A Different Bomb by Pete Townshend

Petetownshend.com ^ | January 2002 | Pete Townshend

[WL-law]

To all -- please see http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/821928/posts -- we had a vigorous discussion, actually started BEFORE this letter showed up last night. I, like many here, are troubled by the rush to judgement against Townshend, and we raised the 'macro' public policy arguments as well the nuances of the particular case involving Townshend. I'd like to hear your collective opinions on the "macro" issue.

[DuncanWaring]

He has been changed with "conspiracy to distribute" or words to that effect .... I'd like to know what's behind this charge.

If English prosecutors are anything like American prosecutors, they create a list of every conceivable charge that can faintly be construed by the wildest imagination to apply.

[TLBSHOW]

More news from England!

T Rex band member dies

Micky Finn, percussionist with glam rock group T Rex, has died at the age of 55.
A spokesman for the Mayday Hospital in Croydon, south London, said: "Michael Finn died on Saturday night at the Mayday Hospital."

His manager Barry Newby said Finn was believed to have died of kidney and liver problems, but the exact cause of death had not been announced yet.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/2651733.stm

Formed by flamboyant lead singer Marc Bolan in 1967, T Rex remain best know for hits such as

Get it On (bang a gong),

[Numbers Guy]

Did Pete actually write this article himself? (The composition, punctuation, etc. is extremely well done...something I question)

Townshend's an intelligent man and a talented prose writer, who spent the latter part of the 80's working as an editor at an English publisher.

Check out the liner notes for "Quadrophenia" or "Odds and Sods". Or his review of "Meaty Beaty Big and Bouncy" published in Rolling Stone way back when. Or his collection of short stories, "Horse's Neck".

[mr.pink]

I think Townsend himself is a victim. His lyrics are filled with pain and hidden feelings. "Fiddle About", "Cousin Kevin" from "Tommy" may hint at abuse, "Behind Blue Eyes" shines a light on the pain within.

I agree. However if one takes it upon oneself to "research" a subject such as child pornography, one should do so in a scientifically respectable manner. He should have partnered with someone acredited in areas like this and proceeeded professionally.

Finding a kiddie porn site and plugging your CC number in is not the way to do that.

[Windsong]

Barf

[Dr. Eckleburg]

While I sympathize with Townsend's scarred history, he appears to be "covering his arse."

[SerpentDove]

It doesn't matter what I think...

but I am disinclined to believe Peter Townshend's version of events.

[NYC GOP Chick]

He has been changed with "conspiracy to distribute" or words to that effect. That goes way beyond just looking at this stuff or even downloading it. I'd like to know what's behind this charge.

Actually, he has been charged with nothing, but is "under suspicion" of "incitement to distribute" -- which, essentially, means that by giving his credit card info (stupid, stupid, stupid!) to the porn site, he was "inciting" them to "distribute" their crap to his computer.

[Donna Lee Nardo]

But I can't help but wonder whether he wrote this piece to exercise a demon and to try to leave a paper trail of innocence if he needed to so profess it in the future...because by the time he put this piece on his site, he had learned that ISP's have records of visitors.

[Donna Lee Nardo]

All porn should be outlawed, period. It is all abuse.

[Revolting cat!]

Victim of child abuse, victim of the "alcoholism disease", victim this, victim that! Now, I know why I never liked Tommy while being a fan of the band. Petie oughta get over it, stop his "research" and start enjoying his wealth. What's this victim obsession? I went to a writer's group a couple of weeks ago and a couple of old broads were reading their weepy short pieces there - one about a street bum, sorry "a homeless person", and the other about a halfwit, sorry "a victim of something or other". I walked out, just as I couldn't finish reading the piece above. Is there all there is to life, victimhood? Petie was promising a new Who album a few weeks ago, he ought get off his arse and start working on that!

[Calico Cat]

This is hardly a validation. This kiddy-porn ring was busted about a year ago. Townshend knew that the police had his credit-card number and was trying to give himself a cover. I still don't buy it.

[new cruelty]

I recall hearing about that ring some time last year. Does the date the ring was busted coincide with the time Townshend wrote this document?

[Question_Assumptions]

This does sound plausible. A friend was looking for "haiku" information for her daughter, spelled it wrong, and wound up at a Japanese porn site. I've had a porn site come up accidentally after mistyping a URL. And (as I mentioned in another thread), I know of a guy who was looking at the Usenet one night at work that was so upset by what he stumbled upon that he beeped his manager in the middle of the night (I know the manager). The kind of thing described here can and does happen. And once you view those images, they may be stored on your hard drive. And as he said about "boys", some keywords do have "code word" meanings to the point that I've often taken to typing "-sex" (i.e., exclude pages with the word "sex" in them) into searches to prevent seeing sex sites. If you have a filter or AOL, you might not see them but if you don't and search for the wrong word, you sure can.

[Calico Cat]

This ring was busted before 9-11-01. My speculation is that Townshend has been visiting these sites for a long time, heard that one he visited was busted, and began a public 'crusade' against kiddy-porn because he knew what was coming and wanted to give himself cover.

His latest excuse: he was trying to encourage adoption of Russian orphans. While 'researching' this topic, he stumbled into some Russian kiddy-porn rings.

It's so weird that his research leads him again and again into child pornography. What a coincidence! I've been online for four years, have been doing research for four years (including research on foreign adoptions) and have never encountered this garbage. If I had, I certainly would have contacted law enforcement (Pete, in the Russian-child-porn story, says that he didn't contact the police, despite the fact that he saw a 2-year-old boy being raped. Niiiice. His concern wasn't enough that he would contact ANYONE until he was sure that his credit card number was in police possession.)

Busted, Pete. End of story.

[Calico Cat]

Oh, it's possible you could run into these sites accidentally. It's not possible to 'accidentally' give them your credit card number. It's quite suspicious that Townshend was interested in 'researching' subjects that consistently led him to encounter child pornography.

[TLBSHOW]

bump

[Mrs.Liberty]

This ring was busted before 9-11-01. My speculation is that Townshend has been visiting these sites for a long time, heard that one he visited was busted, and began a public 'crusade' against kiddy-porn because he knew what was coming and wanted to give himself cover.

Wrong. Pete Townshend originally posted his “Different Bomb” piece in January of 2001, at least a half a year prior to the FBI handing over names to the UK. When he found out about the names being handed over, he reposted his entry, and subsequently posted more on the subject. He was not even aware he was on the list until the press showed up at his door. BTW, he was a priority 3 on the list, meaning his was of the lowest priority, and would not have even been contacted by the police for quite awhile.

[Calico Cat]

"He wasn't aware he was on the list until the press showed up at his door"

What? I was under the impression that HE called the press to deny that he was a pedophile. He knew he was on the list and was doing some spin, as far as I can see.

And Townshend was on more than one list. More 'research' of his--on Russian orphanages, because of his concern for having Russian orphans adopted in England (by who? Certainly not by him or his friends)--got him into yet another kiddy-porn site that he evidently left either a URL or a credit-card number on.

As I stated before: odd how his research led him into kiddy-porn more than once.

His career is over.