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posted by Fnord666 on Wednesday January 31 2018, @12:35PM   Printer-friendly
from the were-there-bears-involved dept.

Cambodia charges foreigners with making pornographic images

Prosecutors in Cambodia have charged 10 foreigners, including five Britons, with producing pornographic images after raiding a villa in Siem Reap. They were arrested on Thursday after images emerged of people apparently imitating sexual positions at a party in the north-western town. If convicted, they face up to a year in prison.

Two Canadians held in Cambodia for 'dancing pornographically'

A police release included photos of multiple clothed men and women straddling one another on the floor, some in sexually suggestive positions. Those photos are said to have been shared on social media prior to the arrests.

[...] [Joshua Kurlantzick, a senior fellow with the U.S.-based Council on Foreign Relations think tank,] said the Cambodian government is grappling with pressure to enforce more conservative values, an agenda that is at odds with the country's party-oriented reputation among young western travellers. Foreigners dressed in skimpy clothing while visiting religious and historical monuments have been one source of tension. "Cambodian officials have been a little frustrated," Kurlantzick said. "Partly through their own fault, they allowed a certain very seedy sex tourism culture to take place in (the capital) Phnom Penh."

He said that while the arrests are "pretty unusual," travellers should be aware that the Cambodian government is increasingly lashing out against all types of foreign influence, including boisterous tourists. "The overall environment in Cambodia has just become much more repressed over the last year," Kurlantzick said. "The country is potentially something of a tinder box because of that."


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  • (Score: 1) by khallow on Wednesday January 31 2018, @02:48PM (17 children)

    by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Wednesday January 31 2018, @02:48PM (#630965) Journal

    Have some respect, you are guests in a foreign country.

    What wasn't respectful? And why wasn't respect shown for the guests in question?

    If that's the standard applied to their own citizens

    They can always change those standards.

    Respect and standards are nice, but so is not spending a year in jail.

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday January 31 2018, @03:22PM (7 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday January 31 2018, @03:22PM (#630976)

    it's not respectful to go to a country and not ask about their laws beforehand.

    that being said, my first thought when I read about this was "ok, so some countries really are shitholes".

    • (Score: 3, Touché) by maxwell demon on Wednesday January 31 2018, @08:11PM (6 children)

      by maxwell demon (1608) on Wednesday January 31 2018, @08:11PM (#631140) Journal

      it's not respectful to go to a country and not ask about their laws beforehand.

      So before you visit a country, you read their complete laws? Sounds like a lifetime task …

      --
      The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday January 31 2018, @08:24PM (3 children)

        by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday January 31 2018, @08:24PM (#631151)

        That doesn't work as an argument for your own laws. You read your own laws where you live? Nope. Ignorance of the laws aren't an excuse and traveling to another jurisdiction puts you under the laws of that jurisdiction. That was a weak argument from a retard.

        • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday January 31 2018, @08:43PM (2 children)

          by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday January 31 2018, @08:43PM (#631166)

          You are an idiot. The law is complete bullshit just like the law somewhere where you can't spit a damn chewing gum on the gound (probably Saudis). The punishment is completely overboard.

          Man, you are moron if you think laws of man are all acceptable.

          • (Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday January 31 2018, @09:40PM

            by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday January 31 2018, @09:40PM (#631191)

            No one is arguing that the law is just and good. People are saying that ignorance of the law has never been a valid excuse unless you can sell it to the officer about to arrest you, after that you are in the system. Like it or not when you visit another country it is your responsibility to know the laws and stay out of trouble.

            You want to stand up for your own version of justice? Go ahead, you have my thanks for being a martyr and hopefully exposing the shitty laws and having them removed.

            This is how human society works, how can we possibly improve something as vast as societies laws? Currently we fight back and try to get bad laws repealed but it takes a long long time usually.

          • (Score: 3, Touché) by captain normal on Wednesday January 31 2018, @09:41PM

            by captain normal (2205) on Wednesday January 31 2018, @09:41PM (#631192)

            Don't do that in Singapore.

            --
            When life isn't going right, go left.
      • (Score: 3, Informative) by captain normal on Wednesday January 31 2018, @09:39PM (1 child)

        by captain normal (2205) on Wednesday January 31 2018, @09:39PM (#631188)

        Actually it's not very hard. All guide books give you information on laws and customs that should be honored when visiting foreign countries. Even airlines hand out information on the countries where you might be traveling to.
        The U.S. State Department has pertinent information on virtually every country on the planet. https://travel.state.gov/content/passports/en/country.html [state.gov]

        --
        When life isn't going right, go left.
        • (Score: 2) by maxwell demon on Thursday February 01 2018, @05:18AM

          by maxwell demon (1608) on Thursday February 01 2018, @05:18AM (#631352) Journal

          All guide books give you information on laws and customs that should be honored when visiting foreign countries.

