Offensive speech and unwilling listeners

[JFN]

At 12:37 PM -0500 6/1/05, Frank Cross wrote:
>I can't say that I've decided about the use of these materials in 
>class, whether pornography or other offensive matters.  But I'm not 
>convinced that they are necessary.  One can teach criminal law 
>without committing a crime in class.
>
>The materials do seem like relevant facts that law students should 
>come to grips with.  But time and place and context are also 
>relevant facts.  I'm not sure that viewing obscenity in class is the 
>same as viewing it in private.  So showing obscene materials in 
>class doesn't directly illuminate the question of whether it should 
>be regulated for private consumption.

I don't know about "necessary," but if you could teach by 
illustration the "relevant facts" bearing on the distinction between 
pornography that's protected by the First Amendment and obscenity 
that isn't, it would seem to have enough redeeming social value to 
turn the obscenity into pornography -- in context.

John Noble