<br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Sat, Sep 17, 2011 at 10:52 PM, Rui Correia <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:correia.rui@gmail.com">correia.rui@gmail.com</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex;">
Paul, Ivar<br><br>There NEVER was ANY law in Brazil that prohibited making fun of candidates. <br><br>What there was, was a prohibition - in terms of Pagraph 2 of Article 45 of the Election Law - against manipulation, montage or other, of video clips or sound bites so as to degrade or humiliate candidates or political parties. <br>
</blockquote><div><br>"Degrade" or "humiliate" -- that means being on the *receiving* end of political critique, political satire, and biting political humor, and finding it to be "not funny."<br>
<br>So, the speech being prohibited is either the satire or political cartooning I was referring to, or in any case it is political speech that a politician finds degrading or humiliating. There is an even stronger case for rights protection whenever something is political speech and *not* having the lightness of also being entertaining or funny.<br>
<br>But here again it is out of the frying pan and into the fire if we are to dispense with government. Try degrading or humiliating the private sector boss in employment. And, it is easier for laws to be passed outlawing the "degradation" or "humiliation" of powerful folks in the private sector than it is for politicians, because in every country I'm familiar with, constitutional protections either don't apply in the private sector or are greatly diminished.<br>
<br>Public sector: Perhaps corrupt, often misguided, but changeable contrary to the will of politicians, even if that change is frequently quite hard to accomplish.<br><br>Private sector: Perhaps corrupt, often misguided, and not changeable against the will of the owners.<br>
<br>Paul Lehto, J.D.<br><br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); padding-left: 1ex;">
<font color="#888888"><br><br> <br><br></font><div class="gmail_quote"><div><div></div><div class="h5">2011/9/18 Paul Lehto <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:lehto.paul@gmail.com" target="_blank">lehto.paul@gmail.com</a>></span><br>
</div></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);padding-left:1ex"><div><div></div><div class="h5"><div><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Sat, Sep 17, 2011 at 4:56 PM, Ivar A. M. Hartmann <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:ivarhartmann@gmail.com" target="_blank">ivarhartmann@gmail.com</a>></span> wrote:<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);padding-left:1ex">
I would by default oppose a global body of IG run by gov representatives which is either suggested by Brazilian gov or influenced by it in any way. <br>
Just as an example, Brazilian law prohibited people from making jokes about politicians running for office during election periods. This was in force up until a year ago until the Supreme Court (not Congress, mind you) decided to put an end to it.<br>
</blockquote></div><br></div>In the public sector (government), at least a Supreme Court, as in the Brazilian example above, can correct a policy. <br><br>But, in the private sector there will be no such correction, <b>ever, and they too have "no joking" rules.</b> <br>
<br>Using employment as an example, private sector bosses often have rules of "no joking about the boss or the boss's interests or you will be fired". In every country I know of, such private sector "no joking" rules are enforceable law. Not only that, but there isn't even a reasonable chance that the power of the private sector boss to prohibit satire and joking will be open for *debate* anytime soon, much less that the ban on private sector joking would change. But <i>in Brazil's government, the no joking policy changed, </i>thanks to the Brazilian Supreme C<b>ourt.</b><b><b><b> <br>
<br>Even internet providers terms of service will have non-disparagement clauses and the like. So, if you are effective enough ridiculing something important to the private sector internet provider, you can have your connectivity terminated. If your anti-telcom humor is ineffective or no one listens, I grant that you may have an illusion of "freedom" and you might not be terminated. (That's just the freedom to be irrelevant, not the freedom to joke about or satirize the telcom.)<br>
<br>To oppose all government involvement is not only completely anti-democratic, but in the case of the "freedom to joke" it is like going out of the frying pan and into the fire.<br><br></b><b></b></b></b><font color="#888888">-- <br>
Paul R Lehto, J.D.<br>P.O. Box 1 <br>Ishpeming, MI 49849 <br><a href="mailto:lehto.paul@gmail.com" target="_blank">lehto.paul@gmail.com</a><br><a href="tel:906-204-4026" value="+19062044026" target="_blank">906-204-4026</a> (cell)<br>
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</div></div></blockquote></div><br><br clear="all"><br>-- <br>Paul R Lehto, J.D.<br>P.O. Box 1 <br>Ishpeming, MI 49849 <br><a href="mailto:lehto.paul@gmail.com">lehto.paul@gmail.com</a><br>906-204-4026 (cell)<br><br><br>
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