Our final film, with post-screening guests and First Amendment specialists Norman Siegel and Adam Liptak, the national legal affairs correspondent for the New York Times, proevided a most stimulating conversation on the limits of the First Amendment, and the way in which the right to free speech is America’s most cherished constitutional value, otherwise why would the Supreme Court rule in favor of Larry Flynt, a man who flouts all the social conventions of decency. The film follows the various trials of Larry Flynt and how his porn empire and outrageous behavior tests the robustness and tolerance of the First Amendment. If the First Amendment protects Flynt and his extreme behavior, then it clearly protects everyone. The question that we discussed, however, is why does the First Amendment privilege speech over pain, why do we have such faith in the marketplace of ideas when the expression of those ideas–to the extent that they even are ideas–sometimes is calculated merely to hurt and offend?
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The People vs. Larry Flynt
2 Responses to “The People vs. Larry Flynt”
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I feel that the First Amendment is always going to make somebody unhappy. It is impossible to please everyone and there is always going to be one person that is offended by what another person says. However, the First Amendment is absolutely necessary. I thought that it was very insightful when one of the gentlemen mentioned his response to a community that was angry that white supremacists were going to march in a certain neighborhood. He told the angry crowd that if we took away the white supremacists’ right to free speech today, we take away the community’s right to free speech tomorrow. Furthermore, he told them that because of their right to free speech, they did not have to sit quietly during the march and they took his advice and felt somewhat better about the situation. If we want to have free speech, it must be unconditional and free for everyone.
The first amendment allows people to openly express how they feel regardless of how controversial the topic may be. Larry Flynt challenged our court system and fought for his constitutional right under this amendment. His material was undoubtedly controversial but Flynt illustrated that every citizen in this country should be protected by the first amendment and he should not be the exception. Whether one agrees with Larry Flynt’s work or not, one must admit that he has changed our context of obscenity.