For those who think our culture should more mirror that of the Europeans, or who think that our courts should follow the lead of foreign courts in interpreting U.S. Constitutional rights, please consider the following:


EU wants to ban 'sexist' TV commercials: Adverts which use sex to sell or promote gender stereotypes could be banned by the EU.

Assume this passes, and that the EU Courts uphold it, should this be a basis for redefining our own First Amendment to allow for such social regulating of speech?

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"It's a good feeling to shoot a bad guy. Something you democrats would never understand. Americans are homesteaders, we want a safe home, keep the money we make, and shoot bad guys!"

----Denny Crane

Really weird that something intrusive and useless like this is getting huge support from everyone, even the conservatives. The woman I voted for was against though (Sophia in 't Veld of D66, left wing of ELDR). I'll certainly keep that in mind in the june '09 election.

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Terrornoia: how the propa-ugandists used the omni-territorialization of terror for the fundamen-talismanization of criminal law in a multi-cultus-ritualistic society

This is so stupid. There is, as always, the question of what will be prosecuted. Then there is the fact that it is extremely patronising. It assumes that women are the passive "victims" in this, that it is simply a case of beastly male advertisers bullying helpless women. There are women who respond well to these advertisements, because they may like seeing pictures of pretty women or they may be more traditional in outlook. They are being ignored because they don't confirm to the ideas of what women should want. The women who dislike these images are deemed incapable of noting their distaste and not buying the product or service being advertised, or deciding that it's worth more than their distaste.

The part that really infuriated me was the part where a minister called for laws making advertisers use "diverse body types", that the "super skinny" models are bad for girls. Because everyone knows that women are incapable of deciding what they want their body to look like, that parents cannot be trusted to supervise their childrens' TV exposure and that being thin is bad.

Oh, and of course it's an attack on freedom of speech.

These types of restrictions on speech are insulting. They assume that you are too unintelligent to decide for yourself what you choose to think and/or do.

Anyone should be insulted by such rules.

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I am an American. That's the way most of us put it, just matter of factly. They are plain words, those four: you could write them on your thumbnail, or sweep them clear across this bright autumn sky. But remember too, that they are more than just words. They are a way of life. So whenever you speak them; speak them firmly, speak them proudly, speak them gratefully. I am an American. ...a tradition

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Really that's all that need be said in opposition to it.

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"It's a good feeling to shoot a bad guy. Something you democrats would never understand. Americans are homesteaders, we want a safe home, keep the money we make, and shoot bad guys!"

----Denny Crane

Personally that is a reason which makes me more sympathetic to the measures. The so-called beaty ideal is a thorn in my eye. It makes a lot of people unhappy.

Not that I'm saying lawmakers should get involved, but I definately think it's a detriment to our society.

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Terrornoia: how the propa-ugandists used the omni-territorialization of terror for the fundamen-talismanization of criminal law in a multi-cultus-ritualistic society

I'd have to disagree with you. You have every right to not find very thin women attractive, but it's patronising to think that women and girls are incapable of deciding, independently, what they want to look like. There are akways beauty ideals, regardless of the availability of the media, and it's the responsibility of the individual to decide how to react to them.

I don't have a problem with thin women (I am thin myself), I just don't like that the corporations are pushing this ideal of how women should look.

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Terrornoia: how the propa-ugandists used the omni-territorialization of terror for the fundamen-talismanization of criminal law in a multi-cultus-ritualistic society

As women have the free will to decide for themselves how they want to look, why do you have a problem with it?

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I am an American. That's the way most of us put it, just matter of factly. They are plain words, those four: you could write them on your thumbnail, or sweep them clear across this bright autumn sky. But remember too, that they are more than just words. They are a way of life. So whenever you speak them; speak them firmly, speak them proudly, speak them gratefully. I am an American. ...a tradition

Fair enough, but you surely realise that the image sells because the customers want it?

Honnestly I don't see this as a matter of free speech, but rather as a matter of the free market.

How companies choice to advertise their products should not be up to government's and thus I'm against such ideas of restriction.

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"bellum omnium contra omnes; atque in eo bello jus esse omnibus in omnia."
Thomas Hobbes

"Homo Homini Lupus"
Thomas Hobbes

I have no problem with women making a free choice at all, in fact they seem to do it very well, better than many men.

I just don't like it that monied interest are pushing the ideal.

I don't know if the customers want it. Unhappy people shop more. If you want to sell stuff you need to rub in people's face the fact that they don't have something.

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Terrornoia: how the propa-ugandists used the omni-territorialization of terror for the fundamen-talismanization of criminal law in a multi-cultus-ritualistic society

But they are only able to push the ideal for a certain percentage of people and btw the more "most" advertisments are the same (e.g. showing thin women), the better different kind of commercials work, especially if they use nice and good new ideas.

Allowing the government a say in this, will only destroy the creativity and effectiveness of the (commercial) market and will not help the "officially" desired cause.

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"bellum omnium contra omnes; atque in eo bello jus esse omnibus in omnia."
Thomas Hobbes

"Homo Homini Lupus"
Thomas Hobbes

So the advertisers, by drawing attention to their products/services, are "rubbing their noses in it"? So people, specifically women, can't be trusted to make these choices for themselves?

I don't know what you're trying to imply. I don't like it that commercials make some people unhappy, comprend? I don't see what it has to do with choice on the part of women.

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Terrornoia: how the propa-ugandists used the omni-territorialization of terror for the fundamen-talismanization of criminal law in a multi-cultus-ritualistic society