(no subject)

[netmouse]

Does anyone besides me wish there was a rule that television broadcasters had to pull/cancel political advertising that was demonstrated to contain out-and-out lies?

I mean, somewhere in there where you get a broadcasting license, you agree to serve the public. Permitting deceptive advertising just because you've received your pieces of silver is not serving the public.

ETA: this post is in reaction to this ad, which as discussed here posits a lot of things unrelated to Prop 8 as an argument for it, as though it defends people in the state against things other than the state's recognition of the right of gay couples to get and be married. Further discussion here.

Comments

[mishamish.livejournal.com]

I prefer your world as well, don't get me wrong. And the current system *IS* broken. As for the comma... hard to say. The case I'm referencing was (if I recall... it's been a while) a case of treason in WWI or WWII Britain, and the law in question was atleast 150+ years old. It was all really a technicality and the guy was obviously guilty as hell of treason. The only question left was whether or not to hang him.

See the question of the comma really comes down to one of repeatability. We do need legal language so that the law can, figuratively speaking, be written in stone. While I applaud your judgement ideal, I can't see it working in a republic of 300+ million people. Because the question becomes WHICH people are going to be doing that deciding? People who think abortion is murder under ALL circumstances, and those who feel otherwise should be locked away? Someone who feels that everything is okay, as long as you feel sorry afterwards? Someone who thinks that people who aren't his/her color aren't REALLY human beings? Someone who thinks animal lives are more worthwhile than human lives and, therefore, more worth protecting? They are all extremes, but they are people, and they are all people in this country, and they could all be the people in question, exercising their judgement. I'd rather have that comma in place so that it atleast gives a very strong guidepost for them to work from *AND* accountability from higher courts to answer to.