Syllabus
Aug. 21
& 23
Introduction
to the Course
- Students'
definition of censorship
- Students
as individuals:
The Merchant of Venice, Oedipus Rex, and "The King of Siam"
- Mnemonically
challenged professor's determination to know students facilitated by
pictures of students
- Statement
on course's academic discipline
- Three
theories of teaching: Paulo Freire's dialogic process; the Socratic
dialectic; the didactic authority
- No sacred
cows - irreverence without mordacity - L.A. Freeway
- Your
responsibility for everything (including words) in the syllabus
- Quiz
on the "three dirtiest words" and a BAN on one word
- Demographic,
personal preferences and ethics survey
- "20
Questions" - How many can you answer?
- 5-minute
scenes from video, Cyrano de Bergerac
Aug. 28
& 20, Sept. 4
- August
28: First Assignment Due
- How to
get an "A" (Melodic philosopher Aretha's advice)
- Discussion
of the three dirtiest words and the one word in the English language
that should be banned. George Carlin's "Seven Dirty Words"
- Lecture
on Censorship:
Three types: Prior restraint, ex post facto punishment and contemporary
expurgation
- "The
Phrasisphobia of Censorship: Burakumin & Niggers"
- A discussion:
"What is Critical Thinking?" (my handout)
Sept.
6 to 20 (Five periods of lecture)
(Five periods of Lectures)
- Sept.
6: Video on "Censorship"
- Give
out group assignments for class presentations for Third
Assignment due: October 25, October 30, November 1. (no class
on Oct. 23 - meet with your groups)
- A twofold
overview lecture of censorship:
a. John Stuart Mill's three positions in On Liberty
b. political correctness
- Professor
Stone's 12 Theories of Censorship
- Changing
social values (The Starr Report; Mrs. Stone's first bathing suit
(1918) and her bikini (1958))
- JND
theory of pornography
- Thucidydean
and Anne Murray:
The cyclical theory of history -
the evolution v. creationism controversy (Scopes trial, 1923)
reciprocity
of censorship
(Paramount Pictures v. Variety and Variety editor's concurrence
of censorship.
Is D.H. Lawrence's example
different?)
- gender
determinant (Read Deborah Tanner's article from CHE)
- self-censorship
(Ice-T)
- required
(or forced) expression of speech (Edwards vs. Aguillard,
1987)
- economics
of censorship (Howard Stern)
- slippery
slope (Milton and Niemoeller)
- the
right not to speak (West Va. Board of Education vs. Barnett
(1943))
- the
line of constitutional crossability
- the
inviolability of good taste
- Is "political
correctness" a form of censorship?
"The Mythology of Political Correctness" (and WGAD - Who gives
a damn?)
- Is "multiculturalism
a form of censorship? For whom?
- Balancing
the equities: Free speech vs. fair trial symbiosis (First Amendment
vs Sixth Amendment), free speech vs. Mill's "harm principle"
(the Dworkin-MacKinnon ordinance as a proposed adoption)
- People
for the American Way's Annual Report: "Attacks on the Freedom to
Learn"; Censorship in the 50 states from 1986 to 2000.
Sept.
25 & 27, Oct. 2, 4, 9 & 11
The Constitution,
the Law and the Supreme Court
(See 21 Supreme Court Cases)
Introductory
lecture based on two books:
Rabban, David, Free Speech in Its Forgotten Years
Semonche, John E., Keeping the Faith: A Cultural History of the Supreme
Court
I.
What Speech is Not Protected?
1. "Low
value speech"
- Subversive
Advocacy
(Conflicting decisions of Schenck v. U.S. ("clear and
present danger") &
Gitlow v. N.Y.)
