[Toby Frost]

You're right, Thadeus. On second thoughts pornography is a far more honourable trade than propaganda (I am struggling not to use the phrase "get a rise out of the reader" in this post).

I think part of this discussion arises out of the problem that what constitutes left and right (especially in America, which in traditional terms doesn't actually have any left wing at all) has changed drastically. The rules seem to be becoming cruder and more drastic: it seems strange to me that to consider a war from both sides - that is, to be capable of thinking the issue before deciding on a side - makes one a spineless moral coward incapable of decency.

To go back to the article I mentioned earlier, I find it odd how, after damning Abercrombie et al over their use of torture, the writer doesn't mention a certain other author whose characters have been maiming and castrating their way through 10 books with gay abandon in the cause of the 'libertarian' right. Curious.