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From: showard@udenva.UUCP (Steve "Blore" Howard)
Newsgroups: talk.politics.misc,net.legal,net.singles
Subject: Re: Re: Commission on Pornography -- reply to GWSmith
Message-ID: <1949@udenva.UUCP>
Date: Sat, 13-Sep-86 15:47:05 EDT
Article-I.D.: udenva.1949
Posted: Sat Sep 13 15:47:05 1986
Date-Received: Sun, 14-Sep-86 20:14:57 EDT
References: <1487@mtx5a.UUCP> <15487@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU> <1506@mtx5a.UUCP> <15596@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU> <1522@mtx5a.UUCP>
Reply-To: showard@udenva.UUCP (Steve "Blore" Howard)
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Organization: Pathologial Li--ah, the, ah, White House, yeah
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Xref: mnetor talk.politics.misc:87 net.legal:3552 net.singles:10332

In article <1522@mtx5a.UUCP> mat@mtx5a.UUCP (m.terribile) writes:
>
>> The alternative is Plato's Republic, where the Guardians of the public
>> welfare ban certain kinds of music, certain kinds of books, and so forth.
>
>The dividing line, which you are arguing (I think) cannot be drawn, is the
>point at which a photographic or cinematic depiction is designed for *nothing*
>except sexual arousal.  Triggering sexual arousal is not communication in any
>sense related to the purposes of the Constitution.  Or at least it appears that
>the Supreme Court has held this to be the case.

   And therein lies a fundamental weakness of any anti-pornography campaign--
trying to come up with a way to ban "Deep Throat" but keep "Last Tango in
Paris."  Banning a movie based on the intention of its makers seems unenforc-
able in the extreme.  "Deep Throat" wasn't designed solely for sexual arousal.
If it had been "designed for *nothing* except sexual arousal" there wouldn't
have been anything in the film which could not cause sexual arousal.  For 
example, the scene where Linda Lovelace visits her doctor ("How would you
like it if your balls were in your ears?") is intended for comic relief, to
make the audience laugh, not to sexually arouse them.  The Playboy Forum
often contains questions about cars and stereos.  This information is not 
intended solely for sexual arousal, and so Playboy cannot be banned on this
premise either.

-- 

"I can walk like an ape, I can talk like an ape, I can do what 
     the monkey can do" 

Steve "Blore" Howard, a Fun Guy from Yuggoth
                      {hplabs, seismo}!hao!udenva!showard
or {boulder, cires, ucbvax!nbires, cisden}!udenva!showard