It reminds me of that classic sex scene from the movie Storytelling, to date the only accurate cinematic portrayal of life in an MFA program: The tiny blonde Creative Writing student is naked, up against a wall and her 200-pound, midnight-black professor is POUNDING 22 years of political correctness out of her.

It reminds me of that classic sex scene from the movie Storytelling, to date the only accurate cinematic portrayal of life in an MFA program: The tiny blonde Creative Writing student is naked, up against a wall and her 200-pound, midnight-black professor is POUNDING 22 years of political correctness out of her.

As you may recall, this not-technically-graphic scene caused a shitload of controversy. It was SO objectionable to the MPAA that they demanded that director Todd Solondz pull the scene or accept an NC-17 rating.

“OK, you faggots,” answered Solondz, “I’ll tone my film down as per your request — but I ain’t pullin’ shit; you can pull my cock. Here’s what I WILL do: I’ll cover the whole fucking screen with a big RED BOX for American audiences, so that when they see the film, they can understand what nanny-state, babysitting, self-righteous, moral majority jerkoffs you all are.”

And that’s just what he did:

Respect!

Get the analogy? Big fat Craig Newmark is the little white chick and the US government is the big black rapist. Just kidding; it was basically consensual.

I couldn’t be prouder of Craigslist for essentially pulling a massive Todd Sololndz when they placed a big “censored” box over their Adult Services section last Friday.

Craigslist had every LEGAL right to keep their Adult Services ads intact (Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act specifies that websites are not responsible for the content of user-generated text), but after facing years of emotional protest from people with NO grounding in practicality (e.g. victims of sexual trafficking taking out half-page ads in the Washington Post), the court of public opinion was beginning to view Craigslist as pimps and black rapists.

With their backs up against the wall, Craigslist executed a marketing strategy so simple and so brilliant that it would make David Ogilvy finger himself with jealousy: They stood aside like Bruce Lee and used the enemy’s momentum against him.

Subsequently, when questioned by the press, they’ve issued no comment; and now in its stead, the silence is deafening:

1. SEE? We censored the ads — is prostitution over?

2. SEE? We censored the ads — now law enforcement has to monitor 50 different always-changing sites instead of just one concise hive of scum and villainy.

3. SEE? We censored the ads — now try gettin’ a decent handjob without googling ’til you’re blue in the dick.

4. Anything else you’d like us to censor? There’s that sketchy landlord that was scamming people out of money in our HOUSING classifieds. Should we censor the real estate section for ya?

I hope the ridiculousness of this whole situation continues to mount until even the American public sit up and take notice.

SPOILER ALERT Here’s how the movie ends: Craigslist brings back the Adult Services ads and devotes all associated revenue to fighting child trafficking. Freedom of speech wins the day AND Craigslist looks like the fucking MAN. In the end, it’s a brand-strengthening exercise so powerful it makes Steve Jobs’s iPod look like New Coke.

Shana Tova!

-BENJAMIN LEO

Related posts:

1. CRAIGSLIST GOLD
2. DEAR STREET CARNAGE: ANTI-HIPSTER CRAIGSLIST POSTING / SHITTY POEM
3. THE BEST CRAIGSLIST AD EVER
4. DEAR STREET CARNAGE: MORE CRAIGSLIST SHIT