Have you noticed a new prudery emerging in recent years? If not prudery, then timidity, inhibition or neurotic social hyperesthesia. The point is that an outbreak of fear has made people seem incapable of dealing with anything that appears direct, contentious or confronting. This faux sensitivity can be seen everywhere, from news reports that refuse to show dead bodies to people avoiding any mention of bodily functions. A recent example was a wildlife documentary that apologised to viewers in advance for showing images of animals eating other animals. In short, we have developed a fear of the explicit. This is linked to political correctness and moralistic ideology, but the implications are scary. After all, what is so wrong with showing people life as it is lived and lost? Moreover, if we sanitise images of car crashes or bloody wars, surely we are more likely to drive like maniacs or indulge in ill-conceived wars?

Why were the images of Saddam Hussein’s execution banned from TV and newspapers? I’m not suggesting that these images should appear on the six-o-clock news but this is part of history. Actions have consequences. Anyway, we can see these images elsewhere. The censors may prevent us from seeing them on TV but they cannot stop us from taking such images - or looking at them - on mobile phones. Worse, we seem to justify doing all this for the sake of our children. But surely if we create a cotton wool world for our kids, they will be less prepared for the real world when they eventually enter it?


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Ref: Australian Literary Review (Aus) February 2009, ‘The crime of the curious citizen’, F. Moorhouse, www.theaustralian.com.au Source integrity: ****

Labels: confrontatie, direct, in wat voor een maatschappij leven wij