First Amendment Rights are important and documentaries help bring such issues to light. If the law was too draconian then it needs to be written again with protections for 'appropriate' use of such visual cues.
One aspect of this that cannot be forgotten is the very real fact that some killers learn their lessons at an early age from seeking pleasure where no pleasure should be found.
A civilized society should have pride in the 'quality' of its entertainment.
The more distance there is between humans and cruel treatment, the less likely a nation will find problems with such issues. The American society has enough violence in its entertainment and children are exposed to it, we don't have to go out of our way to make more available to young minds.
All such videos should have a category of worse than XXX. Extreme cruelty and violence should be categorized in a highly restrictive manner along with sexually cruel videos of women.
Where such trade finds its way into the American culture there should be restrictions. Not every aspect of commerce is desirable.
In the case of Mr. Stevens, he personally made the videos, he still broke the law. The only aspect of his crimes that were removed from his criminal behavior was the aspect of commerce. The actual acts that resulted in the successful film for distribution were still criminal.
...The ruling was a victory for Robert Stevens of Virginia, (click title to entry - thank you) who made and sold three videos of pit bulls fighting each other and attacking hogs and wild boars....
