Zappa takes 'Crossfire' on free speech

A hat tip straight from Russell Brown:

For all that we've been deluged lately with pronouncements about speech, free and otherwise, this clip might actually be the best thing I've seen all year. The late Frank Zappa deadpans his way through a 1986 episode of CNN's Crossfire dedicated to the scourge of obscene pop music. I hate Zappa's music, but gee he's good on this. It's a 50MB QuickTime file from some mouldering VHS tape, but it's really worth the download.

Highly entertaining, if not entirely libertarian, but Zappa is often great. "How much money have you made out of this stuff?" asks an oily John Lofton. "I've made millions, Mr Lofton," deadpans Zappa proudly. "Millions." You might also enjoy George Carlin's take on the Seven Dirty Words, and my own piece clarifying what exactly Free Speech looks like.

LINK: Zappa on Crossfire - CNN/WFMU
Seven Dirty Words - George Carlin
Some propositions on free speech - Peter Cresswell