"I saw the best ideas of my generation destroyed by madness, hunger and hysterical nudity"-allen ginsberg's Howl.
On April 3rd, 1955, the American Civil Liberties Union announced that it would defend the obscene accusation that it defeated the poet allen ginsberg's book Howl. A few weeks ago, US Customs confiscated 520 copies of this book from Britain and arrested its publisher, lawrence ferlinghetti, because plainclothes policemen bought Howl in his bookstore.
Howl is an American classic, authentic and bold, and it is a literary type that needs the protection of the First Amendment most. This poem directly depicts the dark side of life in the 1950s-a world that Wally and Biff dared not set foot in. This is drugs, homosexuality, anti-war and everything that * * * says is bad, bad, bad.
The establishment even offended the stream-of-consciousness style of this poem. A sentence of 2 124 makes them all look for smelling salts. Not only dirty, it doesn't even rhyme! That's not a poem! "
The American Civil Liberties Union stepped in, released on bail and represented him in court. Nine experts (someone wants to know what qualifications make a person an obscene expert) were called to the booth to discuss the literary value of this book. Crying is considered to have "some social importance of redemption", and the presiding judge ruled that crying is not obscene.
As usual, * * * attempts to silence and censor only attract more attention to "crying", which has actually become a must-read book for a whole generation. Thanks to the US Customs Service, allen ginsberg has become very famous and influential, and has been inspiring other writers for many years.
If you think we have come a long way since the 1950s, please think again. On the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the ruling that Howl is not obscene, a public radio station in new york chose not to play the poem for fear that the huge fine imposed by the Federal Communications Commission would bring them economic losses. The radio station posted a "howl" on their website, which was not regulated by the Federal Communications Commission.
Marv Johnson, the legislative adviser of the American Civil Liberties Union, once said:
It is not accurate to say that freedom of speech went back to the 1950s-it is worse now. Radio stations cannot celebrate the First Amendment by forcing announcers to shut up and point to a website. Howling captures the essence of a society on the verge of explosion, and the decision to howl obscenity marks a step towards greater freedom of speech. If the FCC and our legislators want to repeat the repression in the 1950s, they should remember that even then, the country was gradually moving towards more freedom, not less.
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When people started burning books, Maywest was sentenced to 65,438+00 days in prison for writing and directing, and implemented a lecture film grading system costing nearly $6,543.8+0 billion in the Broadway play Sex. Why does the public avoid certain businesses, and it is called "* * *"? It has been extended to refer to the freedom of speech that prohibits howling and opposes obscenity.