Esoteric is a word most people associate with quaint crystal filled shops manned by silly but essentially harmless cat ladies who think they have magical powers. UK legislators, on the other hand, equate crystals, angels and overpriced “health” food with pornography.

As discussed by Payton Alexander in The Libertarian in August, the UK “porn ban” goes far beyond blocking adult websites by default. Esoteric material could be anything chosen to be defined as such. But very likely, alternative spirituality will be a target: Wicca, druids, Theosophy, shamanism, and anything else anyone has every dreamed of. I personally am as materialistic an atheist as you’re likely to encounter, and against “alternative” nonsense like homeopathy, Reiki and reflexology, but making this kind of content inaccessible to those who are interested in it is outrageous. We can argue all we want whether pornography is immoral or demeaning, but surely we can all agree that buzzwords like “mindfulness” or “spirituality” are at worst meaningless, but harmless.

The “porn ban” is itself a result of irresponsible, blame-shifting parents and Daily Mail-type hysteria. But I don’t think even they would want to prevent their precious offspring from booking a yoga class.

In addition to “esoteric” web sites, web forums will be blocked too, so if you were planning on accessing MumsNet in public, tough luck. It is even more ludicrous that web forums, which are, in general, considered to be helpful and beneficial, are lumped into the same category as violence and porn. Millions of people will be inconvenienced by this ridiculous inclusion.

I cannot stress enough how totalitarian and despicable censorship is. “Protecting the children” is not worth anyone’s liberty. In addition, this current example of censorship is set to break Articles 18 and 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. While the libertarian opinion of the UN ranges from mildly to very negative, you would think that the UK, touting human rights above common sense, would at least regard them enough not to walk all over the charter.

Here is a petition you can sign.