Source: Letters to the Editor
By: Bill Margold
From the 12-14-06 column Cinema Seen by William Margold in the L.A. Xpress, Bill Margold shares with us a plea to get political and vote for the Free Speech Coalition “M-Force”, Mara Epstein, Mr. Marcus and Marty O’Malley, as potential “differences makers” if they are elected to the Free Speech Coalition board. His column follows – un-redacted…
Bill writes: Thought that you might enjoy the attached. Of course you are welcome to run it… if you see fit… as an “alert” and “suggestion” to the potential FSC voters.
Cinema Seen by William Margold
“In a society that is drug-infested, violence-wracked and polluted by chemical greed…no one has ever died from an overdose of Pornography.”
And that was how I launched my testimony in front of the Meese Commission in October 1985. And after 45 minutes of answering questions with, as one of the Commission members put it “surprisingly caring” responses, I knew that yet another path (since 1972, I had succeeded in being a performer, an agent, a scriptwriter and a director) in XXX had been chosen for me: That of being an activist in the battle against the censorship of the Adult Entertainment Industry
And so to that extent, a few years later I ran for a position on Adult Video Association’s Board of Directors, which in turn led to my decade-plus of supremely dedicated service (particularly in creating “Fun”draising images and items) to the Free Speech Coalition (www.freespeechcoalition.com), an organization that is currently in the throes of an election for its 2007 roster of board members.
Looking over their ballot, while I’m yearning to suggest whom you shouldn’t vote for (particularly a poor incumbent soul whose last name is fittingly spelled wrong)…I’m remarkably restraining myself, and simply and modestly (even more remarkable for me) campaigning here for the M-Force: Mara Epstein, Mr. Marcus, and Marty O’Malley. They are all extremely eager to serve, well qualified to provide invaluable insight based on their diverse Adult Industry Entertainment business lifestyles, and are, for lack of a better term, genuinely good human beings, who fully understand that there isn’t any dollar sign in the word “cause.”
By now you’ve got to be wondering what all the preceding is doing on an LAXpress Cinema Seen page, but it really shouldn’t puzzle you all that much, considering that the film being discussed here—an Inconvenient Truth (Paramount Classics)—is very much related to a portion of my opening statement to the Meese Commission: “polluted by chemical greed.”
Although reluctant to see the AL Gore-hosted documentary at first, because quite frankly, I’m pretty much aware of the fact that we are our own worst enemies when it comes to preserving the environment, I was finally lured to watching it by a perversely humorous, perceptively sardonic ad that featured Arctic Penguins hotfooting about on the Sahara Desert. Yeah…it could, and tragically, most likely will, come to that, in the not so distant future.
With many other extremely disturbing images and numerous fatalistic statistics, the ingratiating Mr. Gore, who most likely was manipulated out of becoming President back in 2000, but whose demeanor here, could and should, make his party (Democrat) think seriously about tossing his hat, head, and heart back into the ring for the 2008 election-go-round, paints a pretty bleak picture, that in fact, finally takes what breath you are fortunate to have left, away.
While much of Gore’s illuminating the fact that “we are All guilty of raping of Mother Nature” (my turn of phrase, not his, as he is considerably more tactful, stemming from the fact that he was once was, and may well be again… a politician), might seem best suited for a classroom, rather than a movie theater or a living room, the mass dissemination of the message on screens beyond the classroom, will hopefully rattle a few cages of those birds who can still make a difference.
And speaking of making a difference, I can’t resist returning to my ulterior motivation for this page—the presentation of M-Force (Mara Epstein, Mr. Marcus and Marty O’Malley) as potential “differences makers” if they are chosen (elected) to the Free Speech Coalition board. Therefore, if you happen to come upon a ballot no later than December 17, and can find a way to make sure that it postmarked no later than December 18, I implore you to consider making your mark next to the three names that I’ve presented.
And so as not to “pollute” your votes for the trio that I am championing, you don’t need to vote for anyone else on the ballot. That, in fact, is perhaps the best way you can perform your freedom of choice duties without feeling obligated to choose more names that want to, just because the ballot reads “please check 6 names to cast your vote for the 2007 Board.” One would have thought that the words “up to” belonged somewhere in the statement, wouldn’t one?
Then again, it makes one think about what those who designed the ballot were “up to” in the first place. And that’s “An Inconvenient Truth” worthy of its own documentary creation.
