Why do we care more about laws that sound good than laws that do good?

My short-form argument is this: the First Amendment applies to bigots, too. What somebody says while brutalizing another person may interest the jury (e.g. probative of motive), but they should ultimately go to jail for the beating, not the speaking. The speaking should not serve as a magic wand for transporting the matter to federal court--and it definitely should not be the basis for increased criminal sanctions, because that would be a clear violation of the First Amendment.

(And it should go without saying that we ought never assume bigotry simply because the victim belongs to a politically powerful superminority, so some expression of hate is presumably necessary to make it a "hate crime.")

Over the last three months, I have learned a lot about a particular niche in the blogosphere, the existence of which was previously unknown to me. At its best, this niche is a collection of bibliophiles who expend considerable time and effort championing the cause of youth literacy--gratis.

At its worst... well. This particular niche is the grand Web-Two-Point-Oh intersection of authors, aspiring authors, librarians, teachers, hobbyists, and (rarely) actual teens, all specializing at some level in some form of inspiring, communicating, discussing, or peddling teenage drama.

So maybe that gives you some idea of what it is, at its worst.

For quite a while now, something has been bothering me and I haven't been able to quite pin it down. The incidence of this vague dissatisfaction always seemed to border on petty, but I could sense a depth there, eluding me, mocking my attempts to fathom it. I've probably failed again, before I've even begun, but... perhaps aggregating things here will help. But be warned--I am going to talk about media depictions of "unsavory" things, which ironically some will find in itself unsavory.

Sorry for the extended absence. As of today, I am working on a sizable paper for Law and Literature, editing two professional Law Review pieces, revising my own Law Review piece for publication, and trying to keep up on my reading and prepare for finals. Last night we entertained company, tonight is the Barrister's Ball, tomorrow my family will be coming through town, next Thursday they'll be back through town, next Saturday I'm escorting my wife to the Whitney Awards, and then it will well and truly be finals season.

That said... let's talk about video games for a little while. d^_^b

A little under a year ago, I spent a good half hour trying to say something meaningful about the Virginia Tech massacre. I gave up for several reasons. Everyone had already spoken, many expressing themselves more eloquently than I could hope to match. I wasn't personally impacted. I didn't have a "pet theory" to put forward.

So, I'm on a big Rudyard-Kipling-quoting kick this week. I mostly blame Eugene Volokh, the author of my First Amendment casebook. It's a fantastic casebook, and he liberally employs some great epigraphies--including words from the poems of Rudyard Kipling, which happily rest in the public domain.

About five minutes ago, someone added my mug to their collection.

So, I had an amusing clash of worlds today. Actually it may well continue, it's hard to say!

If I may digress momentarily from my usual Law School and Linux rants, I have an allegory I would like to analyze. For anyone unaware, my undergraduate background is in philosophy. One of my favorite courses was philosophy of religion. You have been warned. d^_^b

In The False Gods We Worship, President Spencer W. Kimball notes (of Americans generally and, I suspect, of Latter-day Saints in particular):

Bear with me, I'm going to make a big list of links to a lot of people, including family, friends, acquaintances, and even a few people who probably don't remember me. There is a point to this discussion, which will come later and which I will mark for your convenience if you want to skip the inane listing. Also, do not click the links unless you are really curious. Some of these MySpace pages have so much junk on them your computer will absolutely choke.

Inane listing begins.

So it turns out that everyone uses MySpace.