Censorship and such

The Monday Mission on a Tuesday…

1. The North Carolina Press Photographers Association (NCPPA) recently took back a photographer’s three awards when it was learned that he had digitally altered some photos. I use PhotoShop or other digital editing tools all the time on my photographs. I never thought that was wrong. Do you think it is “unethical” for newspaper photographers to use PhotoShop to alter the images they capture? Should journalists be held to a higher standard?
I don’t think it’s wrong to alter images in Photoshop, but I do think that that makes it something other than a straight “photograph”. It’s a different sort of art entirely. And in press photography, where do you draw the line? Is it ok to remove the offending lamp-post which blocks the view? Well, is it then also ok to remove Trotsky from the photograph altogether?

2. On the flip-side of journalistic integrity, several newspapers are choosing not to run the Sept. 7 edition of “Doonesbury” because it mentions masturbation. I just don’t care for Doonesbury anymore, but it made me wonder how much progress we’ve really made as a society. Is masturbation a bad thing? Even in the times in which we live, is it something that can’t be spoken of still? And just for grins, do you really believe people who say they’ve never done that?
To start with the last question: No. It’s not a bad thing, though, is it? (In fact, I think it’s quite a good thing, and especially… but I digress.) However, I guess it’s still one of the great taboos – most people feel profoundly uncomfortable talking about masturbation. Not necessarily from a belief that it’s wrong, I don’t think. Personally I wouldn’t really discuss it – you won’t find me sitting round sharing tips on technique with my friends – but then you wouldn’t generally find me sitting discussing sex with them either, to me there’s not much of a difference (well, there’s a difference in doing, obviously, just not in talking about. Oh, you know what I mean…)

But censoring a cartoon for mentioning it is just silly.

3. If you had the power to be the Webmaster Almighty, what one thing would you eliminate entirely from the World Wide Web?
Child pornography.

4.Did you grow up in the same town when you were young, or did your parents move around a lot? How do you think that impacted your life? Has it had any affects on your adult life?
We moved about a bit. Until I was four we lived in Oslo, we then lived in Hamar for 11 years with a one-year break when we stayed in The Gambia. When I was sixteen we moved to Trondheim, which is what I mean when I say I’m going “home” for the weekend.

I’ve continued the trend myself, though, having lived both in Denmark and England in addition to Trondheim and Oslo since I moved out.

I think the moves were good to some extent. It made me unafraid of change and self-reliant to a larger degree than I would probably have been otherwise – I’m not really scared of facing a completely new place with completely uknown people all on my own.

It’s also given me constant homesickness, but I can live with that.

5. Who deserves to be called a Liar to their face? What would you say to them to publicly humiliate them? (“Liar, liar, pants on fire…”
Most politicians. Not to mention names, but a guy whose last name starts with B and ends with ush springs to mind. And that other bloke. Blair, was it?

6. How do you picture Heaven?
“I’ve always imagined heaven to be some sort of library.” Jorge Luis Borges and I agree on that, at least.

7. Who do you hope to meet in the afterlife?
Oscar Wilde. Jane Austen. Shakespeare. Do I need to go on?

Voices in my head: Travelling Wilburys – Handle me with Care