Max Hardcore is in the news now for his recent indictments on obscenity charges in Northern Florida for shipping two DVD's and for the viewing of eight video clips from his website, deemed as "obscene" by Florida prosecutors.
There are many adult webmasters who look at the extreme content like Max Hardcore and Extreme Associates, and want to distance themselves from it.
They say things like "that kind of porn is bad for the industry", or they try to distinguish what they feel is acceptable porn and what is not, essentially creating their own levels of acceptable content, or "degrees of porniness".
Many believe to throw Max and Rob under the bus, and let the extreme hardcore content to be targeted by the government, in hopes it appeases the obscenity gods for that sacrifice.
If you won't like the extreme content, its OK. It's also OK as a business member to feel that you don't want to associate your business with cases like Max Hardcore, so you shy away from supporting his cause.
Max Hardcore chose his line of business and takes the ultimate responsibility, but, this is an important case, because it is another test of what can be deemed obscene.
It's hard to believe that in this day of 2007, where sodomy laws like Tin exas have finally been repealed, that what someone orders to watch, whether from DVD or from the internet, in the privacy of their own home, can be deemed as obscene.
Anything that is filmed, written, or created has artistic merit. Nature is not artistic merit because it already exists. When we create content, we create art, and the appreciation of art is in the eye of the beholder, but it nonetheless, cannot be the only judge.
If content is displayed in the public, like Janet Jackson's nipple, then it is fair game to apply "community standards", because it involves the public locality. But what goes on in the privacy of one's home, no matter how vile or obscene the viewing of the content, it is that ADULT individual's right to view such content, which is the same right as the content producer to create that content.
If obscenity is allowed to be fully defined by a successful court case, then it does set the precedent, that the creators of a piece of work can be put in jail because a viewer of their material wanted to receive and enjoy the material in a locality that has "obscenity" laws.
The "community standards" clause is quite vague and hypocritical. It in my book, any community that has a strip club or an adult novelty store, has defined that such material is within the communitiy standards.
Cases like Max Hardcore does need to be given support, but the channeling of that support can come through the form of contributions to Free Speech Coalition.
You can object to extreme content, and you may not feel you want to defend such content, but the defense against obscenity does apply to all adult content, and if you feel like an arm's length distance or a 10 foot pole distance is needed, allow the FSC to be that middle ground, where you support FSC, so it can support those that are on the frontlines of the legal fight against the encroachment of the restrictions of the first amendment.
Fight the hypocrisy!