The Greatest Lie Part 11

" I think the Internet is like the public squares of Ancient Greece. The standards that we set now will guide the freedom of human discourse for years to come."

"Great, our descendants will be reading about 'Girls Who Dig Animals,' and remembering us as champions of freedom of deviance."

"Hey, the first photographs were porn. No one remembers the 19th Century as the age of sexual liberty."

"And photography flourished, even as indecency was suppressed."

"The rules you make here will be copied in the Peoples' Republic to ban the Dali Lama, or even the Bible. Can you live with that?"

"Can you really compare porno to the Bible?"

"No, but the Chinese will, and they'll ban both. You won't have a principled basis for opposition."

After class, Alec cornered me. "Still sticking to the left, sure way to get an "A" in here."

"Thanks, I need it. Remember, I'm not admitted to law school yet."

He wrung his hands in mock embarrassment. "It's so humiliating to be intellectually crushed by a Freshman. Thank god, I'm almost done. In a few short months, I'll be getting paid a buck twenty-five a year for this. Hey, did you ever get those Wisconsin hockey tickets."

"Thanks for reminding me. I've got four seats for tonight's game." Wisconsin was playing Minnesota for the Big 10 Championship.

"How much?"

I hated to be greedy, but we were so broke. "I think they're worth about a couple hundred bucks. I was going over there to sell them."

"Wow, the birth of a capitalist. Very good! OK, I'll take them, on one condition."

"What's that?"

"That you and a friend be Peter's and my guests."

"Let me make a call." I borrowed Peter's cell and slipped into the bathroom.

Tran was skeptical about going with a couple of law students, and I was especially nervous about these two sleek young right-wingers. "But it'll be perfect. The seats are right behind the Visitor's bench. You know who will see us and go nuts."