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Originally Posted by Mr.Fiction
I have a problem with any government suppressing free speech.
What you are saying does not make any sense. You are saying that because they busted Larry Flynt and charged him with a crime, then it has nothing to do with free speech.
There are two issues. The first is that obscenity is not even in the constitution. The second is that charging someone with a crime for speech is always related to freedom and free speech.
Think about your argument in regards to China. If China decides to execute bloggers for publishing blogs critical of the government, which is illegal in that country, does that issue have to do with free speech? Does it have to do with freedom? Just because a government makes something illegal does not mean it doesn't have anything to do with freedom and free speech rights. The opposite of what you are saying is true.
When the government tries to suppress speech, that is the definition of attacking personal freedom and civil rights.
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OK Mr F... I am totally with ya on censorship/free speech stuff. Also, I know very little about the specifics of US law, but have defended alleged obscenity offenses over the years.
Larry Flynt was charged with an offense - he had his day in court and from what I remember, it was something he relished and strongly defended :-)
On anything that could be regarded as "normal porn" - I'll have my day in court anytime and defend it. The problem arises when in either imagery or text that depicts eg.. finger-fucking babies, daughter-fucking and generally areas of child abuse, whether these are "virtual" or real. Only my
worth cos it's really a jury matter and seeing any evidence in full, but I just find this sicko shit offensive and don't doubt a jury would find the same.
Let's put it this way, - I'd be speechless even making an attempt to justify publishing material depicting children being abused and in that respect, it has little to do with "free speech". We generally as webmasters report offenses of this kind, not defend them and it would be a sad day for children when adults assume child molestation is "acceptable".
On the Constitution... you ever think for one moment that the founding fathers would consider their comments on "freedom of speech" to be abused to the level of "finger-fucking babies"? I think not.
Your comparison with China executing bloggers for criticsm of the govt come no place near obscenity - of course anyone is entitled to criticize whoever they like and that is sure a free speech issue.
Where in... eg Rosie's case, is the govt attempting to surpress her speech or attacking her personal freedoms? So far all that has happened is the FBI are investigating.. basically child porn, and suspect with a desire to check out hard drives. If there is, and remains to be seen, any offenses, - Rosie will have her day in court and have her free speech with a jury and they will decide her demise or otherwise.
On the flip side, sure, I ain't listening to govt bullshit about restricting freedoms or having "values" to uphold - they were never elected for this purpose and their values don't matter a toss. They were elected to run the country - ie defense, economy and try and construct roads - sadly they seem to be failing on that.
And sure, the other factor right at this time is there is a tenant in the Whitehouse struggling to keep credibility and divert attention away from the main issues - and that's a dangerous time for easy targets, such as the porn biz, forgetting the fact that the Whitehouse tenant has hijacked religon and sits on God's right hand.
Basically pedos and their "associates" can have as much free speech as they like before they are locked in a cell. They just screw up/contaminate the biz we are in and give justification to others who wish to attack the business and legislate against it.