I Know This Is Decidedly Un-Tiki But

Man, I don't know who among my fellow Tiki Centralites are fans, but this stuff going on about Pete Townsend is just killing, and I mean KILLING me. I have been Who crazy since I first picked up a guitar at age 14. I idolized Keith and Pete. Without them there would have never been Punk Rock as we know it. I hope his version of this is proven true and the charges are dropped....he is in the middle of writing an autobiography, and did grow up with a very deranged grandmother who it is known beat the sh*t out of him.

[Edited by hanford to move the topic to Beyond Tiki]

[ Edited by: hanford_lemoore on 2003-01-14 15:39 ]

Regardless of his personal motives he admittedly provided money in exchangge for child porn. The charges shouldn't be dropped regardless of his reasons, IMO.

I see your point, but...why did it have to be Pete? :(

Keith's dead

Sounds more like Pete took a page from Wynona Ryder's playbook "I only shoplifted in order to prepare for a part".

What exactly could he gleen from watching child pornography to be used in an autobiography? If he 'was' molested as a child I'm sure he would know the pain.

How odd, you mean rockers aren't upstanding pillars of society?

It's all a bit grim, but I'm sure Pete is no Gary Glitter.

Trader Woody

Yah, this one is a bummer.

If he acted as he claims, then he should have plenty of documentation regarding a book that will be being published in a matter of months, and should have the inspection if his computer reveal that no downloads took place with no other evidence of any active attraction to kiddie porn.

I hope he hasn't been hanging out with Gary Glitter lately!

If he did do it, we will have to change the lyric to "Preteen Wasteland."

How's this:

Baby O'Reilly

I'm going back to jail,
For digging underage tail

How much lower could I be driven?

They don't put up a fight
it makes me feel so right

I don't need to be forgiven!

Don't cry
Don't raise your eye
It's only preteen wasteland

Sally took my hand
Travelled 'cross my waistband
Put out the fire
She can't look 10 or older
Oh, no, the cops are here
I'll blame it on the beer

Let's get together
Before you get much older

Preteen wasteland
I'm in prepubescent wasteland
Preschool wasteland
Oh, oh
Preteen wasteland
They're all wasted!

[ Edited by: Geeky Tiki on 2003-01-14 15:27 ]

Last I heard on FARK.com Gary Glitter is in Thailand hiding from their government as he wasn't supposed to be allowed in. http://www.thaivisa.com/index.php?514&backPID=10&tt_news=79
The Smoking Gun has his book or paper he was writing posted. http://www.thesmokinggun.com/doc_o_day/petetownshend1.html

Tacky Techie Tiki Bar

[ Edited by: Turbogod on 2003-01-14 15:37 ]

[ Edited by: Turbogod on 2003-01-14 15:44 ]

Pete has been vocal on his site for almost two years about doing research about child porn. Pete has been ranting about his anger over the complacency of the law when it comes to this filth for almost two years through essays he's been writing on his website. Maybe, just maybe, he actually WAS doing research. Cops do it too, do you think they build a case against child porn without viewing it? I won't pretend to not be confused and saddend. I hope that the truth comes out no matter what that might be. I can't believe we're so gullible as to believe what the media tells us. Do we really think its that simple? Think of the corporate-owned media that loves to say "we got the bad guy," when they're the very ones profiting off of the not -quite- a -woman Britany Spears practically naked at any given moment or the 13 year old Calvin Klein models, it's all very scary and disturbing!

[ Edited by: Tikiphile on 2003-05-19 10:52 ]

Geeky Tiki,

Your piece was very witty indeed!

(He's a playpen wizard...)

I just hate it. The Who was always that sacred musical Alamo for me, that thing that you pick up on first and is the wellspring of all your musical taste from there on out. I guess all deaths and arrests aside the art is it's own entity by now. It's just a big bummer and a dissapointment.

Basement Kahuna,

All kidding aside. The Who are a great musical force. If indeed the charges are true, should the music inspire you any less?

As weird as I am, the thought of child porn only disgusts me. That's probably why as a musician for 30 years I've never had a hit album. (OOPS I did say all kidding aside.)

