Obscenity In Miller Vs. California

In the case of Miller vs California, Miller is charged because he began sending obscene material to a restaurant owner in which they were sensitive to the specific material that they received. The material they were receiving was sexually sensitive and they felt as if they should be protected by the law from receiving this type of material. It is also said that being able to send whatever one would like no matter the content is also protected by the right of Freedom of speech. This is why obscenity is such a controversial topic. To determine what obscene material really is, took two court cases to give a meaning what people or a community perceived some material as obscene. The biggest argument about portrayed obscene material is, what …show more content…
We have the right of free speech and religion, but does obscene material have any true value to society. Does it teach anything to anyone or is it specifically for the pure entertainment of people. It is very hard to determine what crosses the line when looking at material that could be viewed as obscene. For example, one community in Pennsylvania that is very religious could view material with sexual content in it as obscene and immoral. However, a community in Las Vegas, Nevada, could view sexual content as normal. It is too hard to make a national law of obscenity because there are so many groups of people that have so many different beliefs for what is obscene and what is not obscene. It is near impossible to make an effective law to determine obscenity, and that is why it is such a controversial topic. At this point in time there is one test that determines what is obscene. If there is no serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value supporting that material it is ruled obscene, but that value could be interpreted by one differently from another. Thus making the law so …show more content…
However, what is different from Plato is that Augustine believes that if you are not living the perfectly just life you essentially perfectly immoral and evil. Augustine’s ethics come from the hierarchy of good, which comes from god. Miller in Augustine’s terms is foolish and young. He is sinful because he is not following our God given goodness. Augustine believes that everyone is evil in some way. He would most likely say that obscenity is immoral because it has no value besides sexual pleasure in most cases. Augustine says that giving into those sexual desires goes against the hierarchy of good which is immoral. It is important to understand that Augustine believes in the moral value of certain things. There is no moral value in obscene material because there are better things in life that have the ability to give us knowledge instead of pleasure. Augustine would would say that anyone who views obscene material as immoral because it goes against our god given rights. Also Augustine would probably agree with the fact that obscenity is not protected by the First amendment. He would agree with it for one reason, obscenity is wrong and anything that is wrong is immoral. In the case of obscenity many people may take pride and pleasure in the material making them feel powerful. That power they feel might make them feel like they are higher than everyone, even God