Just for amusement value, play this in the background while you are surfing the web (yes, it's a video; no, that's not important - the audio track is the important part).
Remember, this was 1986. While this is "Crossfire" (CNN's cancelled-after-John-Stewart-shredded-it show), it's mostly a three-on-one pile on Frank Zappa. His defense is fairly simple: words are free - it's in the Constitution. It's moderately entertaining that 20-years later, we're still arguing about this, and the 1st Amendment is still under attack.
One can debate Zappa's argument that "the greatest threat to America isn't Communism, but a theocratic fascism," (while the videos are clearly more suggestive (score for freedom), the debate over what it is appropriate seems closer to fascism (score for Zappa's Nostradamus abilities)). What no one can deny is that this 20-year-old tape could be played today and not seem dated.
The more things change, the more they stay the same.
(Geek Note: Rush noted this over twenty years ago, but who's counting?)
(Hat Tip: The Cunning Realist.)
Posted by baltar at October 29, 2006 07:50 PM | TrackBack | Posted to Crunchy Nutbars | Extremism | Free Speech | Politics | The Ever Shrinking Constitution