Anyway, don't get bummed out. Great talent is a mystical thing. Maybe people who greatly excel in certain areas, have deficits in others.

I spent a good many years being obsessed with The Who. Plus I just bought my husband a pair of Clarks desert boots, as seen on the mods in Quadrophenia. The news about Pete is devastating! By the way, Gary Glitter was thrown out of Thailand by the country's government a few months ago, they said he was not welcome. Thats the last thing I heard about him.

On 2003-01-14 16:57, Tikiphile wrote:
I think it has to do with the "Guilty till proven Innocent" thing in England

Whaaattt???
There's no such thing!
It's innocent until proven guilty just like the US, Canada, Europe, etc etc.

Trader Woody

I was on a wild tangent! Proves my point! You can't believe everything you read least of all what I write!

I guess I've always separated my musical idols' music from everything else about them. Cynical? I guess, but if I only listened to and loved music by people who lived, voted, believed, ate, had sex, etc. the way I think they should, then I wouldn't listen to or love anybody's music - not even my own, since even I don't live up to my own expectations.

The Pete thing bummed me way out, too, Basement Kahuna. Don't even ASK how many times I saw Quadrophenia...or about my pilgrimage to Brighton to the pier...

What about the fact that even if he were a pedophile himself, pedophilia is a disease just as real as ALS? Lou Gehrig wasn't stoned and Pete Townshend shouldn't be either.
A federal district court in the U.S. has ruled that computer generated child porn would be legal. Crime only occurs when people are directly and demonstrably harmed by the actions of another. If the kids on that site were real, then it's a crime to exploit them by operating the site, but I have a real problem with criminalizing the ill people who use it, and nothing but disgust for law enforcement officials who would release what are effectively private medical records to the public for ridicule.

Just asking, but if you can't criminalize child porn consumption, what the hell CAN you criminalize?

Ted Bundy just addicted to murder? A victim of an illness?

Drunken drivers maybe not responsible for their actions, criminally?

What should we do for the consumers of child porn, get them a special HBO channel that uses only computer generated porn? Perhaps finding 18 year old actors to shave and create the illusion of kiddie porn? Maybe "All Hentai, all the time" channels?

First you go after the porn producers and throw the book at them. Trying to stop child porn by going after people who look at it is like solving the drug problem by going after the users. It will cost you dearly and nothing will get solved. There have always been sexual perversions and you can't stop it. Look at the history of wealthy landowners keeping young boys for their sexual pleasure. This has happened (and probably still does) in several countries. I'm not saying it's morally right, just that it's impossible to stop the demand for it, so you have to stop the supply of it.

Pete Townshend Press Statement

After months of investigation officers from Scotland Yard's Child Protection group have confirmed that they have not found any downloaded child abuse images on rock guitarist Pete Townshend's computers. They added that Pete co-operated fully with the investigation and that the decision to caution was made in accordance with the MPS Case Disposal Policy for this investigation.

Pete stated "From the very beginning, I acknowledged that I did access this site and that I had given the police full access to all of my computers". He added "As I made clear at the outset, I accessed the site because of my concerns at the shocking material readily available on the Internet to children as well as adults, and as part of my research toward the campaign I had been putting together since 1995 to counter damage done by all kinds of pornography on the internet, but especially any involving child abuse".

The Police work closely with the Internet industry through the Internet Watch Foundation to monitor paedophile activity and any member of the public accidentally discovering such images should notify the IWF through their website.

Ironically Pete later contacted the Internet Watch Foundation on the subject of the offensive site. He pointed out that "The police have unconditionally accepted that these were my motives in looking at this site and that there was no other nefarious purpose, and as a result they have decided not to charge me. I accept that I was wrong to access this site, and that by doing so, I broke the law, and I have accepted the caution that the police have given me."

I'm not saying he's right or wrong. On his website, Mr. Townsend was very critical of authorities and was very clear on "Researching" illegal activity.

Let's review:

Publicly chastising authority + Publicly engaging in illegal activity = DISASTER

His reputation has been deystroyed, there will be no charges filed.
Al