2008/12/23 Thomas Larsen larsen.thomas.h@gmail.com:
I think we disagree over whether or not including indecent images in an encyclopedia constitutes good scholarship. (Yes, I do think the image is obscene, but that is irrelevant.) I argue no; you seem to argue yes; and we'll just have to agree to disagree.
"indecent" is also a matter of opinion. And equally orthogonal to whether we should write about it, illustrating what on earth we're talking about as we do pretty much every other encyclopedically noteworthy image we talk about.
That it's stupid, crass and distasteful does not mean it isn't of encyclopedic noteworthiness - it's in far too many "worst album covers of all time" lists for that.
Encyclopedic noteworthiness has no relation, positive or negative, to the concerns you're raising, so you're coming across as missing the point.
- d.