-
Defamation and libel
(private vs. public figures)
- Obscenity
and pornography, Indecency
(George Carlin's "Seven dirty words") and profanity. From
Roth vs. U.S., 1957 and Jacobellis vs. Ohio, 1964 (Potter
Stewart's obiter dictum) to Miller v. California, 1973 (The
LAPS test) and American booksellers v. Hudnut, 1985, Judge
Easterbrook's brilliant decision affirmed by U.S. Supreme Court. The
feminist spectrum on pornography from Camille Paglia, Sallie Tisdale
and Naomi Wolf to Christina Hoff Sommers, Kate Millett and the advocates
of an anti-pornography ordinance, Andrea Dworkin and Catherine MacKinnon.
- Offensive
(profanity)
(Cohen v. California, 1971) and
Indecency (FCC v. Pacific, 1978)
- "Fighting
Words" (Chaplinsky v. New Hampshire, 1942)
- Hate
Speech Aggravation. Should it be a crime? (See court
decisions) Mill's dichotomy between speech and "the instigation
of some mischevious act." Examples: Yitzakh Rabin assassination,
Harlem fire-bombing of Jewish-owned store; Abortion doctor's murder.
See A.R. Hunt: "Verbal Violence Begets Physical Violence."
Query: Can the verbal violence-physical violence etiology
be applied to the Dworkin-MacKinnon thesis that pornography begets
rape?
2. "Restricted
Environment"
- Military,
prisons and public schools
In schools:
a. prayer, religious displays, aid to education, child benefit
test and display of ten commandments
b. Freedom of Speech: From Tinker to Bethel to Hazelwood
3. Cyberporn
- Should
it be controlled? Supreme Court 9-0 decision, Reno v. ACLU,
June 26, 1997. Supreme Court says "no".
4. Libel
(lecture)
- Libel
and law of defamation: publication, identification, fault (public
vs. private persons), injury and damages.
- Defenses
vs. mitigating circumstances
- Judge
Sofaer's threefold taxonomy in Sharon v. Time.
- C. Delores
Tucker's lawsuit against Tupac Shakur's estate
Invasion of Privacy, Lecture (AP Style Book and Fedler)
5. Child
Pornography
- A higher
education? N.Y. v. Ferber,1982
- High
School students and First Amendment Rights
From Tinker(Fortas) to Bethel(Burger) to Hazelwood(White)
Oct. 16
Video,
"Damned in the USA"
***FALL
BREAK WED. OCT. 17 - MON. OCT. 22***
Oct. 23
& 25
Constitutionally
Protected Free Speech and Freedom of the Press
- Coverage
of pre-trial proceedings (Nebraska, 1976)
- Academic
Freedom, e.g, the teaching of evolution (Epperson, 1968)
- Private
possesion of obscene literature (Stanley, 1969)
- The
right of reply to a newspaper's editorial; (Miami Herald vs Tornillo,
1974. Compare to "fairness doctrine" upheld in Red Lion
Broadcasting vs. FCC, 1969)
- Displaying
or uttering profane four-letter words
Cohen vs. California, 1971 vis-a-vis "fighting words"
standard, Chaplinsky v. N.H., 1942
- The
Gangsta Rap Controversy (Should gangsta rap be banned? Does rap
encourage violence? References: Roberts, Don, Rap to Live By: Positive
Rap for Kids on Love, Friendship, Self-Esteem, School, Money, Sex,
etc.)
- The
"Unholy Alliances" (Conservative Republicans and Black Women
Democrats); (Washington Post article: "The Dubious Porn
Alliance")
- Two
lower court decisions that influenced the Roth case. Ulysses
and Lady Chatterly's Lover. (See Judge Woolsey's scholarly
eloquence in his decision in the Ulysses case)
- Query:
Are yesterday's offensive words today's humor?
Jeff Foxworthy's "You might be a Redneck if....";
"Short People"; "Skinny Legs"; "Smack My
Bitch Up";
TV: "South Park" and Jerry Springer
Nov. 6
Lecture
on Global Censorship
Debate
on the Fairness Doctrine and the Equal Opportunities Act. The first
has been abolished. Should the second be abolished, too?
