Go, Read: A Quick Lesson In Constructing Rhetoric Poorly

Maren Williams at the CBLDF has a short feature article up on a mini-controversy about a book depicting nude people for kids to encounter body types in a way that demystifies it that serves as a pretty thorough indictment of picking on isolated examples to grind through a political point: the work in question became more popular, the grasping at factually challenged points seems desperate and ridiculous, and the principles of the book itself are defended in a way that's rational and calm. I'm not sure that North American free speech advocates do that third thing as much as they might, not the casual defenders, anyway. One element to free speech defense in comics that is frequently annoying is how quickly people move away from the art in question to the principle involved, perhaps thinking they are on more solid ground making those arguments absent of a discussion of or endorsement for the actual content in question. I always disagree, and think that was an important part of what seems mostly a positive outcome so far in this case.
 
posted 3:55 pm PST | Permalink
 

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