Movies:
What angers me most about arrogant and dubiously ethical moralists is that they love to judge things sight-unseen (or sight-obscene). Naturally, for instance, most people who condemned "The Last Temptation of Christ" did not watch or send one of their right-wing moral pit bulls to screen the film for alleged improprieties. By the way, director Martin Scorcese stood trial in Florence, Italy because the film was considered to be violating a rule against "contempt for religion". If the Church learned anything from the Inquisition, any blasphemy laws should be abolished. Come to think of it, it would have been worth the price of admission to watch prudish moralists locked in a theater watching the controversial Cannes festival winner "Sex, Lies, and Videotape", the Oscar-nominated "Dangerous Liaisons", and The critically acclaimed "Scandal". If an individual or group doesn't like a movie, just don't see it. Don't try to deprive others the choice to see it. (to be cont'd).
[The original version of this essay first appeared in Eastern Connecticut State University's Campus Lantern student newspaper in the early '90s and as part of my unpublished manuscript "In Mediocrity We Trust... In Debt We Die" And Other Essays.]
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