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April 05, 2005
Why To Take First Amendment Law
These awkward conversations just keep coming in my First Amendment class, again and again. On the freedom of association, the prof mentions that the internet is often criticized because of the way it allows people to wall themselves off from society. For example, the "pro ana" communities. This leads to:
Student: I've heard that there is an organization that is, like, um, pro-pedophilia or something?
Prof: You mean NAMBLA? The North American Man Boy Love Association?
Student: Um, I guess.
<silence>
After this, we followed with a decent substantive discussion of various hypotheticals based on discriminating against someone for membership in NAMBLA. For example, the high school teacher in the Bronx who was fired for that exact reason, which I mentioned here three years ago.
It's the 30 uncomfortable seconds of silence between the initial mention of something that makes us uncomfortable and the moment that we remember we're adults that I love.
[this is going to do wonders for my search terms]
Posted by buddha at April 5, 2005 11:02 AM
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Comments
Almost makes me want to go to Law School. Almost...
Posted by: shoepal at April 5, 2005 11:26 PM
If you were in law school, this would be a good reason to take the course. But today we're discussing campaign finance reform... substantively important, but generally without the awkward pauses.
Posted by: buddha at April 6, 2005 03:55 PM