Mike Dickinson [pictured] of the Adultfyi football pool as well as www.freespeechrevolution.com writes:
Last week the news came in that Rob Black and Lizzie Borden, the defendants in the Extreme Associates obscenity case, had decided to plead guilty. I cannot tell you how shocked and dismayed I was to hear this.
How do you fight over eight years, against Mary Beth Buchanan (whose picture can be found in the dictionary under the term “evil bitch”), get to decision day and then plead guilty? It’s like going 8 2/3 innings against the New York Yankees and then walking off the field.
Free speech is founded on battles, and this was one of those battles. It pitted good against evil, right against wrong, us against them. It was your right to make/view/sell a sex tape against the right of someone to tell you that you can’t. In short, it was one where we should have pulled out all the stops to win, sent in everyone, and refused to take no for an answer.
Make no mistake. If you have sex, in any way shape or form, a guilty plea by Black and Borden, the defendants in Extreme Associates case, is a guilty plea by you. It is simply giving people like Buchanan and the government more room to bully you, and determine the type of adult entertainment you can produce, sell, or engage in. Some consenting adults like “extreme” sex (bondage, rough), just as other consenting adults like “extreme” religion (go to church 5 nights a week), to each their own.
As much as I am fired up at Buchanan and those who chose to persecute Black and Borden, I am more fired up at those within the adult industry who have refused to recognize the threat. The reality is that this is about a government and leaders bullying a group of people, an industry, who either by fear or ignorance will not stand up, unite, and fight.
Instead of fighting back, leaders prefer to shift the blame and fill themselves with false hope that they will not be the target of the next prosecution.
Make no mistake. To the government, and assholes like Buchanan, there is no difference between the content made by Vivid, Wicked, Hustler, Kink, JM Productions, Anabolic, Extreme, Evil Angel, and Max Hardcore. If you piss the government off, they will come after you. For an industry designed around the foundation of cum shots, double penetrations, and face-fucking, it is a sad fact that until we come to grips that we are all in this boat together, we are impotent. We are who we are. Instead of denying it, embrace it.
It is also a sad fact that many have filled themselves with false hope.
Make no mistake the government has not proven itself to be our friend.
They continue to persecute our peers and jail them on a daily basis. As I sit here and write this, and you sit here and read it, there are many in this country sitting in jail or in debt due to obscenity cases. Think about Max Hardcore, Rick Krial, and others. When will it end?
I was reading a disturbing report on AVN detailing the events of how the Extreme Associates guilty plea came to be saying that lawyers for each side began to talk. Maybe it’s just me, but if I was involved in a obscenity case, where my governmental adversary had broke me financially, ruined my life, dragged me into court, and was threatening to send me to jail, I may be just a bit skeptical and non-trusting when they want to “talk”.
I wouldn’t exactly welcome them with open arms. Yet, that is exactly what happened. Not only did they make a deal, but the defendants rolled over and plead guilty. After years of posturing, there was no trial, no fight; just a guilty plea. Talk about a wolf in sheep’s clothing.
That is what the government and our adversaries do so well. They know how to play ruthlessly the game, and know that we will usually buy their bullshit, or be so busy fighting each other, we won’t fight them. Maybe we want to be the “bigger man” and sit here with a code of ethics while we are getting our asses kicked, but they aren’t playing with a code of ethics. They are attacking us personally, going after our rights, and going after people’s livelihoods. It is time to unleash the dogs.
How do they do this? It’s very simple. The government and those who persecute free speech specialize in offense and there number one play is to put us on the defensive, so that we are so busy defending ourselves instead of attacking there flawed logic. They are not geniuses and there logic is very weak but since they have never been challenged, they know they can “hit under the belt” and that we won’t hit back.
Instead of taking it and relying on the false hope courts offer, we have to create the help we need. We need to take it to the streets. Instead of ducking the media, we have put ourselves out there and show them we are not afraid of them. We must have protests, go on the radio, and get in the newspapers. We need to identify those who are in government that are enemies and have the power to do something. Who has the power to remove Mary Beth Buchanan? Someone does, let’s go after them in the next election, with removing her as the campaign promise.
Consumers of adult entertainment are everywhere in this country. They may not say it publicly, but more people download and view porn then care to admit it, especially in the bible-belt. While we may never get their public support, in the privacy of a voting booth they can do significant damage.
That is ultimately what www.FreeSpeechRevolution.com is all about. It’s about looking at free speech issues in America, and especially within the adult industry in a whole unapologetic new light. It’s about refusing to sit back and take it anymore while extremist politicians chip away at our rights to make/view/sell adult entertainment or any type of speech. It’s about taking the 21st century fight for freedom of speech to the streets and to the people, something made famous from the original free speech fighter Patrick Henry.
After all, our enemies are attacking free speech. That is the true obscenity.
www.FreeSpeechRevolution.com was founded by Mike Dickinson. If you want to be involved, offer ideas, or exercise your right to free