What a sad day for freedom in Australia it was when far right christian fundamentalists (Barnaby Joyce & co.), opportunist politicians (Helen Coonan & co.) and small “L” liberal intellectual snobs (Matt Price) triumphed over ordinary people.

The far right has forced their view of acceptable TV content on the vast majority of the TV viewing public. I refer to the blackmailing of Network Ten into killing BB Adults Only. I don’t care if you don’t like BB, this has a far broader context.

Frankly, I don’t care if Joyce can’t explain BB to his daughter. Join the Exclusive Brethren, get rid of your TV, don’t talk to the rest of the world and leave us alone.

Helen Coonan is below contempt and her moves to impose right wing restrictions on the media go way beyond BB. Internet users watch out! And Matt Price! I don’t care if you think BB is polluting your intellect. Go away and leave ordinary people to enjoy a bit of escapism. You are the worst of this evil group.

Australia is indeed descending into an evangelical dark ages. How is it that far right christian fundamentalists got to have so much power and how was this cancer allowed to spread from the “land of the free”? 

I don’t really blame Network Ten for caving in - they were facing powerful forces who must be stopped before it’s too late. BB AO is very much only the tip if the iceberg.

In all the discussions on the media reforms one thing is dropping off the radar - digital space for community stations.

The community broadcasting sector still has no allocated digital spectrum and no funding to make the change. Community Television stations such as channel 31 in melbourne provide an important outlet for voices that don’t make mainstream TV.

Hobart made an attempt at launching a community tv station a couple of years ago, but was thwarted after the ABA refused a change of broadcast site. Originally it was planned to broadcast from the mountain - but it would have cost $100,000/year.

If no allowance is made in the digital spectrum Hobart may never see a community tv station. This then bodes badly for the community radio sector - as the switch to digital radio comes next. BB may be popular with the 15-30yo, but only community broadcasting gives them a voice beyond sms voting.

“And I said, ‘The other night you had simulated anal sex on the TV just three hours after The Simpsons’,” Senator Joyce said. “Tell me how I explain that to my daughter.”

Barnaby Joyce you are a tosser!!. Who the hell are you to moralise to others. You who takes a trip to the Antarctic then returns triumphant, only to tells us that we should mine it.

You are losing me here Barnaby. Why are you so concerned over this silly BB-AO program. Dont like the gay boys eh Barnaby?

Well I almost liked you there for a while (dont worry barnaby…..not in that way) and now this. Tell me you are not a god-botherer too? For a while there I thought you were setting yourself apart from the pharisees and homogenous jesus-in-a-suit types that seem to dominate the coalition. You dissapoint me Barnaby.

And dont you dare hide behind your daughter! Its got nothing to do with your daughter. Its all about you Barnaby and your conservativism. At least have the guts to stand behind what you believe. Even if it does suck. And I tell you what Barnaby, have you ever watched the simpsons, because it can be a lot more dark and disturbing than BB-AO.

I agree with Old Devil about Matt Price. Never liked him. He just seems happy to coast along in his local journalistic celebrity. These days I find his columns in the Australian, which all too often revolve around the canberra in-crowd, benign, predictable, and boring. They make no real difference to anything.

He is also a Fremantle supporter. This is not something that one should be proud of.

Thing is Rick, I’m not at all conviced that Barnaby Joyce believes in anything if there aren’t any votes in it. Qld Nats are after all in diabolical strife and Barnaby is a consumate populist politician.

Yes, BB AO was silly, but it made me laugh because I like fart jokes and I think the real world is so obscene I would much rather spend time with my vegie garden. The issue of course was much broader. Most TT users no doubt wouldn’t be seen dead on the BB forum site, but you might be surprised if you took just a quick peek at:

http://forums.bigbrother.3mobile.com.au/msg/postings.asp?topic_id=65300&page=1

Might see some of the braver ones amongst you over there?

Censorship is once again the flavour of the month. Why is that because right-wing conservatives cannot control their own desires and insecurities they need to enforce an unfair and biased censorship over a show that dared to show human nature without the intellectual bulls**t that countless other movies/programs/news and current affairs shows deliver daily. Guess we can’t do a whole lot. Everyone, sit back and smell the fascism.

Sunday Telegraph reports:
“Big Brother sex scandal
By STAFF REPORTERS
July 2, 2006

TWO male housemates were thrown off Channel 10’s reality program Big Brother late yesterday after the alleged sexual assault of a female contestant.

The future of the controversial show is now in serious jeopardy…..”

http://www.sundaytelegraph.news.com.au/story/0,9353,19656286-28777,00.html

Don’t get me wrong, I think BB AO and BB are junk but enjoyed the escapism. This incident will almost certainly insure that Big Brother will not return next year and may even get it taken off air now. Already there has been significant pressure on Network Ten to axe Big Brother with Big Brother Adults Only sacrificed to protect the series from far right politicians: Barnaby Joyce, Trish Draper, Paul Neville and Helen Coonan. To this rogues’ gallery we should add Steve Fielding and our own Guy Barnett (also very active in the shadows).

If the far right succeeds with BB, what will they go after next? How about “Four Corners” or most of the Channel 4 material on SBS which exposes the growing power of the neo-cons or the so-called “war on terror”. Note also that Howard’s new look ABC board has stopped the ABC publishing Chris Masters’ book about the Parrot. If the current push to control media by the far right were limited to BB or Internet porn, I would not care so much. But there is a much broader agenda discernible here.

Beazley is being report as calling for Big Brother to to taken off the air. If true, this shows he is not the gutless populist I’ve come to think he is but that in fact there is no difference between him and Howard. Why change government when Howard plays Howard better than Beazley ever will?

The incident making headlines was never shown on TV but Coonan is calling for an inquiry. It was seen over the Internet on streaming video so we now go over to Fielding and Barnett’s portfolio. Guy Barnett is pushing for ISPs to be forced to filter Internet content in the same way they do in China because as Fielding says, parents haven’t voluntarily installed filtering software on home computers.

Barnett is copying Beazley in this. “On 21 March 2006, Kim Beazley .... announced that a Beazley Labor Government would require all Internet Service Providers (“ISPs”) to implement a mandatory Internet blocking system.” The Chinese are struggling with their “firewall” despite their thousands of Internet secret police and informants. How would Beazley and Barnett succeed?

The censorship rogues gallery grows bigger every day with right wing religious fundamentalists and their collaborators: Draper, Coonan, Neville, Joyce, Fielding, Barnett, Beazley.

http://www.efa.org.au/Issues/Censor/mandatoryblocking-timeline.html