Government, Obscenity, and Business

I’ve been around long enough to witness a lot of change. Not quite long enough to have seen the Supreme Court Case in 1959 that made so many thing that were up until then classified as “obscene” all of a sudden, like magic, legal, but close, and certainly long enough to see Hustler Magazine and Larry Flynt forever change the face of the subject in otherwise conservative Cincinnati, Ohio.

Yesterday was the 50th anniversary of that 1959 Supreme Court Case. The lines between obscenity and art were forver blurred that day, when a very smart attorney named Charles Rembar argued — and won — an argument that a work that might otherwise be classified as obscene would be rendered something else if it also “presented material of redeeming social importance”. It was a brilliant argument, primarily because it played against an earlier Supreme Court decision in a way that all but cornered the Court into eating their own words. For a longer version of this , look at this link to a story in the New York Times.

I was thinking about this, and came to realize that it outlines an idea that we all need to be more comfortable with: Change Happens.

Imagine what it felt like when “obscene” became “OK”, and you’ll find yourself in the very same shoes that today’s businesses have to wear. Remember when America On Line was both your content provider and connection to the content? Odds are good that if you’re reading this that by now they’re neither to you. And if you’re reading “their” news, you sure aren’t paying for it any more.

Your business is changing the same way. Things you used to be able to charge for are now the things you give away for free. Services that used to be your big money makers are now your loss leaders. And finding new ways to make a living get harder, and harder, almost every day.

Except they don’t. All you have to do is embrace change.

Now, gimme a hug . . .