On Tue, 14 May 2002, Roy Blewitt wrote
Thats OK they were not Pornographic all people got was
coding. I was more worried about those living in the US as
the Laws puts taking the micky out of the president an act
of sedition along with flag burning or letting the US flag
touch the floor. (why they dont just build a platform across
America above floor level so nothing could ever touch the floor
is beyond me, they would not need to legislate against things
touching the floor if nothing can touch the floor (they built
such a platform in chicago to create a new street layout.) Americans.
As I said, I just read the subject line. I still haven't seen these
"obscene pictures".
Something tells me that in the post-Clinton days our American
cousins don't put too much store by their rules about
anti-Presidential comments. Although it is interesting to
see that people seemed more worried about the question
"does the president of the USA have sex" (answer: "yes") than
"does the president of the USA have inconvenient people killed"?
On the other hand, we are writing about a country where they
have more commericalism than we do (a staggering thought),
while residing in a country where they use the flag to
make underpants. Anybody with a shred of patriotism (and
my experiences of the USA is that their patriotism is
genuine and powerful, if breathtakingly naive) can see
why laws about what their flag may or may not be used for
might be a good idea. If I may be controversial for a moment,
in the absence of a monarch they have to find something to
focus their national identity on, and they have chosen a
bit of cloth.
(And for any of you wondering about who the inconvenient
people might have been, try entering the search string
"vincent foster" into your favourite Internet search engine.)
ObSF: one of the things that is visible throughout a
certain type of SF - especially a certain type of TV SF - is
that powerful, naive patriotism. Think of, for instance,
"Star Trek" in all its various incarnations. It is obvious
that the writers believe that the American Way will go to
the stars. So my question is this: is it deliberate?
Or is this opinion so natural to the writers that they
include it subconsciously?
Discuss. :-)
