Mais novas do fascismo dos costumes

Mais novidades sobre a galopante tentação de não deixar nada, mesmo nada, às mãos impreparadas de quem somente quer ser livre. Onde? No lugar do costume. Escreve a BBC News (com negritos meus):

The government should make it illegal for internet sites to incite or advise people on how to commit suicide, a charity says.

[...]

The charity said the 1961 Suicide Act should be amended to make it illegal to publish such material on the web.

The government said it was looking at how rules could be tightened.

At the moment, the law says it is illegal to aid, abet, counsel, procure or incite someone to commit suicide, but to be successfully prosecuted the individual has to have knowledge and participated in the suicide.

[...]

A spokeswoman added: "The sites take no responsibility for the advice they give, do not identify themselves and generally create an atmosphere where suicide is normal, acceptable and to be encouraged.

Mal seria a possibilidade de deixar as pessoas pensar pelas suas próprias cabeças. Veja-se o relato do pai de uma das alegadas "vítimas", entretanto tornado activista da regulação desse género de sites (também com negritos meus):

When Paul Kelly returned from a five-week holiday in the US he was hit by the bombshell that his son, Simon, had killed himself.

"I was devastated. Simon was bright, he had got into university and seemed to have everything going for him.

"It was hard to understand why he did it."

[...]

The 18-year-old had been accessing suicide websites.

Paul, 67, from Cornwall, said he did not want to go into what exactly happened, but added: "Records on his computer showed he had been visiting sites explaining techniques on how to kill yourself.

"He had also been into chatrooms where people had been discussing suicide. I am not saying if he had not been on the internet he would not have done it.

"We also found out he had been deeply depressed, but I believe the internet gave him the means to do it.

Vá-se lá pensar que um indivíduo maior, de 18 anos, seja autorizado a pensar pela sua propria cabeça. E a tomar uma decisão que a ele somente diz respeito. Ou pensar, sequer, em quais teriam sido os motivos efectivos da sua confirmada depressão.

Qual é a próxima, meter uma pessoa numa cela acolchoada se as suas pesquisas na Web fizerem tocar as sinetas de que se vai matar num qualquer departamento governamental?