Karen Finley Speaks ...

[caen!bsbbs!nrc@harvard.harvard.edu (N. Richard Caldwell)]

henrik@echelon.UUCP (Larry DeLuca) writes:

> To the PMRC:
> 
> 	And when I say pussy now, 
> 	you're always thinking of my smelly tuna
> 	and never my meow.

Sounds like a personal hygiene problem to me.

I'm a bit behind on Gaffa right now so by the time I started working
on a response to Larry's post Cynthia, Ben and others had already made
most of my points for me.  I agree with most everything they've said
so I'll try not to repeat their points here.  I will, however, followup 
on a few personal points before suggesting that this thread be moved
to alt.censorship.

> Mr. Caldwell, your benign and benighted assumptions about the PMRC are, 
> at best, ludicrous.  

What assumptions are you talking about?  I am making no
assumptions about the PMRC.  I am entirely open minded to any
horrible thing that you might care to prove about the PMRC.  Cross
burnings, secret sacrifices, extensive library fines, I am willing
to accept anything you might provide proof of here including the
possibility that members of the PMRC would like to impose actual
censorship.  All I have said is that the PMRC's public efforts to
this point have been directed only toward pressuring record
companies to institute a program of self stickering and that such a
program does not constitute censorship. 

I thought that was clear in my previous post.  I even mentioned that 
I did not agree with the idea of stickering.  Yet somehow you've 
managed to ignore all that and just blather on as though I were 
some sort of died in the wool PMRC supporter.  Here's a little 
news tip: quote the original post.  It makes it so much easier to 
keep track of the important points.  This is the second  time in as 
many weeks that you've responded to a post of mine by dropping all 
of the original post and then proceeding to completely misunderstand 
my message.

> The record labels themselves may not be enforced by law, but if you look
> at the series of arrests and court cases that transpired in Florida due
> to a bit of well-placed political pressure (people arrested for selling
> Pornography to Minors), and the backlash it caused (people not carrying
> stickered records - people like 2 Live Crew harrassed for performing their
> music) I think that you might stop and re-think your world view.

Your facts are a little mixed up here.  In Florida they tried to have
_Nasty as They Wanna Be_ declared obscene and thus illegal for sale to
anyone.  In New York parents brought charges of selling pornography to
minors claiming that an album with a warning sticker was pornography
by default.  Both cases were overturned.

The real censorship problem that we have in this country is a
concept whereby our freedom is limited by "community standards" of
what is "obscene".  Obscene is just another word for "I don't like
it."   As long as something can be declared __illegal__ because it 
it offends someone  you will always have people trying to legally 
ban what they do not like.   

That is what happened to NaTWB in Florida.  _That_ is censorship.  
_That_ is being jammed down our throats and it has little or nothing 
to do with stickering.  What you're whining about is no more 
censorship than MPAA ratings, the Comics Code Authority or Sinead 
O'Conner threatening to withhold services.  

> Now, you might say that "Well, 2 Live Crew is offensive and they
> discriminate against women."  Fine.  You might also say that "Karen
> Finley uses coarse language I don't want my children hearing."  Quite
> possibly true.  However, those are your decisions to make for you and
> yours.  I don't like 2 Live Crew.  I find Karen Finley intensely
> intellectually stimulating and provocative.  Others may have 
> different views.

This is where you really go off into left field.  You seem to imagine
that I would somehow object to some of this.  I never said anything
of the kind.  Anything that adults want to say or do that does not
infringe on the rights of others is fine by me.  Karen Finley and 2
Live Crew can do performance art with phallic objects in a vat of jello
and I could care less.  I don't think it will ever do well on video
what with Finley's apparent hygiene problem, however.

I will not, on the other hand, be so foolish has to call it censorship
if the MPAA chooses to rate that video NC-17 or a local video store
refuses to carry it.  I would instead simply go to a theater or video 
store that caters to my tastes (or as some might suggest, lack of same).

> The political and social pressure brought to bear on the music industry
> through so-called "voluntary labelling" has caused it to be anything but.
> While, in some incarnation, a labelling scheme of some sort might be useful,
> this one certainly is not - it was brought about by people with a specific
> political and moral agenda outside of the issue at hand, and as a means
> for attempting to squelch beliefs and opinions they didn't hold.

What a load of rubbish.  You spend all this time railing against the
horrible censorship that is stickering and then turn around and admit
that stickering might be ok but you just don't like the agenda of the
people who pressured for it.  You're wrapping yourself in the Bill
of Rights and pretending to stand on principle when your real problem
is with the politics, not the principle.

Each record company decides for themselves what albums should be 
stickered.   The PMRC has no input on the matter.  It is entirely at
the discretion of the record company and is based not on the PMRC's
morals or agenda but whether or not the record company feels the album
might contain material unsuitable for children.

I agree with those who have suggested that such an involved discussion
on this subject is not appropriate here (and I don't feel the least bit 
censored).  I have defended this position here before so you've heard 
much of this already.  I was very pleased to hear other voices that 
seemed to support my position this time.  Thanks, folks, it's nice to 
hear from people who don't apply the principles of liberty and justice 
only to those they agree with.  

Followups would be appropriate to email or alt.censorship.

                   "I bought a first class ticket on Malaysian Air
                   Landed in Sri Lanka none the worse for wear
                   I'm thinking of retiring from all my dirty deals
                   See you in the next life, wake me up for meals"

                   -- Warren Zevon, "Mr. Bad Example"

"Don't drive too slowly."         Richard Caldwell
                                  The Big Sky BBS (+1 614 864 1198)
                                  {n8emr|nstar}!bluemoon!bsbbs!nrc
                                  nrc@bsbbs.UUCP