          Including such surprising details such as that photos of fully clothed people can still be considered porn in that country?

          --
          The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
  • (Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday January 31 2018, @03:39PM (5 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday January 31 2018, @03:39PM (#630978)

    What wasn't respectful?

    Give me a fucking break, it's pure degeneracy. Just because our shithole countries tolerate this, doesn't mean other countries have to. What a bunch of coddled, dumb motherfuckers, have no idea what the world is, have no idea of what life is, nor respect, nor common decency. Their parents and wider society take blame as well, as they allowed these clowns to grow up in an environment where stupid stunts like this are considered "fun." Absolutely disgusting.

    • (Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday January 31 2018, @07:41PM (1 child)

      by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday January 31 2018, @07:41PM (#631118)

      Today you learned that most people don't like Puritans. Take your repressive morality somewhere else kthxbye.

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday February 01 2018, @03:59AM

        by Anonymous Coward on Thursday February 01 2018, @03:59AM (#631335)

        The problem is that the puritans are winning. Sex will soon be taboo. Asking somebody out is a legal and career-ending risk for men.

        The worst part is that it's the so-called liberals who are pushing for this. I'm not sure they understand that sexual repression generally doesn't work out well for women's liberation.

        But hey, I'm just an observer on this planet, nothing more.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday February 01 2018, @12:30AM (2 children)

      by Anonymous Coward on Thursday February 01 2018, @12:30AM (#631272)

      amen. western morality is bankrupt. avarice, greed, nihilism, narcissism, pollution, all hallmarks of "progress".

      • (Score: -1, Flamebait) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday February 01 2018, @12:41AM

        by Anonymous Coward on Thursday February 01 2018, @12:41AM (#631279)

        Yeah, who needs advanced tech, who cares about curing diseases and creating bionic replacements? Who needs the internet, obviously it is only good for spreading this western degeneracy?? Who cares about all the westerners actually trying to help the rest of the world, let us focus instead on the negatives.

        God how I wish I could live in Turdburkistan and oppress women while killing the infidels! Or shit, let me go to China where I would probably be jailed if I bothered to ever talk politics.

        While the problems you mention are real, and some of them more pronounced in "the west", I still see those problems in other countries. Renewable energy? Who cares about that, we need to keep burning wood and coal for our obviously better pre-industrial lifestyle.

        If you are serious about progress being bad then I say go rub elbows with a polio victim. If you are already vaccinated then I suggest you go live in a village without modern water treatment and get back to me about those intestinal parasites. Hopefully you don't get stoned as a witch/sorcerer.

      • (Score: 1) by khallow on Thursday February 01 2018, @02:00AM

        by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Thursday February 01 2018, @02:00AM (#631290) Journal

        western morality is bankrupt. avarice, greed, nihilism, narcissism, pollution, all hallmarks of "progress".

        Sure it is. If people acted nicely, there would be little need for morality systems in the first place. Western morality is no different in that respect than any other system. All morality systems have these things because that is how people are.

  • (Score: 3, Insightful) by captain normal on Wednesday January 31 2018, @09:29PM (2 children)

    by captain normal (2205) on Wednesday January 31 2018, @09:29PM (#631185)

    You really need to read this:
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Ugly_American [wikipedia.org]

    --
    When life isn't going right, go left.
    • (Score: 1) by khallow on Thursday February 01 2018, @01:15AM (1 child)

      by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Thursday February 01 2018, @01:15AM (#631283) Journal
      I think not. I note from the Wikipedia article it talks about this book as a critique of US foreign policy. Given that we have not a single US citizen among the group (5 Britons, 2 Canadians, and 1 each from New Zealand, Netherlands, and Norway) nor were they acting in even the slightest capacity as extensions of their governments' foreign policy, this suggestion is completely irrelevant. I get that there are a fair number of foreign tourists who don't act as you would like, but that doesn't mean that they don't respect the local country.

      Let us also remember that one of the points of tourism is to step outside the bounds of your normal life. Sorry, that's going to include sex tourism, which will happen somewhere. Sounds like Cambodia chose to host it so they'll need to deal with the consequences, such as the occasional moderately naughty pictures on Facebook. And having some experience with generic tourism, people act differently when they're on vacation and not surrounded by people they know. It's just the way it is.

      Finally, ever consider that some people travel because their personality or psychological issues might keep them from settling down? The "ugly" people don't seem to collect around any particular nationality.
      • (Score: 1) by khallow on Thursday February 01 2018, @02:55AM

        by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Thursday February 01 2018, @02:55AM (#631312) Journal

        I think not. I note from the Wikipedia article it talks about this book as a critique of US foreign policy.

        And by that, I mean the attitude of the people portrayed in the books. After all, if your foreign policy is exclusively implemented by mean drunks with condescending attitudes to the locals, for example, it may be a little lacking. And the book sounds worth reading on its own merits, apparently predicting 60 years of US foreign policy blundering.