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‘It’s Like the State Entering our Bedrooms and Minds’

The quote comes from a recently published editorial in Scotland's Sunday Herald, written by Brian McNair, a professor of journalism and communication at the University of Strathclyde, and the author of Striptease Culture (Routledge, 2002) and Mediated Sex (Arnold, 1996).

He's upset that hoary old U.K. has decided to enact an The Obscene Publications Act, which outlaws the possession of "extreme pornography," defined as images which portray "in an explicit and realistic way" acts that "threaten a person's life", or that could likely result in "serious injury to a person's anus, breasts or genitals."

Yes, it is somewhat ironic that England, Orwell's home and the country in which 1984 is set, has chosen to pass such a law, though considering the number of security cameras throughout the country, this action can hardly be seen as a first step toward taking "the ‘thought police’ out of the realm of fiction." The nation long since started down that road.

So it's not like the state is entering your mind, mate; it is entering your mind, mucking around to find our what you're up to and into, then passing judgment on you, your mind, your behavior and all the other stuff that makes up your sense of self, and then maybe throwing you into jail.

God save the Queen.

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