Becks Incredible Film Fest not subsidised say Libz

"Claims by the Society for the Promotion of Community Standards that the Becks Incredible Film Festival is subsidised by taxpayers is a nonsense, when all the festival organiser is getting is respite from fees he shouldn't have to pay in the first place" announced Libertarianz Spokeman on Free Speech Scott Wilson today.

"The absurdity of the current law is that the state dictates that all films be classified before they are allowed to be shown - much like Saddam Hussein's regime did. The State puts the burden of proof on the person who wants to demonstrate that the film is legal, rather than on the state to demonstrate that it is illegal; And the State makes the demonstrator pay big bucks for this 'privilege'. In the current case, the festival owner is simply getting a well-deserved refund."

"Libertarianz would put a stop to this lunacy. We would put the burden of proof back on the state by making "censorship" simply a branch of criminal law where the Police would only take action when it was demonstrable that a film was produced as an accessory to an actual crime, and not prohibited just because it offended a few intolerant individuals for whom sex is a filthy sinful act," explained Wilson.

"Libertarianz agree with SPCS that no films should be subsidised; neither should any broadcasting or other art whatsoever. For example, we say that evangelist American television channel Trinity Broadcasting Network should not be using a non-commercial television frequency in Wellington to pump out its Christian conservative perspective. That frequency should be sold off instead of being reserved for evangelists to spread their message for free. Libertarianz are consistent on this point: we would also abolish Creative New Zealand, New Zealand on Air and the Ministry of Culture and Heritage, as well as privatising Television New Zealand and Radio New Zealand. Can SPCS boast that same consistency, I wonder?" muses Wilson.

"In fact, SPCS has a bigger agenda than simply trying to ban films it disagrees with," concludes Wilson. "Iit wants to prohibit any depiction, real or acted, of legal sexual activity. SPCS apparently believes that people participating in legal acts should be criminalised once these acts are recorded, and that those producing such recording should be criminalised. Libertarianz rejects this and believes that Beck's Incredible Film Festival should be able to show all its films unedited, unless it can be demonstrated that any footage in those films involved the commission of actual crimes without the consent of the victim" he concluded.

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