[lbo-talk] Freedom of Speech

michael perelman michael.perelman3 at gmail.com
Thu Sep 20 07:58:01 PDT 2012


I was struck by the need to protect the freedom of speech of the provocative anti-Muslim film and the energetic efforts to remove the pictures of the breasts of the English.

I wonder how vigorously the authorities would act if somebody would make a film depicting the scurrilous Elders of Zion propaganda of an earlier time. I do remember the outrage concerning Robert Mapplethorpe's Piss Christ display.

The first example was clearly intended to be offensive. Mapplethorpe's work did not directly make any statements against Christianity. My guess is that he wanted to make people think about religious intolerance. One can safely assume that the breast photographs were not intended to create some kind of furor. Instead, their purpose was almost certainly commercial. Since God and commerce are usually linked together in our society, all good people should probably commend the circulation of the breast photographs.

What is freedom of speech in the shadow of Citizens United, which protects some of the most vile exercises of freedom of speech?

-- Michael Perelman Economics Department California State University Chico, CA 95929

530 898 5321 fax 530 898 5901 http://michaelperelman.wordpress.com



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