Philip Pullman refuses background snoop for school book readings

"The writer said the "insulting" requirement to be checked by the new
Independent Safeguarding Authority (ISA) to speak to pupils sent the message
to youngsters "that the world is a dark and nasty place, where everybody
wants to murder and rape them"...

He said: "It is insulting and I think unnecessary, and I refuse to be
complicit in any scheme that assumes my guilt."

Mr Pullman, who was a schoolteacher in his 20s, feared the insidious effect
of such databases was to "corrupt a child's view of the world", making them
think that "the basic mode is not of trust but suspicion".

"That's what we are teaching children, that the world is a dark and nasty
place were everybody wants to murder and rape them," he continued.
"It assumes that the default position of one human being to another is
predatory rather than kindness."

Mr Pullman went further: "It says to the very few people who are inclined to
rape and murder children that they are no worse than anybody else, because
they would do it too if they could."

[interesting and possibly valid point at the end]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/booknews/5834646/Philip-Pullman-refuses-to-undergo-insulting-child-safety-check.html


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