Nanny’s friends in Bodmin are trying to ban the three hundred year old tradition of Punch and Judy.
It seems that Bodmin's Women's Rape and Sexual Abuse Centre has bombarded Reg Payn, the town's officially licensed puppeteer, with leaflets on domestic violence. They have also harassed the audience during Reg’s shows.
It seems that nanny feels that the audiences these days are not able to recognise the difference between a wooden puppet and reality. Clearly audiences of three hundred years ago, were far more intelligent.
Newcastle City Council tried this trick last year, and banned Mr Punch. However, they had to rescind their ban, when it emerged that official recommending the ban had never seen a Punch and Judy show.
I would venture to suggest that Bodmin Council might first like to attend to the nation’s soap opera addiction. These pose the real danger to society.
These dumbed down, mass population sedatives pump out a daily diet of domestic violence and abuse. They are far more “realistic” than any wooden puppet; regrettably many people seem to be unable to distinguish between reality, and the characters and storylines in these dreadful shows.
Yet we don’t see nanny trying to shut them down.
Maybe it is because they keep the population docile, and stop people from thinking?
Have just come across your site. Excellent stuff - keep up the good work!
ReplyDeleteThis is indeed madness. These latter day Puritans object to the violence in Punch and Judy and yet see nothing wrong in harassing kids (they've obviously not considered that they may be causing psychological harm to the children)...
The irony is that in a Punch and Judy show, the children are encouraged to shout out and call for help when something bad happens. They're also encouraged to tell somebody what the bad thing was that happened. Surely this is something to be encouraged not discouraged or banned!
As far as soap operas go, if anyone criiticises the pap that's churned out, the usual replies are: "But we're only reflecting reality..." and "people are not influenced by what they see on television..." (thus confounding the entire efforts of the advertising industry).