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The Video Nasties by Martin Barker5/24/2023 Nucleus Films’ release of Video Nasties: The Definitive Guide (2010) is a terrific three-disk set devoted to the uproar in Margaret Thatcher’s Britain over the availability of violent movies in the new home-video market. What a new and highly engaging DVD has to say about these questions is very illuminating. And the idea that most people need to be protected because they are not capable of deciding for themselves what to read or watch or listen to is sheer paternalism. But the idea that global bans on certain classes of books, movies, music, etc, will somehow eliminate whole ranges of social problems is demonstrably false. The complete denial that certain elements of pop culture, for instance, can’t possibly do anyone any harm under any circumstances, doesn’t really hold up – of course some people are going to be adversely affected by some of the things they see and hear. It’s never just simply a clear cut question of “this” or “that”. Issues of censorship and freedom of speech are always more complicated than we’d like.
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