Peter Norman

My friend Gissur Erlingsson sent me a link to this story at The Independent about the fallout to the late Australian Olympian Peter Norman for his role in the famous black power protest at the 1968 Mexico City games. I'd written on the image some time ago but focused on Carlos and Smith. Norman paid a heavy price for his participation in this event. It seems like the Australian government might be ready to try to rectify that somewhat. Too late.

If You Look up Venality in the Dictionary Today ... You'll find a Snapshot of Quantas CEO Alan Joyce

So, here is a report from August 2011 on the incredible profitability of Quantas airlines for the fiscal year ending June 2011. (Bottom line: net profit more than doubled during the period. And the projection was for even greater profitability in the current period: "The company forecast that yield in the first half of financial 2012 was expected to be higher than the first half 2010/11.")

Yet, today in The Guardian is this report on the lock out of workers that Quantas initiated today - with virtually no warning to anyone, including the Australian government. The airline has literally shut down operations in the face of what it proclaims "unreasonable" demands on the part of unionized workers.

Is this an example of the distinction Rawls draws between rational and reasonable? Or, do I not grasp the concept of reasonable? Or, is it simply that Joyce and the other Quantas execs are unreasonably venal?

Jan Saudek and the Australians

Black Sheep & White Crow (1995) ~ Jan Saudek

Well the Australians are at it again, allowing the offended least common denominator sensibilities of some exhibition-goer to intimidate them into censoring the work of photographers. This time organizers of the Ballarat International Foto Biennale have reportedly removed the work pictured above from their exhibit. The photograph is by Czech photographer Jan Saudek. Why has it been removed? Because a woman complained to a bunch of government agencies that the image displayed a mother pimping her young daughter. And the agencies made it clear to the organizers that future public funding for the Biennale could not be assured if they disregarded such insightful public comment.

Government officials in Australia seem to be even more simpering than those in Britain or here in the States in situations like this. I am not persuaded by the offended woman's interpretaiton of the photograph. Neither am I a huge fan of this sort of work. But the decision to censor and self-censor is simply craven.

Australia ~ Photographers Self-Censor

"Stop Or I Won't Shoot!"
Photograph © Linsey Gosper

Australia is a long way off. But here at the other side of the earth we can learn lessons from the Australians. A couple of years back I posted a number of times about the effort there to censor an exhibition by Bill Henson. The fruits of that effort now seem to have ripened. Here are remarks from this essay photographer Linsey Gosper published in The Sydney Morning Herald:

"Censorship prevails, not only through policy, the media and institutions, but more significantly from artists themselves.

From my personal experience as a photographic artist, and from conversing with many diverse Australian photographers, the most common change in the creation of art now is self-censorship."

This is a forthright statement. It will no doubt displease not only the censors but the photographers who are assiduously avoiding them. And the latter will surely condemn Gosper.

I must say I am unsurprised by this analysis. We have seen self-censorship and much less forthright discussions of it elsewhere and for the same reason. So, my question for Ms. Gosper is "what is to be done?" Having written the essay, is there a venue for challenging the oppressive atmosphere in practice?