For those confused, this combined with liquid water being there makes this the strongest evidence of alien life to date.
These are conditions shockingly similar to earth.
For anyone wondering, the reason Europa (as well as Saturn’s Enceladus) is warm enough to have oceans is because of the tidal friction from the large gas giant right next to it. (Also why Io is constantly erupting, it’s so close to Jupiter it can’t stop) Any life on these moons could resemble the life we have in geothermal vents and sunless depths of our own ocean.
Seriously though, do most Americans not know that the reason you can mock the shit out of public officials without getting charged for libel is Hustler Magazine?
No really. In 1983, Hustler Magazine ran a fake ad that Jerry Falwell (yes, that Jerry Falwell) went to bone-town with his own mother in a dirty outhouse. This was in response to Falwell’s Moral Majority, a puritanical organization that tried to put prayer in public schools, ban abortion, ban homosexual acts, ban any ‘anti-family’ news outlet or magazine, and convert Jews to Christianity. For obvious reasons, Jerry Falwell’s Moral Panic PAC (not the actual name it was definitely called the Moral Majority and NEVER represented the majority of Americans) represented a threat to Hustler and its ilk.
The ad itself was a parody of a Campari ad that was running at the time, asking people to describe their ‘first time’. The original would be a bit risqué and end with people revealing they were talking about Campari, an alcoholic drink, not sex.
ALT
In the ad, there is a fake interview wherein Jerry Falwell supposedly confesses to banging his mom in a fly-ridden outhouse while drunk on a Campari based cocktail called a “Fire and Brimstone” after chasing a goat out of the outhouse. The ad concludes with fake Jerry Falwell saying he’s always drunk when he preaches and he calls his teachings bullshit. At the very bottom of the ad, in very fine print (too fine to be legible on the image I found of the ad) it tells the reader that this is a parody and should not be taken seriously.
Well, Falwell was pissed and took Hustler (and its editor Larry Flynt) to court for libel. From 1986-1988, different courts said yes it was libel or no it wasn’t libel until, in 1988, the case made it to the Supreme Court. In an 8-0 ruling, the Supreme Court said ‘Yeah, being accused of incest in a parody ad probably hurt Falwell’s feelings, but the First Amendment protects free speech that is critical of public officials and public figures.’
Without Hustler Magazine writing a distasteful porn parody about a homophobic, anti-woman, anti-semitic man who wanted forced government-sanctioned Christianity to be the state religion of the United States, your free speech wouldn’t be protected.
Pornographers aren’t ‘the devil’ but our friend John Waters up there is correct. Pornographers protect our rights. Whether you agree with porn or not, if you live in the United States, you ought to thank a pornographer for your free speech and the best way to thank a pornographer is by rallying behind pornographers’ rights to exist and distribute porn.
So next time someone on any platform comes for the pornographers, remember that you owe the pornographers for your right to mock politicians and other public figures. Thank pornographers and back them up.
ALT
