ATL 135 Chapter One Presentation: Flag Burning

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ATL 135Chapter One PresentationFlag
Burning
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The Issue

• Should flag burning be prohibited by law or not?

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The History

• 1989 and 1990
• US Supreme Court declares that two laws
  prohibiting flag burning are unconstitutional
• Since 1989 and 1990 no constitutional amendments
  banning flag burning have passed

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The History (cont.)

• Texas v. Johnson
• The Bill of Rights has never been amended
• June 12, 1997
• A proposed amendment to ban flag burning was
  passed in the House

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The History (cont.)

• 1995The controversy rises again.
• Reasons for return
• Sense of crisis intensified
• Insecurities and frustrations voiced
• 500 percent increase in violent crimes
• Creating an amendment would reassert community
  standards

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The Arguments

• The flag is a symbol of aspiration to national
  unity
• Freedom of speech
• Political speech is protected
• First Amendment
• Doctrine of enumerate powers
• It is wrong to fool with the constitution

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Hate Speech
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Arguments forRestrictions on Hate Speech
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Pressure Valve Argument

• Bottled up emotions
• Racists say what makes them feel better/victim
  feels less safe

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Reverse Enforcement Argument

• Enacting anti-racism rules will hurt minorities

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Free Speech asMinorities Best Friend

• Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
• Advancement in defiance of the First Amendment

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More Speech Solution

• Actually unsafe
• Sometimes seen as a challenge

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Pro-Restrictions Summary

• What if speech is private?
• Greek term hubris

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Arguments AgainstRestricting Hate Speech
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ACLU

• Open hate
• Protected symbols
• Speech codes will NOT end bigotry
• Speech vs. Conduct
• Combat hate speech with education

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Why the ACLUDefends Hate Speech

• Free speech rights are indivisible

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Protection of Non-Verbal Symbols

• If worn or displayed before a general audience/in
  public
• Not protected if used to destroy private property
• Example burning a cross on someones lawn

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Ineffective Laws

• Defamation laws
• Right to decide whats offensive and whos the
  authority has been the governmentnot victims of
  hate speech

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Speech Codes CantEnd the Problem

• Biases cannot be addressed

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Speech and Conduct

• Speech Conduct when . . .
• ACLU advocates punishing conduct that are acts of
  violence, harassment or intimidation, and
  invasions of privacy

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Pro Non-Restrictions Summary

• Limits for one limits for all
• Limits prohibit open communication
• Limits no end to hate

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Censorship in Music
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Common Views

• Morality decency
• Politics
• Political people taking action
• Artists role in political activism

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Laws/Bills

• Warning labels
• Rating concerts
• Prohibit sales

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Censorship Methods

• Parental advisory labels
• Cut funding
• Boycotts
• Refusal to carry music
• Edited versions only
• Not at all

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Censorship Incidents

• Elvis Presley
• Ozzy Ozborne
• Ice T
• NWA
• 2 Live Crew
• C-Bo

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Leading Activists

• Tipper Gore
• Parents Music Resource Group
• Delores Tucker
• National Political Congress of Black Women
• Southern Baptist Convention
• Fraternal Order of Police (FOP)

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Actions Elsewhere in the World

• Trinidad
• DMX arrested
• Salvador
• Banning bands from radio
• Philippines
• Spice Girl boycotted

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PornographyThe Other White Meat
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Definitions

• PornographyBlacks Law Dictionary
• That which is of or pertaining to obscene
  literature obscene licentious. Material is
  pornographic or obscene if the average person,
  applying contemporary community standards, would
  find that the work taken as a whole appeals to
  the prurient interest (a shameful or morbid
  interest in nudity, sex, or excretion an
  obsessive interest in immoral lascivious matters)
  and if it depicts in a patently offensive way
  sexual conduct and if the work taken as a whole
  lacks serious literary, artistic, political or
  scientific value

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Definitions

• PornographyDiana E.H. Russell, Ph.D.
• Material that combines sex and/or the exposure of
  genitals with abuse or degradation in a manner
  that appears to endorse, condone, or encourage
  such behavior

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Definitions

• Erotica
• Material that is free of sexism, racism, and
  homophobia, and respectful of all the human
  beings and animals portrayed

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Is Pornography Harmful?

• To people involved in the production of
  pornography?
• Does pornography incite violence based sex and
  sex crimes?

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Is Pornography Helpful?

• Erotica and sex therapy

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Child Pornography

• Kate Moss generation of models
• Enforcement

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Pornography and the internet

• Childrens access
• Parenting issues
• American Library Association (ALA)

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Social Rape and Pornography

• Definition of rape
• Unlawful sexual intercourse with a female without
  her consent.
• GbH, alcohol

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Civil Rights vs. Free Speech

• Racism
• Gender bias

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Deviant Behavior

• Child Pornography
• Incest
• Animalia