Mindless Mayhem #9
It's about 4:10 A.M. on Monday June 22 1991. I no longer
sleep, so in my quest to find something to do I bring you
these two tidbits: "As American As Apple Pie" and "The
F.A.C.T. About Censorship" They are flyers I picked up on a
recent trip to Chicago.
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"AS AMERICAN AS APPLE PIE"
The right of free speech, the constitutional guarantees, the
principles that this country was founded upon concentrated
in the expression "Censorship is Un-American" - these have
been articles of faith in the censorship movement.
Who is the enemy? The religious zealots, government
bureaucrats, fascist minded legislators - who's goals and
methods are seen as gross violations of what this country
should be. Or is it? Are the inheritors of "we the people"
those who defy the Helms, the Wildmans and Bushes - or are
the thought police merely doing what is necessary to
preserve and defend the traditions or the nation, Americas
true standard bearers.
This isn't academic. If we reach for the constitution as a
weapon to ward off the censors, what we pick up may not be a
shield, but a snake. If we see no farther than a return to
"normalcy", of life without the interference of the PMRC,
what then of those for whom "normalcy" has always been a
living hell. When a chance video reveals the everyday
viciousness of the police to people of color, when public
housing residents have the choice of submit or be evicted in
the name of the war on drugs, when a homeless person can't
even ask for a dime on a subway without being hauled off to
jail, can one really call the relative opportunity for the
middle class to express themselves - "freedom"?
Censorship is not just what gets the blue pencil - there is
much that falls to even make it that far though America's
cultural and intellectual meatgrinder. There is no need to
'ban' women artists when so few are shown. There is no need
to 'enforce' a white ethos in children's books, when 95% are
already devoid of any other race. Given the consequences
should a teacher attempt to explain the experience of gay
people in your average American classroom - why bother
'forbidding' it. It is only a consequence of the massive
rebellions in the 60's that there exists some diversity in a
few pockets here and there. Is it not ironic that the
assault on those alternative voices that exist is being done
in the name of freedom, of overthrowing the "tyranny" of
"political correctness" and "multiculturalism".
What is at stake is more than some men being denied their
god given right to wack off to men's magazines, is bigger
than just "me doing whatever the fuck I want" - it is, and
has been a life and death question for all those considered
'outside' the mainstream of America. Is it any surprise
that most of those being targeted today are voices for those
sections of people who've always been on Americas hit list -
people of color, defiant women, gays and lesbians, middle
class youth who've gone over to the 'enemy' - has America
ever been a place where this has not been the case?
On July 4th, we will be subjected [TWB Note- we WERE
subjected] to what promises to be an obscene orgy of self-
congratulations over the successful slaughter of the Iraqi
people. Awash in yellow ribbons, drenched in red, white and
blue - in the name of celebrating the uniqueness of Americas
freedoms, eyes will be averted from those unfortunate images
of horror and degradation that define the real new world
order. It nourishes a climate being molded where
suppression of new reinforces perpetuation of stereotypes to
enable a heavy hand to keep in place all those 'not with the
program.'
What better a time for a different voice to be heard, for
the real questions of the day [TWB note- or ANY day] to be
raised. "Censorship: As American As Apple Pie" - needs to
be addressed through discussion, debate and by putting the
ideas, views, and expressions deemed verboten on center
stage. "Submit" will be the official message this July 4th,
let us deliver a better one, of liberation - that we will
not acquiesce, we will not be silenced, and it is definitely
not us who will be made to go away.
POLITICALLY CORRECT TERRORIST COMMITTEE
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THE F.A.C.T. ABOUT CENSORSHIP
Donald Wildmon and his group, the American Family
Association, have targeted Waldenbooks and K-Mart to remove
magazines containing nudity.
F.A.C.T.: By not naming any particular magazine, fashion,
art and sports magazines are all under attack!
F.A.C.T.: Donald Wildmon spends hundreds of thousands of
dollars on "campaigns" to tell us what to read.
F.A.C.T. urges these store NOT to turn over their selection
of material to Donald Wildmon!
F.A.C.T. (Fight Against Censorship Today) is a coalition of
groups and individuals that believe free speech and free
expression are under attack. We urge you to reprint this
flyer and send in the coupon below. For further information
contact: F.A.C.T., C/O GUILD BOOKS, 2456 N. Lincoln Ave.,
Chicago, Illinois -- 312/525-3667.
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Send to: Mr. Joseph Antonini
K-Mart, 311 West Big Beaver, Troy, MI. 48084
or call: 1-800-635-6278
Dear Mr. Antonini:
I urge you to carry all the magazines and books you
presently carry and ignore the vague American Family
Association interstate attack on free speech. Don't give
in!
Signature:
Address:
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Mindless Mayhem is published on an irregular basis by people
who really have nothing better to do. Please distribute
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"Jerry, I sometimes believe that we're heading very fast for
Armageddon right now." --Ronald Reagan to Falwell.