P*ss*d Off With Facebook's Censorship

I have just posted and ranted on Facebook:

Nut & Geb: ancient Egyptian creation myth; and yes, that is an erect #penis.

Facebook is obsessed with policing what adults can view, constantly censoring Art, health and academic posts that allegedly do not fulfil the requirements of its community rules. We are the community, we are adults and we ought to be permitted to share adult-themed materials. This puritanical vein is a hang-over and in some sense a puerile attempt at staving off maturity. It is anti-intellectualism. It is anti-freedom. It is cultural colonialism. Grow up #Facebook!

[Image description: papyrus image of Nut about to be impregnated by her husband, Geb; note the website jungy was unable to credit any copyright.]

Yesterday, a Facebook chum, author, artist and illustrator, Daniel Mainé was asked by Facebook to remove an alleged problematic image. The guy has never once posted anything that could be considered pornographic or contentious, let alone inappropriate. Recall, I was a primary-school teacher, I am quite aware of what might be appropriate.

Today, I discover, my good chum, artist Eric Lacavalerie has had his personal account closed for twenty-four hours for sharing the following image:

[Image description: a naked man doing press-ups on a bed; below him sits an at least partially naked man; the top man's unseen gentitals are on or above the seated chap's face/head; © Eric Lacavalerie aka GayArtbyEric]

In deference to Facebook's absurd puritanism, Eric had self-censored the naked buttock cheeks.

I myself was subjected to a rap over the knuckles for a health-related article (one of a series) I posted on damaged penes, despite the images being available on Wikipedia.

"If thine eye offends thee, pluck it out!" cites the Bible. Well, in the modern world, I would suggest that if something is visually offensive to someone, that they refrain from looking at it. Just because one person is offended, does not mean the majority are.

I have written elsewhere how I consider taking offence is a deliberate action by the emotionally &/or intellectually immature, so I shall not repeat myself. See my blog-post "Offensive language" if you are so inclined.

Grow up folks! Stop reporting things you do not like or are against your so-called beliefs. Your holier-than-me attitude does not win me or others over to your cause. If you have a problem, say so and debate it publicly. What faith to hide behind tell-tales!

Rant over.

Crippled, Queer, Anglo-European Ranter's Second Birthday

[Image description: fairy cake with two candles;

courtesy & © Eric Lacavalerie]

Another year has passed and my blog is still going and even appears to be flourishing now thanks mainly to my June 2012 article on the computer pioneer & mathematician, Alan Turing: a Queer Hero. This post alone has garnered nearly thirty thousand views.

The second most viewed item is from October 2013, Bloom Brasserie @ Bloom Live, which has reached nearly eleven thousand hits. The venue unfortunately closed two months later - hopefully not due to my review!

In third place is my second report, from June 2013, on a favourite musician of mine, Matt Alber in Birmingham (not Alabama!), which has been visited on some seven-and-a-half thousand occasions.

[Image description: map and chart indicating the top ten countries by views]

Unsurprisingly perhaps, my blog is most visited by UK residents - approximately 30,000. Then the USA with circa 20,000. And the tertiary spot is taken by France with about 10,000. These three countries plus Germany & Sweden make up two-thirds of my visitors. Other countries in my top ten are Spain, Indonesia, Netherlands, Russia and Poland. I attract regular visits now from Canada, Oceania, India and China and a continuing increase in hits from South America and (oddly?) the Middle East. The latter area mainly views my article on Penis Problems: Crooked Cocks, Curved Cocks, which from all countries has had viewings totalling some 2,700. Rather suggests that there is a lack of good sexual education perhaps?

My labels list is growing. It now takes up about a quarter of any open page of the blog. Due to the eclectic subject matter of my postings, there are many words that appear only once or twice. However, there is now a hierarchy of labels which have attained double figures of references:

1.  Disabled 44
2.  Disability 24
3.  Review 20
4.  WoWPetition 19
5.  DWP 17
     Manchester 17
7.  Blog 16
     Wheelchair 16
9.  Queer 15
10.  Poetry 14
     Spain 14
12. Facebook 13
     Gay 13
     UK 13
15. Twitter 12
16. Benalmádena 11
     ConDem 11

Looking at the list, it is likely that all will continue to feature in my writing over the next twelve months at least; but it appears that my disability and issues around being disabled are way out in the lead, followed by food, travel, writing, gender issues, social media and politics. Well, I suppose that means my writing fits with the name with which I christened by blog.

In the pipeline, is my Blogging Against Disablism Day 2014 (#badd2014) submission for 1st May, which is entitled "Product Packaging Problems (and solutions?)". Additionally, I still have several eateries to write up and a travelogue of my mini cruise from Santander to Plymouth. WoWPetition is transmogrifying into WoWCampaign, so no doubt I shall be apprising you of developments there.

For those of you with an interest in "Artworks, Books & Erotica", who ADDITIONALLY are not offended by nakedness / nudity / pornography / sexual imagery, I have just started a tumblr blog called criquaer: uncensored. It is my intention to publish any really risqué tales on tumblr. Please feel free to take a look if this piques your curiosity - however, you must be aged over 18 in the UK and whatever legal age is required if living elsewhere. You can find other images by Eric there too, or, if you prefer, the censored versions on the more prudish facebook. Either way, you'll probably adore or swoon over Ludo!

Oh, and by the by, I am still awaiting my first visit from Antarctica… %D