Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1999/09/20
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]From: Nathan Wajsman <nathan.wajsman@euronet.be> Sent: Monday, September 20, 1999 10:22 Subject: Re: [Leica] What I did today > I live in Belgium. As you are well aware, we have had some > terrible cases of child abductions, sexual abuse and murder > here over the past couple of yours. In this environment, it > is entirely understable that parents might become uneasy > about a stranger photographing their children without permission. Why do you say that? Is photography considered a form of child abuse, murder, or pornography in Belgium? - ------ Why don't you try reading, and thinking about, what other people write before you respond. Nathan didn't say that photography is a form of child abuse and you know it. He did say that people's fears have been heightened. B. D. C. - ----- > I can assure you that if you chose to exercise your perceived > right to do so just because they are in a public place, and > if a parent then took your Leica and smashed it on the ground, > the authorities here would come down on the side of the parent > and not the photographer. One more reason not to visit Belgium. Do people there form lynch mobs as well and kill photographers? > If someone acts as an asshole and loses his equipment > or gets punched in the face as a result, he is only getting > what he deserves. So you essentially believe that if someone does something you don't like, it's all right to beat him or destroy his property, without due process of law?-- Anthony - ------ No, Anthony. But just as the person who crosses the street against the light doesn't "deserve" to be hit - but if he or she isn't limited mentally he or she will know that there is a good chance of being hit - so the photographer who photographs people for no valid reason against their objection ought to know that he or she may well face what is of course illegal physical assault. BDC