David Gerard "dances on the skulls" of the IWF, his words not mine Options

[Kato]

In a blog post, disgraced WMF UK spokesman David Gerard - previously best known as the guy who blocked a whole region of Utah, and censored various IPs round the world, as well as censoring "encyclopedia text", all because he didn't like the views of one person who turned out to be correct anyway - and the guy currently accused of entirely deleting ("oversighting" or "censoring" if you will) edits on the subject of zoophilia to protect a fellow high-powered Wikipedian who made them, for political reasons - boasts that after his appearances in the media to oppose the recent IWF censorship:

A small amount of gleeful dancing on the skulls of the IWF today.

This is aimed at a group who work with the Police and Child Protection agencies to alert ISPs about potentially illegal exploitative images of children.

He goes on to write:

I predict a flood of helpful citizenry going to the IWF reporting page and entering any image on any top 10 website that might be “potentially illegal.” Much as the head of the IWF is “potentially a fabulous drag queen.”

Can Wikipedia get more hypocritical, arrogant and obnoxious?

EDIT: More on David Gerard here.

[dtobias]

Forces of censorship and oppression always claim to be doing it for great motives like "protecting the children". The world isn't generally fully of comic-book or Saturday-morning-TV villains who call themselves by handy names like "Dr. Evil". Some of you seem to be saying that everybody else needs to immediately fold whenever the "Kiddie Card" is played.

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[dogbiscuit]

Forces of censorship and oppression always claim to be doing it for great motives like "protecting the children". The world isn't generally fully of comic-book or Saturday-morning-TV villains who call themselves by handy names like "Dr. Evil". Some of you seem to be saying that everybody else needs to immediately fold whenever the "Kiddie Card" is played.

No, the kiddie card is just one trump card, against which others may be played. It is disingenuous to suggest that Protect the Children protests are... disingenuous. The basis is simple: it has long been recognised by society that children are vulnerable and it is the role of society to be protective of children. What is unusual is the suggestion that an instinctive reaction of protection is improper and the appropriate solution of ignoring the issue as it will magically all come right is a counter-intuitive one - one that is offered with no evidence, just an assurance of arrogant righteousness.

Residents in the UK are aware that such emotive approaches can be overused, and we often have a good laugh about the mixed up American society which cannot marry up its freedom ideals and its oppressive approach of the moral majority which have carried repressive ideologies into the White House itself. However, it would be foolish to assume that any society had got the dilemma solved.