Free Speech

[pjorourke]

Originally Posted by Rudyard K

Honey, I know that seems like a long time...but for folks like PJ, when you were 8, he was looking at colleges for his kids.

True dat!

[..]

Originally Posted by Rudyard K

Then the purpose of this post was???

free© speech = free™ action?


"When a dog runs at you, whistle for him."

[MOCHAakaMOCHA]

Originally Posted by Mazomaniac

The problem here is figuring out where to stop.

Yes, what this guy wrote is abhorrent, offensive, and destructive.

But would you also say that about Nabokov or Roth?

Do we dump Louis Malle in jail for Pretty Baby? Do we burn all the copies of Boys Don't Cry?

And what about art? Are we going to start pulling Balthus and Mapplethorp off the museum walls again?

We walk a very fine line on this subject. There are many, many serious, interesting, and important works of art, literature, and film that deal with this subject. The problem faced by the courts - and society as a whole - is how you tell the shit from the shinola. If you start putting down rules about "you can't say this" or " you can't show that" you end up throwing out a lot of culture that, IMHO, we really should keep around.

I'm sure others will have a different view, but on this one I say that you punish the deeds, not the thoughts.

It's one thing if this guy is shown to have actually abused kids. If that's the situation then you give him all that he deserves.

It's another thing, however, to punish somebody for having an idea and putting it down on paper or film no matter how sick and disgusting that idea may be. We start doing that and we'll find it pretty hard to stop at one book.

Cheers,
Mazo.

Very good points.