Some interesting examples that really make me wonder about the thought processes of some people.

Example #1

The editors at Chinese magazine New Travel Weekly decided to do a nice tasteful photographic shoot, with underwear models posing among the ruins from the earthquake in Sichuan. They pose in front of and draped across fallen beams in ruined buildings, singly and together. Some appear to be wearing fake bloody bandages. Lovely! Tasteful? Respectful of the earthquake victims and survivors?

Chinese officials don’t stuff around in these cases. The magazine has been temporarily closed down and its managing editor, editor and deputy editor sacked.

The propaganda department in Chongqing, where the lifestyle magazine is based, issued a statement condemning the publication’s editors for “severely violating social morality, and causing extremely negative social effects”.

It said the magazine itself would be subject to “rectification”, although the editors in charge have gone for good. Wonder if the “rectification” involves rapid application of lead to the back of some former employees’ heads?

Example #2

An exhibition of photographic art by Bill Henson, due to open in Sydney last night, was cancelled after police visited the Paddington gallery to investigate child pornography claims. The future of the exhibition at the Roslyn Oxley9 gallery, which featured images of a girl and a boy, aged 12 and 13 – some of which also appear on the gallery’s website – is now in doubt.

Henson said last night he was determined the exhibition should go ahead. One artist who attended the exhibition opening, Eugenia Raskopoulos, said the cancellation was “censorship of the worst kind”.

“I cannot believe that they have cancelled this opening which features pictures that are honest and beautiful and in no way pornographic,” she said.

Maybe, but to contemplate exhibiting such pictures publicly demonstrates a serious absence of sensibilities about what should be acceptable in terms of the sexualisation of children. Beautiful the images may be, but they are portraying children in sexual terms, and that is wrong. Repeat after me …. children are children, and they are NOT sex objects.

Example #3

This one was around a couple of weeks ago and I thought about posting something then, but was too busy. Another “what the hell” moment from the modelling/fashion industry. Russh Australia, a lifestyle and fashion magazine, hired Zippora Seven, a 16 year old model from New Zealand, to do a provocative 18-page editorial fashion spread alongside 16-year-old male model Levi Clarke. Shot in March, one of the images depicts the pair sharing a bubble bath nude with Seven topless and Clarke’s eyes closed as if he is passed out. In the foreground are four bottles of champagne.

Again, maybe the photos are pretty, but I question the judgement behind using such young models to pose in such sexually suggestive scenes. (Mind you, I’m sure that if the magazine hadn’t been able to use 16 year olds, they’d have found some child-like waifs just on 18 years old to give the shoot that jailbait look.). What is it with the fashion industry that wants to make children adults and sexually attractive? Is it overrun with pedophiles or something?

And what sort of name is Zippora Seven? Progeny of hippies? Offspring of science fiction fanatics (it sounds like the name of an android off Battlestar Galactica or something like that)?

Example #4

Tania Zaetta may or may not have screwed the Australian army detachment at Tarin Kowt in Afghanistan, but what the hell was going through some public servant’s mind when he/she decided the Minister needed to be briefed about what was rumoured to have happened? And then, what the hell was going through someone’s mind, and this someone would be someone in either the Defence Department or Minister Joel Fitzgibbon’s office, to leak this briefing note to the media?

Zaetta, who was taking part in a 17-day concert tour performing for Australian troops in the Middle East, has called the claims “ridiculous” and “vicious”.

Clearly there are people in Defence and/or the army that don’t have enough to do. Time for some deeper budget cuts it seems. Why on earth someone would feel the need to bother a minister with what is basically scurrilous gossip, god only knows? Do they do debriefings after office farewells and Christmas parties, too? And then to name names, and then leak it into the public domain … beggars belief.

Opposition defence minister Nick Minchin today issued a statement demanding Mr Fitzgibbon take immediate action.

“How did these stories reach the newspapers? Mr Fitzgibbon must immediately investigate who in the Department of Defence or his office leaked this story. And then he must explain how that person has been dealt with and what will be done to stop such slurs being leaked in the future.”

Too right! Heads should roll over this type of shit … but they won’t. This is just business as usual at Fort Fumble, ie Defence Department headquarters. Someone fucked up, now there will be an inquiry, no-one will be found to be responsible for anything, and no-one will be held accountable.