Press Release: Fear of Legal Charges? Nah Read This!

 Since I posted the video “1 Lunatic, 1 Ice pick” near the end of May, I’ve been bombarded with e-mails. I’ve received praise and chastisement for hosting the video, and many have asked “Are you concerned about being charged for hosting this video?”

In short, no. I’m not concerned, and I’m not taking the video down.

The internet is a open space, a new frontier, the world’s new manifest destiny if you will. It offers freedom of expression in an extreme sense. You can post images, video, your words, your voice, your ideas. You can sway opinions in the masses with your website, or alienate hundreds of thousands of people. While I did not create this video (nor was I the only one to originally come across it), I am seemingly one of the few with the video still up and running.

Yes, I admit- the video is violent, disconcerting, and jarring. But that is human life. Violence happens every day, regardless of it getting on the internet in .flv format. Bloody fights are posted on youtube and featured for a premium on Pay Per View. Videos of blown off limbs and cracked open skulls are found on numerous public video sites. Ogrish and rotten.com both flourish on the basic human nature to see gross, gory things. Many pay sites exist for the sole reason of pumping out extremely masochistic videos for fetishists around the world. Obscene, violent, bloody, disgusting videos are everywhere. The only reason this video is being targeted for litigation (against the third party hosts of a video, that is) is because it hit national news.

As of the time of this posting, I have not been asked to remove the video by any reputable source. I have received many negative comments about the video, yes- but I also ensured the video was labeled as graphic. Many complaints have been on personal moral grounds, which don’t happen to follow my own feelings- therefore they have been ignored.

This video was originally placed online for Luka’s own satisfaction- he wanted attention and he got it. I placed this video on my website because the video is a dark reminder that the human race isn’t all inherently good. There are sick people out there, and it’s a reminder that the man or woman you thought you could trust could turn on you. The video makes you think about it being you on that bed instead of Jun Lin, or your best friend or brother or sister or daughter or son. It makes you feel angry about what he did, and it makes you much more aware. It’s a warning for many, no longer showboating for one deranged murderer.

It’s also a rather large mark of shame against Canadian law enforcement. Previous to the murder of Jun Lin, multiple complaints against Luka Magnotta had been made, in particular two previous videos of animal cruelty. He had been positively identified from these videos two years ago, and the complaints were ignored. A dangerous criminal was blatantly ignored by employees who were hired to ensure the people were safe from the likes of Luka. How’s that for a waste of taxpayer dollars?

If you’ve read this far, good for you. Long story short: I’m not afraid of litigation. Freedom of expression is an unalienable right despite the fact that the message is disturbing.