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The UK has in practice a greater tolerance of eccentricity, unorthodoxy, not fitting in, etc. Seizing and destroying books, or other legally derived measures are not the only method of inhibiting free speechYep, JJ, I was just about to come out with something along these lines. Freedom of speech/expression is about more (and less) than having a Constitution that openly stands for it. After all, no books would ever be banned in a country with true, complete freedom of speech. In practice freedom of expression is compromised by the need to retain other "freedoms" such as freedom from obscenity and freedom from blasphemy. This article is interesting, on how many Western countries ended up effectively banning The Satanic Verses for a time, and thus supporting the Ayatollah: http://www.atheists.org/Islam/lessons.html
There was a curious and somewhat chilling silence from the White House and other governmental quarters about the Rushdie affair. Of course, with so many governmentalists busy defending censorship of books, magazines, videos, and other material (to "fight drugs" or "combat pornography," the two often linked in the public imagination), it was difficult to defend Satanic Verses on the basis of so libertarian a notion as freedom of expression.
And these days in the UK and the US there is also government censorship as part of the "War Against Terrorism". 
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(and likely Zild TV too) are liberal and robust by comparison.
Boring with no clothes on is still boring, jj ...
The idiot also known as Capfka ...
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Boring with no clothes on is still boring, jj ...Back to The Sun, The Star and The Sport eh, Cap? 
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Freedom of speech/expression is about more (and less) than having a Constitution that openly stands for it.
If it's written down you can find the loopholes. Having it written down is useless if you don't have the social fabric to back it up.
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Having it written down is useless if you don't have the social fabric to back it up.Agreed. My wife told me that freedom of speech, etc., was guaranteed by the Chinese constitution, but it was useless, because the thugs in charge just ignored it. Check out Article 35 at http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/constitution/constitution.htmlk
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yes, i was the proud sponser of an x rated web page (now defunct) When congress attempted some years back to limit x rated material on the internet, my son set up a web page that provided the archives to the eroticanewsgroup.
Much, but not all, of the archived material would have been considered x-rated, and some was porn, and some bordered on being obscene. But we both felt stongly that the law was unconstititional, and would not be held up, and broke the law as act of intentional civil disobedience.
Still, i am glad that his web page was not the test case!
(the test case was a NY one)
the page is no longer up... it was getting 20,000 visitors a week, and got to expensive to upkeep.
But Faldage is right, it takes effort and courage to keep up the fight for free speach-- especially when the speach is not something you like.
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Faldage is right, it takes effort and courage to keep up the fight for free speach-- especially when the speach is not something you like
Hear, hear.
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The ALA Office for Intellectual Freedom has recorded more than 7,000 book challenges since 1990, including 448 challenges last year. Each challenge is an --> effort<-- to remove books from school curricula or library shelves. ~ American Library Association press release. But Faldage is right, it takes effort and courage to keep up the fight for free speech-- especially when the speech is not something you like. ~ of troyCopy of e-mail sent to ALA by milum (that's me) in the spirit of of troy. Good-day ALA,
Me chums and me are having an electronic discussion on AWAD concerning Banned Book Week. Would one of you fine folk at ALA explain to the gang the various ways that books are challenged in attempts to effect their removal from our libraries?
Thank you,
Milo Washington.
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I mentioned this to my husband this week, but he's (serendipitously) doing the Banned Book reading for the both of us. He's been reading the Harry Potter books since last week. Great timing! Actually, I (re-)read Margaret Laurence's "A Jest of God" this week, by accident, since I wasn't sure if I'd read it. Since she's one of the Big Canadian Authors, this book is on curricula in schools, and I'm sure it's had its share of challenges. Having rather "adult" themes and all. I know that "The Stone Angel" has had its share of troubles, and that is one great book.
In my all-girls' Catholic high school (not that long ago - I graduated in 1994), they were just phasing out the bowdlerized Shakespeares they'd used since time immemorial there. I remember having to share textbooks so we could read the parts that was included in the new books, but not the old ones.
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Without wanting to start an anti-US slanging match, I do find it interesting that one of the few countries whose underpinning document explicitly states that speech is free is so fond of finding and enforcing exceptions to that rule ...  Ma femme used to run the administrative side of the NZ censorship department. I don't think they'd ruled that a book (as opposed to a skin mag) was obscene or unsuitable for general consumption, never mind having banned onefor it, for sixty years!
The idiot also known as Capfka ...
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