“What is the world coming to when anyone seen with a camera is assumed to be doing things that they should not? This parental paranoia is getting completely out of hand. I was shocked”
- Gary Crutchley, of Walsall, who was stopped from taking photographs of his own children playing on a slide in a public park
16 responses so far ↓
John M Ward // July 17, 2008 at 10:39 am
Curly has been reporting and campaigning on the issue of public photography for a while. You might find it worthwhile keeping an eye on his ‘blog.
patently // July 17, 2008 at 11:21 am
Ah… but look at the camera he is holding in the picture. It’s a nice one. So he’s got some money.
You’re not allowed to own expensive stuff these days, unless (of course) it falls within one of the categories of chav-approved bling. It suggests that you’ve worked hard, saved up, and done well for yourself. Which is wrong - if you can do that, then you should be subjected to higher taxes to fund public services for those who are not as hardworking (sorry, I meant to say not as fortunate) as yourself. After all, why would you need a nice camera, other than to satify your perverted desires?
This is the inevitable effect of eleven years of socialism - a climate of envy and a hatred of individuality.
Letters From A Tory // July 17, 2008 at 11:26 am
A climate of envy and a climate of fear.
Candid // July 17, 2008 at 1:50 pm
‘One even accused him of photographing youngsters to put the pictures on the internet.’
This is my favourite quote. They probably wouldn’t have ended up on the internet if it wasn’t for the crazy women! Such irony. It’s made my day
Letters From A Tory // July 17, 2008 at 1:56 pm
Well, quite. By complaining about this man she’s made it far more likely that her children will be discussed online!
Stu // July 17, 2008 at 6:32 pm
Actually, I take pictures of my daughter to put up on the Internet all the time. It’s called blogging. It lets her grandparents see pictures of the things she’s been up to. Sometimes I even use a picture of her as my facebook profile picture. Evidently, I must be some kind of pervert.
stymaster // July 17, 2008 at 10:38 pm
Don’t talk b*******. It’s nothing to do with political leanings, and everything to do with parental paranoia stirred up by journalists. A very sad event though.
Letters From A Tory // July 18, 2008 at 6:52 am
Journalists have certainly made things a hell of a lot worse, but the political correctness brigade have been encouraged by the government as part of their drive to appease everyone. I wouldn’t blame socialism, but I would blame Labour for stoking the paranoia fires.
patently // July 18, 2008 at 9:29 am
Not b*******.
We now frown on any form of financial success. I run a business that employs 30 people. This business provides a livelihood for about 50-60 people. Yet this is somehow a bad thing; people assume that if I have been able to extract a good living for myself, that is at the expense of the interests of my staff and I should be taxed into submission.
stymaster // July 18, 2008 at 10:07 pm
Oh, agreed. But I think any government would do the same regardless, not just labour, so they can be seen to be “doing something”. I just don’t think that politics itself is the issue here: more the over-protective paranoia, and I really think it’s media-generated: pervs existed more than 30 years ago when I was a child, in fact there was a fairly famous case of several child sexual assaults and murders in my home town in the 60s or 70s. It just gets more attention these days.
The problem there, of course, is many *do* screw over their staff (and everyone else) in their pursuits. If you are one of the people making a success of business without doing so, then kudos to you, but don’t kid yourself that all successful businesses are the same.
John M Ward // July 20, 2008 at 2:52 pm
I too have “nice cameras” (Olympus OM2n and an E-410), but studiously avoid taking photographs of children nowadays.
In years gone by, my neighbours would like me to take photos of their kids because I have such good facilities (which they did not) and they didn’t want precious moments to go unrecorded or poorly recorded. I wouldn’t do so now, though.
Letters From A Tory // July 20, 2008 at 8:52 pm
It’s sad, isn’t it. What was once a totally acceptable activity is now considered a threat by many paranoid parents.
Stu // July 21, 2008 at 11:05 am
Incidentally, there was a brilliant Guardian article last month on why people taking photographs are seen as a threat. Bruce Schneider blames the movies. He has quite a good point.
He also has an astonishing variety of links to other news stories of people being persecuted, harassed or even detained for nothing more than taking photographs.
Blogpower Roundup - The Matt Wardman Civil Liberties Edition | The Wardman Wire // July 21, 2008 at 4:51 pm
[...] Yet another Blogpower member has been taking an interest in restrictions on Photographers, and writes about a Walsall man called a “pervert” for taking pictures of his own children in a public park. [...]
John // July 22, 2008 at 6:52 pm
Why ‘political correctness’? This is nothing to do with political correctness. It’s to do with right-wing paranoia of the Daily Mail variety - the deviants and aliens are lurking behind every tree just waiting to grab hold of your kids/wife/property. Political correctness is when people say you shouldn’t stop pedophiles from taking photos of kids because pedophiles are a downtrodden misunderstood minority. When somebody says this, then you can talk about ‘political correctness’. OK?
curly // July 30, 2008 at 12:08 am
It’s all ridiculous really, we are kissing goodbye to the chance of recording life in the new millennium. Apart from my other recent troubles with a camera, one woman once rang me up and demanded that I remove a picture from my blog because she had not agreed to me including the image of the back of her head!
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