stupid abomination that it clearly was, and so it quietly sank into the icy waters of history.
If Conroy feels obligated to pursue this ham-fisted, undemocratic farce with renewed vigour simply because of the sheer opposition to it, he will only make things worse. The DDOS of Comrade Rudd's website last week is a clear demonstration that there a lot of people who are fed up by this nanny-state garbage and will do everything to destroy it. Conroy invites extremism by continuing down this path.
I think he's left it too late, trouble with 'face' based politicians (I include Brown in this world view), is once it goes into implementation, they can't cancel it, without opposition saying "U Turn" and "wasted money" etc. an instant loss of face.
Suddenly the reversal itself becomes an attack point, and that's why I think they plod on, hoping for the issue to die down and go away.
I reckon the solution is to keep it an issue, but avoid going to extremes. Recognise that once a politician is in that mode, it is a war not a battle to change the policy. A long game not a short campaign.
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