All books can be indecent books, though recent books are bolder._x000D_ _x000D_ For filth, I'm glad to say, is in the mind of the beholder._x000D_ _x000D_ When correctly viewed, everything is lewd._x000D_ _x000D_ I could tell you things about Peter Pan_x000D_ _x000D_ and the Wizard of OZ, there's a dirty old man!
Interpretation
This quote suggests that indecency is subjective and depends on the viewer's perspective.
Tom Lehrer's quote plays with the idea that any piece of literature can be interpreted as inappropriate or indecent based on the reader's mindset. By stating that all books can be seen as 'indecent,' he highlights the subjective nature of interpretation, suggesting that it is not the content itself that is explicit, but rather how it is perceived by the individual. He further implies that even classic children's stories like 'Peter Pan' and 'The Wizard of Oz' can contain adult themes if one approaches them with a certain mindset.
In practice
In a discussion about censorship in literature, this quote can highlight the subjectivity of what is deemed inappropriate.
You can make fun with Saddam Hussein jokes ... but you can't make fun of, say, the concentration camps. I think my target was not so much evil, but benign stupidity people doing stupid things without realising or, instead, thinking they were doing good.
Political satire became obsolete when they awarded Henry Kissinger the Nobel Peace Prize.
But in the new (math) approach, the important thing is to understand what you're doing, rather than to get the right answer.
You can't be satirical and not be offensive to somebody.
In my youth there were words you couldn't say in front of a girl; now you can't say 'girl.'
Science is no more than an investigation of a miracle we can never explain, and art is an interpretation of that miracle.
You have kids studying master class visual arts who are pushed to make films that will be successful economically; that's what they focus on. So they work for corporate interest instead of artistic expression.
Pixar is not about computers, it's about people.
The ambivalence of writing is such that it can be considered both an act and an interpretive process that follows after an act with which it cannot coincide. As such, it both affirms and denies its own nature.
That is why I believe that art is so much more significant than either economics or philosophy. It is the direct measure of man's spiritual vision.
In my case, the body of work stands for itself... I think my work has been representative of me as a man.
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