Nov. 8
Debate
on the Fairness Doctrine and Equal Opportunities Act. The first has
been abolished. Should the second one be abolished too?
Fourth Assignment Due on Nov. 15. Submit two TYPED - I repeat
- TYPED ideas for your final paper. Topic and title (typed). See list
of 135 titles of final papers.
Nov. 13
Lecture:
"The 'Isms' of Multiculturalism - a Dirty Word for Diversity: (Pro
and Con)"
Nov. 15
- Lecture
on the Bible and its Historical Account of Humankind's frailties, particularly,
in the persistent recurrence of egregiously sinful behavior.
- The
Bible (A
thirteen-fold taxonomy): as the Word of God, the Creation, divinely
inspired prophecy, theology, philosophy, apocalypse, a moral code for
living, history of a people, sociology, ethnocentrism, canonical literature,
revolution and pornography.
- Hand
in two typed ideas for final paper.
- A one-page
outline of your proposed final paper due: Nov. 20
Nov. 20
- Lecture
on Lying and "Your Cheatin' Heart"
- A one-page
outline of your proposed final paper due today.
- Lecture,
Two Videos and Recordings
Query: Are Yesterday's offensive words today's humor?
Video: Jeff Foxworthy's
"You Might Be a Redneck If..."
Songs: "Short People"; "Skinny Legs"; "Stop
'N Go"
Video: Smack My Bitch Up
TV: "South Park" and Jerry Springer
- Censorship
in Television, Newspapers, Movies, Videos and Concerts, especially rap
concerts
- "A
picture is worth a thousand words" (and the censor's power, unfortunately,
is worth just as much)
- An examination
of controversial pictures published in newspapers
- Movies:
Are the ratings a form of censorship?
What purpose do ratings serve?
Are they effective?
Should ratings be maintained for underage children?
- What do
you think-
Do denunciations or picketing by religious, ethnic, gender and other
groups affect the public's support or rejection of a movie?
- Examples
of Marginality of Freedom of Speech:
1. David Horowitz's paid advertisement in college newspapers on Reparations
that offended black students.
2. Graphic pictures of dead fetuses that pro-life students exhibited
in the pit that offended pro-choice students.
- Television
and Radio: Is there any difference between the ratings of the movies
and the FCC controlling programs that are suitable for children and
adults?
- Are the
FCC and each television network office of standards that previews programs
for offensive material the same thing?
a. The full-page advertisement in the Janruay 10, 1993, New York
Times - "We Are Outraged!"- by the American Family Association
headed by Reverend Donald Wildmon
- A Few
Thoughts on Government and Military Censorship
- Outside
of national security concerns, are the executive and legislative
branches of government limited in their right to censor reports
of their activities which they fund and consider pornographic?
- Who
has the constitutional standing to challenge those limits?
- How
are those challenges enforced?
- In
the interest of national security, does the government have a moral
right to lie to the people? (Can you site specific circumstances
either historical or current?)
- Do
the people have a constitutional "right to know?"
- Military:
If the First Amendment ordains "Congress shall make no law
prohibiting freedom of speech or the free exercise thereof"
does the military's censorship of its war activities amount to a
form of censorship?
Nov. 27
& 29, Dec. 4
NO CLASS,
WORK ON FINAL PAPERS
Professor
Stone will be in his office both days, all day for individual appointments.
DECEMBER 4 - FINAL PAPER DUE BY 12:00 MIDNIGHT
Dec. 6
- LAST DAY OF CLASS
ATTENDANCE
IS A MUST - An
unexcused absence will result in a one-grade devaluation
* Return
of Final Papers: If
students want their final papers (with comments) returned, please attached
a self-addressed, TYPED envelope. We'll take care of the postage. Otherwise,
papers will not be retained after the end of the semester.
The
Last Lecture
- "Style,
Substance and Superiority,These Three - and the Greatest of These
is Style"
- Fill
out the evaluation form for JOMC 144 and Professor Stone
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