Hey! All you citizens of Washington State! Are you aware of the fact that for the past couple of decades we have had a ridiculous and dangerous law banning erotic-music recordings? Well, you should be, not because the oversexed, violent recordings are abominable, which they certainly are, but because of the greater danger the stupid law represents.<
The law was passed by legislators who panicked over the highly objectionable recordings and forgot this was still a free country, where musicians, composers, and others are free to make damned fools of themselves — a condition that should not make them eligible for prison sentences.
And, like the foolish legislators, the governor at the time the law was passed, Booth Gardner, was equally foolish in failing to veto a law he should have immediately tossed into the waste basket. If my old friend, the late Dixy Lee Ray, had been governor when the law came up for signing, you can bet she would have vetoed it. I was her chief policy adviser when she was governor, and I know she would have dumped the law.
In the first place, the Nazi-like law set a perilous precedent — opening the way for ide-scale censorship under the guise of protecting young people. In the second place, the law was impossible to administer, as has proved to be the case. Any law that can’t be applied effectively is no law at all but an expensive hindrance.
And, in the third place, the law defeated the purpose intended by its proponents, because it pinpointed the most objectionable of the trashy recordings — and made them even more attractive to many young buyers. It was bound to create a black market in sleazy recordings. Some law that is!
Trash must be ridiculed and laughed out of existence, not banned Gestapo-style. And the ultimate control of such things must be parental supervision, not arbitrary state dictation. It has been a surprise to me all these years that the state’s lawmakers have not seen the light and moved to remove the law from the state’s books.
In the meantime, legislators and any persons who agree with those who helped put the law banning erotic recordings on the books should be reminded that sleaze and the entire field of immoral behavior cannot be eliminated or even controlled by the force of state law.
It is no surprise to learn that those moralizing officials among us in this world will stop at nothing to penalize those who do not live by their code of conduct. Some of the worst offenders can be found in Islamic countries, where male officials wink at the offenses of men but severely penalize women who dare to break their “moral” code.
I refer to instances that have made the news in recent years. In one Middle Eastern nation, a woman who was raped by half a dozen men was severely punished, while the rapists went free. And in similar circumstances elsewhere in the Muslim world, women who dared look at a man not their husband were similarly punished.
So, it is obvious anywhere in the world, including in Washington State, that we must beware of those over-moralizing do-gooders who want to punish anyone who does not accept their moral code.