The ThunderDragon: Bansturbation

Showing posts with label Bansturbation. Show all posts

09 April 2008

Bansturbating Over Tomato Ketchup

Thanks to Asp for alerting me to this example of sheer bansturbation:

Supermarkets have banned sales of eggs and tomato ketchup to young people in a bid to cut anti-social behaviour...
Norfolk Police asked supermarkets in the town to challenge youths trying to buy sauces in squirty bottles or eggs. (BBC)

There is only one thing you can say to a story like this: Fucking hell! I can't believe that this story could actually be true. Had it appeared eight days ago, I would have been convinced that it was an April Fool. Unfortunately, it seems, no such luck.

Why on earth could banning youths from purchasing tomato ketchup and eggs possibly be seen as a good idea? It's an extremely stupid idea. And is rather a blanket ban. So a young man is sent to the shops by his mother to pick up some tomato ketchup and eggs is going to be refused sale?

Bansturbation. Bansturbation. Bansturbation.

The only up-side to it is that it isn't a government edict that youths be banned from buying tomato ketchup. But that's not much of an up-side.

06 April 2008

Bansturbating Over Samurai Swords

This is a rather excessive reaction to a few isolated incidents:

Legislation against selling, making, hiring or importing samurai swords in England and Wales has come into force.
Those breaking the law face six months in jail and a £5,000 fine...
Samurai swords are part of Japanese history and genuine artefacts can change hands for large sums of money.
But in recent years there has been a trade in reproductions which can be bought over the internet for as little as £35 and they have been used in several attacks. (BBC)

How is this going to stop any attacks? All it will mean is that the gangs of hoodies and the like will just change their choice of weapons from samurai swords [if, of course, they don't already own them] to something else. Such as large kitchen knives.

Unless they want to ban any and all bladed implements that could be used to attack or threaten anyone with, this is an utterly pointless law that is nothing more than bansturbation.

It is already illegal carry to swords and knives in public, so why don't they try and enforce this law - which will accomplish their aims alone - before they start introducing new laws which won't go anywhere towards preventing the in the future the sort of incidents that have caused them to create it.

20 November 2007

Bansturbation

This is bansturbation, pure and simple.

I'll expand on this later.

UPDATE: Plastic bags are the end of the life for plastic. The plastic used to make them can be used for nothing else. Hence to ban plastic bags would leave us with tons of plastic that can be used for nothing else.

However, this does not mean that incentives not to use plastic bags shouldn't be promoted. Instead of banning them or charging for their use, provide incentives for re-using or recycling plastic bags - schemes which most supermarkets already have in place.

Banning them is never going to work, and really works against the green principle in the end. Plastic bags are used by many people for many things - bin-liners and the like - and thus many do get re-used. The plastic used to make plastic bags is at the end of it's lifespan. It cannot be used for making anything else any more, so they make bags from it - and plastic bags can only be made into other plastic bags.

It is more the other plastic waste that needs to be reduced rather than plastic bags, so that we don't end up with so much plastic that is only fit to become plastic bags. Don't just go into bansturbation mode.

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