Simpsons Child Porn Scandal

Local News, By Christian Taylor, 8th December, 2008

In what seems to be one of the most ludicrous miscarriages of justice in a very long time, an Australian Supreme Court judge has ruled that an internet cartoon depicting sex between characters from The Simpsons is child pornography.

The images in question show Bart, Lisa and Maggie having sex. They were found on the computer of NSW man Alan John McEwan. He’s been charged with possession of child pornography and usage of a carriage service to access child pornography material.

Justice Michael Adams today said that if the images were of real children he’d be looking at ten years behind bars. However, as they were cartoons he was fined $3000 and given a two year good behaviour bond.

The Justice said the purpose of the legislation is to stop real sexual abuse and exploitation of children, however he believed that images like the cartoon “fuel demand for material that does involve the abuse of children.”

Seems to me that the Court needs to recognise the difference between illegal activity and poor taste.

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Your Thoughts

Gold Blooded

said ages ago

I was worried I might have been the only person who found this ridiculous! I remember mentioning a similar issue to my parents once and they seem to agree with the judge... Should the depiction of "murder" in film also be a criminal offence?

blueterrace

said ages ago

Good point. That Anne Geddes is sick. And baring their little bumble bee bonnets those kids are naked! Arrest her right now damn it!!

cambruzzo

said ages ago

so now the Simpsons get removed forever from the internet in Australia by the new federal government filter laws. I don't care about the Simpsons, but I do care about this outrageous misuse of legislation to control what we can look at or apparently now even laugh about. This case has to go to appeal in the interests of all Australians. How can we, the taxpayer, have allowed the case to get to court? Is this Australia or right wing America? The UK internet filter system has banned all website swhich show the cover of a 1976 heavy metal bank album "Virgin Killer" Amazon has the cover on its website, now to be banned in UK. Live in UK can't buy on Amazon. This is what we have ahead of us. This case may be lost, but lets stop the next intrusion by Government into our lives. Look at www.getup.org.au for more info. Low speed fully censured internet is just around the corner

shaynesydney

said ages ago

I doubt they will find the Simpsons on the hard drives of paedophiles when the police do their raids, nor will they find Aubrey Beardsley, Nabobokov's Lolita, Zeffirelli's Romeo and Juliet (Olivia Hussey was 15 when she appeared nude in the film), child nudes by everyone from Degas to Carravaggio, or imagery from the ancient Roman and Greek civilizations, Bill Henson or Kermit fingering Miss Piggy. I wonder where this judge was when our government was putting children behind razor wire or on piles of bird shit in the Pacific in the racist response to asylum seekers. I wonder what he had to say about the Western food blockades on Iraq, Haiti etc., that killed hundreds of thousands of children. I wonder where he was when we enjoined the massacre of children in Baghdad by raining bombs on them 24/7 for three weeks? Some people would see pornography in a K Mart kid’s underwear catalogue. If you see eroticism in a cartoon, the problem is with you, not the artist.

Shanej

said ages ago

What about cartoons depicting other crimes? Manga cartoon's contain a lot of sex, violence etc. ... and more importantly how do you decipher if a cartoon is of the legal age of consent?

Christian Taylor

said ages ago

so true! and technically the simpsons have been on our screens for twenty years, so does that make the child cast older than some of us? is it just like on 90210, when andrea zuckerman was in high school, yet in real life she was in her thirties? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=obp1QOfKIxs

Asherbella

said ages ago

If a plastic doll plays baby Jesus in a school Christmas paegant this year, does it now mean that the fake child should be given counselling after being inappropriately burped by the Virgin Mary? LOL!

coby

said ages ago

What a ridiculous waste of money and resources! The Classification branch of the Attorney General's Department, who are responsible for providing recommendations to ACMA on online content, are guided by the principle that "adults should be able to read, hear and see what they want". Furthermore, they have a generally leniant stance on cartoons because they're obviously not real. When classifying material they're very big on taking into consideration its context. Although this cartoon actually contains illegal acts, there are two key points about the picture's context that have been overlooked when deeming it banned material: The Simpsons are ficticious - they're yellow, don't have enough fingers to be human and don't age. The family is satirical and not designed to be taken seriously. They do a lot of absurd things that a normal person would find amusing, but would never do in the real world. That's the whole point of the show. To say that this proports real acts of child porn is like saying that the show also encourages deranged clowns to kill children. Secondly, the picture is designed to make us laugh! It's intent is definitely not to arouse... and anyone who thinks this picture could arouse "reasonable adults" (as described by the Classifications branch) is crazy. Christian makes such a good point about child beauty pageants, which are actually designed to beautify minors. Surely these are more unfair on children and motivate paedophiles more than a satirical cartoon? It's recognised by the Attorney General's Department that material needs to be classified need to represent the feelings of the majority of the community and in this case, I don't think it has. Sure, some people may find this in poor taste, but at the end of the day banning this material interferes with the Classification Act and the fundamental principle that "adults should be able to read, hear and see what they want". PS - great discussion, and great article Christian!

rudeboy86

said ages ago

I seem to be the only one who has picked up on your Simpson's quote...hahah nice one... on the other hand...some words of advice to these great legal minds at work...GET A FUCKING LIFE!!!

SilversEdge

said on the 5th Jul, 2010

well then now this happen why don't you just take down every single lolicon and shotcon now hmm? he good luck with that..(btw im not personally into that)

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