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Archive for the ‘Perspectives’ Category

A Brief History of Western Obscenity Law

Monday, August 29th, 2011 by Azarius

In economically developed social-democracies, the greatest part of contemporary debates over free speech and censorship revolve around three broad areas: intellectual property, defamation and obscenity. The current opinionated article will focus on obscenity law as a menace to free speech. To better understand this state of affairs, it is required that we examine the relatively short but complex history of obscenity as a legal concept. This history of the concept will focus on two countries: the United Kingdom, birthplace of obscenity law, and the United States, rife with unique legal circumstances which have come about from many controversial precedent-setting cases.

Disclaimer: I am not a lawyer. What is provided here is intended for casual informational purposes only.

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Further Down the Road of Social Insanity

Saturday, August 20th, 2011 by Azarius

Amidst recent developments in obscenity law, yestofreedom‘s sense of purpose was rekindled. During the past year, not only have proponents of stricter obscenity laws remained very active, they have made several significant political and legal gains. Far from rejecting the shoddy and ultimately useless legal framework upon which obscenity laws are built, a number of otherwise “developed” countries have taken a step further towards the criminalization of purely fictional material that is found to be “offensive” to some.

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Censorship: A Socio-Cultural Analysis

Monday, March 29th, 2010 by Ikigami and Azarius

Throughout the history of mankind, there have been times and places in which censorship of fiction thrived and others in which it was next to non-existent. This is the result of the socio-cultural context, itself the consequence of historical events and processes. Censorship is not only a form of expression control, but of thought control as well. The censorship of ideas, texts and depictions considered dangerous to the ruling class is the most classic reason for censorship, along with forms of expression that go against established dogma (see Galileo, 1633) such as religion. For instance, Socrates was executed on charges that he corrupted the youth and that he did not acknowledge the gods that the city did but other new divinities of his own. His own pupil Plato supported in his work (Republic) that any art that could corrupt the morality of the nation should be censored. In 440 BC a law was introduced that would impeach or exile “those who denied the Gods or taught about celestial phenomena”.

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Fictional Freedom: a Legal Perspective, Part 1

Saturday, February 20th, 2010 by Azarius

A newly active member of yestofreedom and law student, Immigrant88 wrote with the collaboration of myself and other members of the organisation a lengthy article explaining from a legal perspective the flaws of laws censoring “prurient fiction”. More precisely, it uses Professor Lon L. Fuller’s conception of natural law as basis of its arguments.

You can view it below, as well as download it here.

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