I've taken a philosophical position on e-mail. Although I think it's a wonderful communication technology, and it has a lot of good uses, it is abused quite a lot.
I came from a socially deprived background when I was 15, 16 years old, but one thing I knew was one - you don't abuse a policeman, and two - you don't steal things.
I think it's child abuse to have someone in the public eye too young. Society basically values wealth and fame and power at the cost of well-being. In the case of a child, it's at the cost of someone's natural development. It's already hard enough to develop.
The harshest thing I can say is I was married to someone for whom all dissent was abuse. If you had your own opinion, you were abusive.
I think of my films as not necessarily political but more moral. Between my father, my stepfather, and my mother - they all felt pretty passionately about the importance of standing up and doing the right thing, and none of them were suck-ups. What motivates me is usually abuse of power.
I'm not sure why, but I seem to be drawn to stories about abuses of power. But I'm also drawn, not so much to victims' stories, as stories that tend to show how power works. Because if you don't understand the criminals, you can't figure out how to stop the crimes.
It's hard to stop wars, and it's hard to stop the abuse of the planet and all of those things. I guess you just do what you can do and voice your concern.
If a man's character is to be abused there's nobody like a relative to do the business.
Rape, mutilation, abuse, and theft are the natural outcome of a world in which force rules, in which human beings are objects.
When I started at Portsmouth in 1974 there was a strong National Front element in the crowd and they would abuse me even though I played for their team. Racist abuse was part of the game and it was never challenged.
