George,

How many remember a film of the past (1962 or so), titled "Mondo Cane" (A Dog's World)? It was called a "shockumentary, all of the scenes in the movie were real and untouched and they WERE shocking!

Two scenes I remember particularly, were scenes of a dog's funeral in California with an elaborate service, burial in a pet cemetary complete with flowers and a rather elaborate grave site, juxtaposed to a scene of a butcher shop in Southeast Asia with "dressed" dog carcasses hanging in the shop for sale.

The case before the Supreme Court involving an individual who cobbled together various "snipits" from hunting and fishing magazines, documentaries, films, etc, reminds me of the strange culture in which we live.

For some reason that completely escapes me, taking individual pictures involving dog fights, dead animals killed by hunters, bull fight photos and so forth are somehow a crime when the whole becomes greater than the sum of the parts!

I seriously doubt there would be much of a crime if anyone was to gather photos of bloodied boxers, hockey players wielding their "sticks" against their opponents, an NFL quarterback being slammed to the turf by an aggressive defensive lineman mixed together with a naked child severely burned by napalm, a mortally wounded soldier breathing his last breath in Afghanistan or countless other "horrors" we are heir to in our daily lives. Put them all together in a modern day "shockumentary"! It might be a best seller, offensive to some but doubtful the stuff of a Supreme Court decision.

I think this episode speaks volumes about our priorities.

What, if anything, will change if somehow the high court overturns a lower court decision that ruled that apparently no crime was commited?

Our society seems to be constantly "straining at the gnat and swallowing the camel".

Harry Tenney (Electronic mail, October 7, 2009)