EDITORIAL - Dangerous exercise in futility

The proposal of Vice Governor Agnes Magpale to ban tabloids because of their supposed “pornographic” content and what she perceives to be the effects of such content on women and children is a dangerous exercise in futility.

There is no showing, by Magpale or anybody else who thinks similarly, that there is a direct connection between the “pornographic” content in tabloids and the crimes against women and children. 

Just because Magpale feels a certain way about certain content in tabloids should not, in any way, empower her to launch a crackdown on tabloids, at least not without hard incriminating evidence to substantiate here feelings.

Laws are not about feelings and perceptions. They are about facts that leave no room for ambiguity and doubt. Unless tabloids and their content are proven to be directly responsible for crimes against women and children, there must be no prior restraint against their publication.

There are existing applicable laws to use against tabloids in cases where they do start becoming the very menaces to the society they are supposed to enlighten. Short of that, it is unlawful and unconstitutional to ban their publication on the off chance they lead to crimes.

There are other, more precise and practical means by which to address the crimes that Magpale fears so much without having to sacrifice constitutionally-guaranteed freedoms. Crimes are simple police matters. Freedoms involve individual freedoms, the very fabrics of democracy.

Since the Magpale proposal is based on conjecture, allow us one of our own — what if we go along with this folly and ban tabloids, and then find out later that crimes against women and children still rise, as we suspect they will? Will we lift the ban on tabloids?

Lifting the ban is the easier thing to do. What will prove more difficult to undo is the harm the ban shall have inflicted on our way of life, our freedoms, our democracy. The ban shall have rendered all of us vulnerable to the next despot who comes along.