Totally off Taiwan messages, but interesting news story today on the Net from BBC and elsewhere. Seems WHO man Pete T. is in trouble with the UK cops over some child porn viewing. But he maintains that he was doing research for a book he is writing about his own childhood sexual abuse in his own family… and his friends back him up. He even said he addressed the issue on the song ERNIE from TOMMY pop rock opera so I looked it up. Here’ s the lyrics. Do you think Pete is guilty of something, or just doing legit research?
But an internet watchdog said Townshend was “incredibly foolhardy, naive and misguided” to enter the website.
“You have to consider his background,” Mr Gambaccini told BBC London.
"He himself says that he was abused as a child and indeed he went on the record about this in Tommy with the song Uncle Ernie…
“In other words, this is a subject which has concerned him for many, many years, and I therefore do trust him implicitly.”
LYRICS:
Tommy
Fiddle About
I’m your wicked Uncle Ernie
I’m glad you won’t see or hear me
As I fiddle about
Fiddle about
Fiddle about !
Your mother left me here to mind you
Now I’m doing what I want to
Fiddling about
Fiddling about
Fiddle about!
Down with the bedclothes
Up with the nightshirt!
Fiddle about
Fiddle about
Fiddle about !
You won’t shout as I fiddle about
Fiddle about
Fiddle about
Fiddle about !
Fiddle, fiddle, fiddle.
Silly man. He should have contacted a charity or some research body first. Now he’ll be branded a child molester by the press, and is virtually certain to be convicted of possessing indecent photographs of children and placed on the sex offenders register. I don’t think the law makes any distinction between the casual or morbidly curious observer, and the hardcore pornographer with thousands of stored pictures. I don’t really understand his excuse - I mean he gave up his credit card details and all - surely the first stop for a researcher into this kind of stuff is the police or a registered child protection charity ?
Er, what kind of “research” did he say he was doing? If I were the judge, I’d be interested to hear him describe his research objectives and methodology. And I’d especially probe him (forgive the expression!) to see whether he’s as conversant with the secondary literature as he is with primary source material.
Or was he doing “research” for a song? You’d think he’d already be familiar with the mechanics of child molesting, that he wouldn’t need to refresh his memory with kiddie porn again and again. Well, far be it for me to stand in the way of science or art.
The “research” defense. This has possibilities, doesn’t it?
UPDATE: I see from the news that by “research” he means that he was attempting as a private citizen to entrap child molestors. So…NEVER MIND!
Interestingly, another famous musician was nabbed in “Operation Ore” along with a well-known TV personality … can’t wait to find out who they are. Any guesses?
I must confess I was ready to brand him a “Gary Glitter” until I heard about the full context i.e. his abused background, which of course wasn’t mentioned in the first news reports.
I’m sure all the “abused as a kid” stuff is just spin invented to make people feel sorry for the old man. I’m also certain he’s had plenty of time to clear all the porn off his hard drive. He’s inviting the cops to “check his hard disk for porn” in a bid to clear his name.
Perhaps you are right Monkey. But it seems than there is no shortage of stars jumping to his defence. I’m not sure that “protecting your own” would apply here given the revulsion in which paedophiles are held.
Well I don’t see how it will hurt his career seeing as The Who stopped recording in the 80s.
But Tommy is all about child abuse, so I think there may be something to the ‘research’.
Let us not judge one of the greatest rock musicians of all time. Damn! Were they ever good in their heyday!
I used to have every single one of their albums when I was a teen.
Thing is, these things do mar the images of pop icons. I read recently that Chuck Berry was big into scatology and that’s all I think of when I hear his name now. It’s too bad. :?
The Sun carries an interview with Who star Pete Townshend, in which he says police can come and check his computer to prove that he did not download child porn.
This is a fucking load of fucking bullshit. Townshend is on record and has been for many years as a campaigner against child abuse.
As the quoted cop said, “research” is the number one excuse for caught pedoes, but I think that in this case, its the truth.
However, its also true, I suppose, that people abused as kids are more likely to be abusers themselves, so…
And what about all that fluff about how “policing the Internet should be left to the experts.” Fuck OFF! All they can present is evidence of how abjectly they have failed.
Too much profanity, I’m sorry. But this story has really got my goat.
Maybe he was just making sure that “the kids were alright”.
Okay, now seriously. I have always had a thing for classic rock, ever since I watched Forrest Gump and fell in love with the soundtrack. The Who was a group that I liked, but I recently discovered just how much I loved them when I went home for Christmas and watched a documentary on the Who via VH1. Then this comes up not even two weeks later. Man. I personally think Pete’s innocent, but was foolish in the manner in which he approached the situation. I don’t think it was really research nor that he was trying to get his rocks off on this crap as much as he might have been curious to learn more about the situation under which other children who were being sexually exploited as he had been as a child or to avenge them by attacking those who subscribe to this exploitation and was surfing to get those names.
Which reminds me…I wonder what’s going on with the Pee Wee Herman and Jeffrey Jones child pornography thing.
Formosa, can’t you just drop this. I don’t know why you posted it here in the first place. It’s something fairly trivial going on on the other side of the globe, and nothing said here is any more than idle speculation.
To Juba: I said at the beginning this was totally off Taiwan messages, so of course it is not important here. Just a side bar to the real world. Other posters evidently found it worth reading and posting… it’s an interesting case of did he or didn’t he, and the same things can happen here with movie stars and rock singers. But if you don’t want to read about this anymore, Juba, don’t.
According to the Telegraph (telegraph.co.uk), 12 policemen were sent to arrest Pete. Meanwhile, in Manchester, a handful of cops (apparently unarmed!) were sent to arrest a terrorist suspect…with predictable results. One dead policeman and 4 injured. Hmmmmm…priorities gentlemen?
I don’t know how old were the supposed children in the purported child pornography that Pete was allegedly viewing, and I really don’t care, but I just listened to Quadrophenia last night for the first time in years (what a GREAT album – a true classic), and was reminded of the terrific opening line in 515:
To the poster who wrote, “Silly man. His first stop should have been a registered charity or the police…”
Did you even read the article?
He DID DO considerable research, in advance, and has all sorts of contacts to prove it: the police, friends, and even a published song.
I shudder to think what verdict some of you would come up with if I were ever accused of a crime.
With your rush to judgement, my jaywalking referral might soon become a conviction for first-degree murder.
Thank god that in some of our countries we do still have a functioning judicial system.
I far prefer it to trial by rumor and innuendo, or conviction by character assassination.
Rock star Pete Townshend reveals how he contemplated killing himself after he confessed to downloading child pornography.
‘If I had had a gun, I would have shot myself,’ he tells The Observer in an exclusive interview. ‘And if I had shot myself, it would have been fucking awful because it would have confirmed what everybody thought.’
He also says the woman in the US who had found his name on the list of paedophile suspects had broken down in tears because she was such a huge Who fan.
