Those men arguing with Zappa were defeated, and the people that defeated them are just like them now, except with more colorful hair.
It tells you where the real power is now. The powerful are always the ones who seek to censor their opposition.
What it tells me is that the government doesn't care what political faction it supports as long as the goals of that faction expand it's power, and that at least some contingent of the liberal movement of that time (which I supported and still would support on principled grounds) had the goal of demoralization and not the goal of free expression.
Someone should show this interview to the "words can be violence" crowd.
Isn't that position to do with words targeted at specific persons/groups? Not song lyrics speaking generally?
Who gets to decide who the real target of words is?
Who gets to decide which words are harmful?
Who gets to decide which people are allowed to use which words in which context?
Yes - it's the same problem.
Watch very closely for Gene Siskel’s smile admiring Zappa. He (Siskel) is fully aware of his (assigned?) role as the straight man and plays it to the hilt.
Do you mean Robert Novak?
OK you are right. I confused this with another clip from Nightline (linked below, and not his only appearance on that show on that subject)