[Jack_Bauer]

Originally Posted by nota

This is more than just a knee-jerk against those who jerk other appendages for 'other reasons' .. it verges on irrational collective paranioa

Overseas members will like me be astounded to know that in Oz today this level of hysteria extends to the point that it is now often verboten for parents to take a picture or video record OF THEIR OWN KIDS in school plays or similar functions, for fear that some miscreant might be snapping away in the audience and thus spread quasi-porn child imagery of fully clothed little Johnny onto the web. Likewise the once perfectly innocent beach pics of your kids or girl/boyfriend or mother or grannie, lest you also capture the image .. of anyone, whether covert or by accident

Fear begets a spiral of yet more fear then into paranioa we descend

My bet is this 'cause celebre' has evolved from low-brow minds watching those equally low-brow TV pretend-news programs like Today Tonight etc

Thanks for bringing this petition to my notice, signed

The madness of banning cameras and camcorders at school events is not just restricted to Oz unfortunately. Many schools in the UK are also starting to take a similar stance at school plays and also at things like sports days and school trips etc. It really is a pathetic state of affairs when a parent can't record their own child's happiest moments for posterity for fear of being suspected of some sort of sexual deviancy.

There is a general hysteria that has descended upon education in the UK of late. The fear of being sued or even criminally prosecuted by parents has meant that some teachers are unwilling to take their pupils on excursions, because the risk to their career of being sued if little Johnny grazes his knee on a schooltrip is too great. Parents are all too willing to pack their kids off to school during the day for some free babysitting and loco parentis, but at the slightest hint or possibility of money to be made they'll happily sue the school to high heaven for compensation.

Perhaps the most ridiculous case of PC madness in schools is that some primary schools have banned school sports days because the idea of competition and potentially getting beaten is too upsetting for the poor bairns. Aside from the obvious fact that competition is just a basic fact of human existence which everyone has to come to terms with eventually, there is the issue of health. Childhood obesity is currently spiralling out of control in the UK and beyond, with kids hooked on coke, candy and McDonalds, yet the one chance per year schools have of genuinely getting kids hooked on sport and exercise is now outlawed incase parents complain that their kid got beaten in the egg-and-spoon race. They now have "Activity Days" where they do various outdoor games and activities but nobody is allowed to actually win or lose anything. I despair sometimes.