Eight Things
1. We start today with an, um, “reverse” Daily Perv Link (TM).
2. In other news, descendants of Papua New Guinea’s cannibals apologize for their forefathers having eaten some missionaries way back when. As one commenter on Rotten.com put it, “They should have said ‘we et them, they tasted good, and if any Jehovah’s Witnesses show up, we’ll do it again.'”
3. In Russia, a woman sets fire to her ex-husband’s penis. I mention it here only because the article makes interesting use of the word “climaxed”. I wonder if it was intentional.
4 In the continued weirdification of America, a child is suspended from school for drawing a picture of a gun. Seriously.
5. Apparently there’s some idiot in Kansas City running about chopping the legs off of random dogs. It’s a horrible story, and I hope they catchthe guy and inflict all sorts of pain upon him. But I post it here because of an interesting observation. The article, and others like it, make the argument that the public should be concerned about animal abuse incidents because “animal cruelty like this is linked to other crimes like child abuse, drug abuse and even serial killers.” All this is true…. but how about being concerned because some jerk is hurting innocent animals? Is that not reason enough to get angry? Are we so selfish as a society and as a species that we need to contextualize even these horrific cases in such a way that it has indirect relevance to us, before we cna summon sufficient outrage?
6. In the continuing attempt to suffocate the porn industry by burying beneath mountains of legislation, America may require all porn actors to register. As another Rotten.com commenter put it, what are they going to call this registry? Facialbook.com?
7. Well, NBC Dateline is finally being sued over its “Catch a Predator” TV show. I’m on record in this forum for being opposed to such shows, and indeed to such forms of crime investigation. Issues of entrapment aside, in cases where these “predators” are communicating with cops pretending to be children, then going to meet these fake children for the purposes of illicit sex, the only crime being committed is one of intent, i.e. no actual children were ever involved. And a philosophical foundation of our society is that we should never be punished for our thoughts, intents or desires, but only for our actions. In short: no actual children were ever involved, thus no crime was committed, so you must let the disgusting little pervs go.
Consider this analogy: you are told that if you press a button, your noisy neighbour will die. You believe this, yet you press the button, fully intending to murder your neighbour. The button, of course, is a fake; nothing has happened. Now, can you be prosecuted for any crime? I would argue no, you cannot be. Yes, you are an asshole and a murderer at heart, but you have committed no actual transgressive action, thus the state has no business bothering you, except to maybe keep an eye on you. [Mischa, you and I have locked horns on this topic before; I suspect you will have something to say!]
8. Today’s last topic is this: news that the CIA and other official bodies, such as the Vatican and the US Democratic Party, have been “vandalizing” Wikipedia sites. Could this be the death knell of Wikipedia? Now that the true powers that be are aware of it and its influence, is it no longer a true repository of and for the people?
