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HP, Australian Laws and ANZAC Day
Apr. 26th, 2005 08:46 pmAs you can tell from the subject, this is going to be a fun post.
I'm so utterly disgusted with the Harry Potter fandom right now. I'm pretty close to just pulling out, to enjoying the books on their own without fic or the rest of the crap that goes with it.
Yes, we've got some wacky laws in Australia. In fact, up until a couple of years ago you could be arrested for whistling in a park in Ipswich. And witchcraft was a crime across Queensland. Not to mention the much scarier laws we have in this country.
But then, I'm from Queensland, where the opposition party want us to pay for a fricking statue of Sir Joh, the former premier of Queensland who wouldn't know what demoncracy was if it bit him on the backside. Think these kind of laws 'infringe on your rights'? Well, read the opinion page in today's Courier Mail about a campaign waged to "protect Queensland's schoolchildren from the anti-Christian, anti-family, socialist-humanist cells active within the education department." The material being protested contained a discussion about euthenasia and a video with seagulls mating.
This was a time when school libraries were subject to massive censorship, people who dared to be contrary to the government had 'Special Branch' files, and in the mid-80's, at the University of Queenland, "police armed with crowbars raided the refectory building toilets to remve condom-vending machines, with Bjelke-Petersen arguing that 'we don't want that sort of thing up here.'"
This is the man that was voted as 'the best Queenslander ever' in a newspaper poll. Honestly, that's a lot scarier then any law that means you might have to post fic at a different archive.
~*~
There's been some kerfuffle on my firneds list about ANZAC day yesterday. Personally I think it's complex. Not the day necessarily, but people's conceptions of it.
Personally, I think it's an important day about remembering why war is a bad thing, and that we fight against that kind of massive death and distruction if we can. Some thing it's a day about quiet reflection. Some think it's a good excuse for a few beers. And some use it to justify the wars we fight today.
It's complex, but then so are we. And wouldn't we be dull if we all thought like John Howard?
I'm so utterly disgusted with the Harry Potter fandom right now. I'm pretty close to just pulling out, to enjoying the books on their own without fic or the rest of the crap that goes with it.
Yes, we've got some wacky laws in Australia. In fact, up until a couple of years ago you could be arrested for whistling in a park in Ipswich. And witchcraft was a crime across Queensland. Not to mention the much scarier laws we have in this country.
But then, I'm from Queensland, where the opposition party want us to pay for a fricking statue of Sir Joh, the former premier of Queensland who wouldn't know what demoncracy was if it bit him on the backside. Think these kind of laws 'infringe on your rights'? Well, read the opinion page in today's Courier Mail about a campaign waged to "protect Queensland's schoolchildren from the anti-Christian, anti-family, socialist-humanist cells active within the education department." The material being protested contained a discussion about euthenasia and a video with seagulls mating.
This was a time when school libraries were subject to massive censorship, people who dared to be contrary to the government had 'Special Branch' files, and in the mid-80's, at the University of Queenland, "police armed with crowbars raided the refectory building toilets to remve condom-vending machines, with Bjelke-Petersen arguing that 'we don't want that sort of thing up here.'"
This is the man that was voted as 'the best Queenslander ever' in a newspaper poll. Honestly, that's a lot scarier then any law that means you might have to post fic at a different archive.
~*~
There's been some kerfuffle on my firneds list about ANZAC day yesterday. Personally I think it's complex. Not the day necessarily, but people's conceptions of it.
Personally, I think it's an important day about remembering why war is a bad thing, and that we fight against that kind of massive death and distruction if we can. Some thing it's a day about quiet reflection. Some think it's a good excuse for a few beers. And some use it to justify the wars we fight today.
It's complex, but then so are we. And wouldn't we be dull if we all thought like John Howard?
