ABSTRACT
First Amendment freedom has been a long war of words, images, symbols, and legal briefs, won for the most part by champions of political speech, trailed by advertising and entertainment warriors. With the advent of the internet, speech freedom has become less a matter of meeting common law muster than of doing what one can do before any authority catches up. This chapter deals less with law than with what’s right to say and show. The chapter fails to be a comprehensive review or statement, as even a library of chapters would fail. But the chapter opens the discussion with scenes from music, the web, TV, and film. Is it possible to shock, terrify, offend, stimulate, and still do the right thing? The chapter probes these possibilities.
