Lawyers are a staid group, by and large.  Quiet.  Unassuming.  Bound by tradition and history.  So what could be more traditional than a image from the Victorian era.  Even if it is an orgy. 

This weeks Blawg Review comes courtesy of a Brit whose purpose in life is to test the limits of taste and refinement, the inimitable Geeklawyer.  To be blunt (which only seems right given that we’re talking about GL here), he’s profane, rude and unbelievably funny.  There is no taboo that he won’t cross.  Or at least none that we’ve yet found.  No one who has the slightest clue of what GL is all about would suppose that his Blawg Reviews, like his regular blog posts, would be anything else.  He did not disappoint.

In her tongue and cheek promotion of Blawg Review #203, Diane Levin at Mediation Channel decided to return the favor to GL by asking, Is it time for a No Asshole Rule for Blawg Review?  Written with an apparent straight face, this took many (including myself) by surprise.

Blawg Review, usually known for the collegiality that once inspired me to declare it an “18th century coffeehouse for the digital age“, takes a dark turn this week. Hosted by the notorious and anonymous Geeklawyer, Blawg Review #203, replete with images from Victorian era pornography and cheap swipes at legal bloggers, leads me to ask, is it time for a No Asshole Rule for Blawg Review?

Caution: this edition of Blawg Review is not workplace safe — unless you happen to work in a brothel. Click through with caution.

Few people try to one-up Geeklawyer, mostly because it never before seemed possible.  But hidden within this “attack”, is there a note of real caution?  Is it possible for Blawg Review to go too far outside the bounds of decency?  Whether the questions comes from some subconscious interpretation of Diane’s Freudian purposes or that of her readers, who were unable to see that she just gave Geeklawyer back a little of what he gives so freely, doesn’t really matter.  Now that the challenge has been raised, it’s out there, floating in the ether.

For those of us who would never write (or likely even think) the things that Geeklawyer comes up with, there’s a possibility likelihood that someone will take offense.  He is, if nothing else, offensive.  It’s his shtick.  And he does it better than anyone I’ve ever seen.  He is the Lenny Bruce of the blawgosphere, and just as Bruce was not everyone’s cup of tea, neither is Geeklawyer.

But for those lawyers who can’t handle the insult, the joke, the profanity, the porn, there can be only one solution.  Quickly avert your eyes.  I won’t criticize humorless lawyers, who likely would respond that they have extremely well-developed sense of humor, but that this is not funny.  Hey, you can’t please everybody.

Some will argue free speech, censorship, blah, blah, blah.  This has nothing to do with it.  Obviously GL can write whatever he wants.  And obviously, the anonymous Ed can chose not to let GL do a Blawg Review if he thinks it’s too over the top that it undermines his purpose or offends too many.  Ed has not only let Geeklawyer do Blawg Review, but had him do it over again.  Does that tell you anything? 

Few amongst us have shown the guts to have fun, make fun and take on anyone and anything as has Geeklawyer.  I wouldn’t miss his Blawg Review for the world, and there was no question up front that he would rip some hearts out and give us all a decent smack.  I looked forward to it, and I enjoyed it immensely.  No, it’s not the way I do things, but this is Geeklawyer’s day and way, so who cares how anyone else would handle it.  This was Geeklawyer’s Blawg Review, and he did it Geeklawyer’s way.

But that doesn’t mean there’s no merit in Diane’s proposed rule.  It’s just a matter of how the rule is defined.  For me, it would apply to those who seek to use Blawg Review to promote their clique of local friends, marketers, and unbearably pedestrian and boring blogs.  When taking on the responsibility of a Blawg Review is used as an opportunity to numb us into mindlessness, that would violate my interpretation of the rule. 

It’s not that every Blawg Review has to be a work of art, like Colin Samuels, Eric Turkewitz, Mark Bennett or, yes, Geeklawyer.  Most of us aren’t that good.  I’m certainly not.  But to use Blawg Review as a vehicle for personal and professional self-promotion, whilst ignoring the real blawgosphere to make certain that no substantive link outshines the crap a host puts out, is what I consider profane. 

As for Geeklawyer’s Blawg Review, no matter how many times I may cringe while reading it, I wouldn’t miss it for the world.  So pass the rule or not, Geeklawyer is here to stay.  If anything, we aren’t worthy of his effort.