I think the key line here actually comes at the end. “Whatever you think of Larry Flynt, the man knows his First Amendment,” Kelly concluded. Seriously, that smut monger is a true champion of the First Ammendment, and we should all remember that the freedom of speech is the freedom to be offended. Now is a porno/political parody (is this a new film genre?) about Sarah Palin and a tank full of Russian soldiers going to topple the Washington Establishment? Err, no. Is this “consciousness raising” in some way? Probably not.
But, it is at a basic level asserting a constitutional right, and I think that is what’s so important. We are in a time when all rights are being curtailed, and so every single instance of someone asserting an inalienable right is important. Regularly (daily if possible) exercising your Constitutional rights is a vital for of resistance to authority and requires no great investment. Write letters to the editor, to your representatives in Washington, and on blogs that dissent from mainstream analysis. Publicly worship the deity of your choice. Gather together in groups in public places. Own a gun. Stop snitchin. Sign (or make your own) petitions. If on a jury for a case about taxes, vote not-guilty. In New York, if you’re getting on the subway and the police want to search you, turn around and walk to another station. It’ll only be a few blocks. It’s not that big a deal. And, if you happen to be a pornographer, make pornography that skewers the political establishment.
So to you Larry Flint, I say, “Thank you.” Thank you for being a cantankerous, lecherous, old perv who is not afraid (even after being shot!) to assert your Constitutional rights. I find the vast majority of your beliefs offensive, disgusting, immoral, and representative of the worst scum in the human soul, but I respect your tenacity in asserting those views in the face of vast opposition. We should all be so bold.
via: The Raw Story
Publisher Larry Flynt has announced that Hustler is releasing a porn film featuring a Sarah Palin lookalike and a tank full of stranded Russian soldiers.
Fox’s Megyn Kelly was immediately sure that “your average American — it’s offensive, it’s disgusting it’s dirty — they wouldn’t want to see it.” But her real question was, “Is this whole thing actually legal?”
In a consideration of that question on Monday, Kelly turned first to defense attorney David Wohl, who suggested that, although Palin would be best advised to ignore the film, she might “seek a preliminary injunction at least preventing its release before the election.”
Wohl acknowledged that the 1988 case of Hustler v. Jerry Falwell had established that celebrities have no rights to sue when it comes to parody, but he asserted that if the film could be viewed as “a political hit piece,” Palin might have “a good cause for action.”
“Might there be some actual confusion to the non-educated mind out there?” asked Kelly — who is apparently well-familiar with the Fox audience — of legal analyst Mercedes Colwin.
“That’s certainly a tremendous stretch,” Colwin replied. “There’s absolutely no confusion here. It is definitely parody like David said. It is protected by First Amendment.”
“It even pokes fun at our network,” Colwin continued. “It’s called ‘Faux News.’ And actually Bill O’Reilly stars in it as well.”
Wohl, however, wasn’t completely convinced by the first amendment argument, saying that the Hustler case involved a fake ad which was clearly over-the-top parody, while “this is a movie.” He went on to suggest, perhaps unfortunately, that “there’s going to be an undercurrent suggesting somehow that this is the way Sarah Palin lives her life, that there’s some deep dark secret she has.”
A partial script of the movie which has appeared online makes it clear that the film definitely has elements of political parody. In the opening scene, the actress playing Palin flings herself on a tanning-bed repairman, pronouncing, “You’re in luck. I fully support off-shore and on-shore drilling. … God almighty! You are hung like a moose. Now I have to eat ya! … Pound me until my head is so empty that I can’t even remember the name of the one Supreme Court case I actually know!”
“Whatever you think of Larry Flynt, the man knows his First Amendment,” Kelly concluded.
This video is from Fox America’s Newsroom, broadcast October 13, 2008.
