REVIEW

[mitchobrien]

This is NOT a review, this is a PETITION...

On 27th September, Dr Mindbender82 posted an entry to the Poetry Community entitled "Christ is on the TV"...for those of you who havent seen it I say have a look, oh and be warned about its content, because what Dr Mindbender doesn't say beforehand is that he has included pornographic images as part of it

Comments

[dr_mindbender82]

Totally, the poem shouldn't be there. I agree with you a hundred percent, burn the smut. Yeah.

(Sorry dude, but I'm just backing you up in case no one else does, I'd feel terrible if you failed to raise enough of an outcry and ended up just being a lonley voice on the edge of LJ - Its happened to me before. Most students justv can't get roused from their apathy to do anything. I think you are doing the right thing by objecting. If you don't like something you should object instead of sitting passively by.)

Yeah, down with the poem. Get if off the air, enough of smut on LJ. Down with the Mindbender, down with the mindbender!!!!!!!!!

[ms_cellaneous]

Mindbender, I see Mitch's point. I don't think art should be censored, but I do think people should have a right to decide whether they view it or not. Maybe try the lj-cut tag, so that then people who truly want to see your work can. For instructions jump on by to http://jordifier.livejournal.com/30376.html
That tag is also helpful for those of us who have slow net connections, cos with all your video poetry on my friends page it takes ages to load.

[dr_mindbender82]

Okay I agree with you a hundread percent on the issue of the slow net loading time, and I totaly sympathise with you on that point, and I'll take it into consideration

[dr_mindbender82]

Apolagize on the seplling, my ADHD is kicking in and my concentration is going to heli.

[jennaredknap]

mitch, i totally agree with you; as they say there is a time and a place, and a public poetry forum is not exactly the place for smut.
i am all for the rights of the individual but take into account other peoples standpoints.
it would have been more appropriate to post the poem and images in the personal journal, rather than a public forum.

[dr_mindbender82]

Posting it here won't do any good, you shoudl get as many people as possible to go to the poetry Community and complain about it there. I'll print up some pamphletes, you want to do a genral acu community posts in dicuss and review communities with links to the poem, we can totally take this guy and his smut out of the picture.

(Sorry but this is so cool, it's becoming a new extreme version of perfomance art, I can object to the low standards of my own art work, and help to drive a petition to help get it off the air.)

[jennaredknap]

now why would i want to do that?
that is giving you exactly what you want - more exposure and the chance to offend a greater number of people.

[jennaredknap]

Who would have thought livejournal would cause so much controversy. I agree with you Mitch when you say that it should be in a personal journal but then again we are all entitled to free expression. Whether the comments are in a personal journal or public journal they are still going to offend people.

[victory_85]

Hey Jordan i never thought of that...your so right.

[michaelgriffith]

Hi all- this is a very interesting debate and follows on from many similar debates about the moral justification of art forms. Back in the 19th Century they took Thomas Hardy's novels and burnt them in public village squares because of their explicit challenge to divorce laws. Then there was D.H. Lawrence whose "smutty" novel Lady Chatterly's Lover was corrupting the minds of a whole generation.... the saga goes on. I have read all the pro and contra in this debate. I am keen not to undermine the genuine creativity of my students and I am keen also to keep LJ going because it has become such a fantastic arena for allowing students to develop their creativity and maintain a vital, interactive community... so I am in a bind... of course anyone has a right to object to certain content -especially if it might be misinterpreted by people who are not in the loop (ie children and or un-enlightened adults who don't see the wider context for certain images). After all D.H.Lawrence's hostile public -who declared that his work was "sheer smut

band wagon

[maxine_kauter]

Hey Mitch

Re: band wagon

[michaelgriffith]

Thank you Maxine for seeing the situation so clearly and offering such constructive help for all sides. Let's now get on with the creative work that we are ALL so capable of.... .... MG