Censorship as Theater Several members of the list have complained of how the TV press portrays the Web and the USENET as central casting for pederasts, copperheads and narco-terrorists. I know, I've sent a couple of email messages to local TV news outlets complaining about the broad brush of tar they've been slinging. However, I don't think all the letters and education seminars will do a bit of good. Because TV is not suited to presenting detailed or sophisticated issues. TV is well-suited to telling exciting narratives full of thrills. Given that TV news must compete with Roseanne and Vanna (and Roseanne's writers do better narrative than Bosnian Serbs,) of course the Internet will be portrayed as a thrilling interzone of thugs (aryran nations), outlaws (Zimmerman), abominations (kiddieporn) and kooks (the EFF,) with a few good guys (Exon and Shimomura) from "High Noon". The whole thing will be presented as almost completely unrelated to the lives of the viewer (the fantasy element) except when it can be used melodramatically (cut to ur-bimbo gone good-nick and a blue binder full of GIFs, followed by mother hovering over child gravely asking for the 1st amendment to be torched for the good of the kiddies.) It's great theater, bad discourse. Of course, there are opportunists such as the Christian Coalition; Cold, Drug and Flu Warriors who exploit the theater and provide characters and plot points to inflence the show their way. Unfortunately, for all our nerdiness, many of us still think that civil discourse really exists. We think we can influence public debate through reasoned argument. We can't because reasoned argument isn't good TV. Does this mean the 'forces of light' (as John Leonard describes us anti-censorship types) should exploit the dominant means of persuasion and construct simple narratives that make our side look like the good guys? Turning anti-censorship into theater ignores the basic idea we're arguing for, and reduces us to another clade of marketing nerds. To carry the day, we have to take the arguement outside of the TV and other media influenced by TV. It means you have to talk to your neighbours, friends, and families and tell them why censorship is bad. Suggested Reading: Postman, Neil, _Amusing Ourselves to Death_, Balantine Paperback Leonard, John, _The Last Innocent White Man in America_, New Press, pp. 48-57 -- (c) 1996 by Bill Humphries Bill Humphries \/\/\/ bill.humphries@msn.fullfeed.com /\/\/\ Madison, WI, USA PGP Public Key Fingerprint = 84 05 17 9D B9 6E 2D FE A7 D1 E0 DC D0 96 63 FB