The next time you want to develop a roll of film at your "local" nationwide drug store chain, think twice.

It turns out that that Walgreen's, CVS, Eckerds and Rite-Aid have policies that give their under-paid and under-qualified counter monkeys sole discretion over which of your photos are obscene. In the case linked to here, a Walgreen's employee was offended by a picture of a man with a nipple ring, so the employee destroyed the photo and the negative. Had somebody else been on duty that day, the picture may not have raised an eyebrow. It's a complete crapshoot, with an emphasis on the crap.

People aren't bringing their film in for approval; they're bringing it in for developing. Not editing. Not censoring. De-vel-op-ing. If my pictures offend the staff, their options should be limited to either a) giving me at least my negatives and asking me not to come back again, or preferably, b) fucking off and doing their fucking job without all the fucking moralizing and fretting about my immortal soul.

So who's behind this nonsensical crap? Who but the very inventors of nonsensical crap themselves, the American Family Association. If you're unfamiliar with them, they are this country's premier group of hippocritical, sanctimonious, racist, homophobic, woman-hating dog-kickers. Which wouldn't be such a problem if they weren't so well-funded and politically powerful.

Not about to be outdone in the sanctimony department, Wal-Mart goes a step further. If any of your pictures show any genitalia at all, they call the police. Even if it's your 1-year-old playing with Spongebob in the tub? Yup. They call the fucking police on you. Always. At Wal-Mart, they're rolling back prices, and civil liberties.

Thanks to Stay Free! for the heads-up on this.
clevescene.com | Nipple-Free Zone | 2004-04-14