Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

To: DirtyHarryY2K

“Let me ask you this, do you think the founders included “pornography” vulgar art “urine jesus” and the like as a form of constitutionally protected free speech?”

No, I don’t think so. But, ultimately, it’s juries who decide what is or isn’t obscene, and the Founders would certainly be horrified by what modern people are prepared to tolerate.

True story:

Some years ago I was part of the jury for an obscenity trial here in the UK. The English definition of obscenity is “material that tends to deprave or corrupt a significant proportion of those who are likely to view it.”

The film in question was vile and disgusting beyond belief and I’m not going to bother you with the details. After we’ve finished watching it, by which point one of the female jurors was on the verge of throwing up, Defence Counsel stood up, smiled sweetly at us, and said: I know you were shocked and sickened by what you saw, but were you “depraved and corrupted” by it?

What do you do in such circumstances? Against our better judgement, we had to say No and acquit. Did we contribute to the coarsening of society? Probably. But the way these obscenity laws are phrased puts you in an impossible position.


175 posted on 06/25/2010 3:11:42 PM PDT by friendly_doc
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 174 | View Replies ]


To: friendly_doc
We're not talking about the definition of english obscenity laws, its no secret that the brits have tolerated degeneracy for decades, I hear that its quite common for the degenerates to copulate like wild feral animals out in broad open daylight in public over there.. Easy to see that its impossible for anything to "deprave or corrupt a significant proportion" of brits, that horse left the barn long ago and its waaaaay too late to worry about that particular problem .. LMAO

We're talking about letting the citizens of Texas make their own rule of law, enforcing said rule of law, and telling the federal government (and british trolls) to go get bent "weather they like it or not" as the libtards like to say..

176 posted on 06/25/2010 3:56:22 PM PDT by DirtyHarryY2K (The Tree of Liberty is long overdue for its natural manure)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 175 | View Replies ]

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article


FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson