Mice, hamsters and other small woodland creatures, rejoice! The lame-duck House of Representatives thinks you’re the most important demographic.
The House of Representatives, on its first vote on its day back in session after the midterm election, agreed to put a ban on crush videos — an underground, demented and borderline pathologically deviant form of video that depicts women often wearing high heels crushing small animals to death for a twisted sexual fetish.
The U.S. Supreme Court in April struck down a previous law that banned the sale of crush videos because of First Amendment violations.
And to check the justices at the door and give those stomped-on ferrets a voice, the House of Representatives wrote and passed a more narrowly defined piece of legislation.
While many Americans were hoping Congress would tackle other issues in the first day of the lame-duck session, including ending “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” for good, the House’s decision to revisit the issue of prohibiting the sale and distribution of crush videos in the wake of a Supreme Court decision provides enormous precedent and a fine example of the beauty of checks and balances.
While the Editorial Board might be a bit partial in our unabashed adoration for gerbils and other small rodents, we realize the First Amendment is intended to protect free speech, which includes the most distasteful and disagreeable vitriol. It does not protect speech that results in physical harm. With the Supreme Court’s striking down on such a ban, thereby making it permissible to produce and distribute these vile videos, it set a precedent for far more disturbing videos to be distributed in the name of free speech. Guinea pigs and Americans across this great land send many thanks to Congress today.
