You are right - you caught the slippery slope vs the bright line test . You are asking perfect law / debate qeustions.. When you have two Constitutional issues colliding - it sometimes just comes down to a decision of whose Ox gets gored? In the case of possession of child porn vs freedom of speech - the judges picked humans over free speech. I can see why they did... but it did set us on the path of a slippery slope. I have 4 kids under 10 and I desire to protect them very much. I despise cruelty to kids (or animals for that matter) But, if I were a supreme court justice it would have been very tough for me to go against freedom of speech. Activist judges are a dangers to our freedoms. Whether they be on the left or the right.
Oddly for you I roll out the constitution a conservative because we need to conserve our freedoms First you arrest people for having pictures of tortured dogs. Then you arrest people for hate speech. Then you arrest people for speaking out against the government. Freedom of speech can not be sacrificed for your pet or your peta. Freedom of speech protects Peta and allows them do that stunts which get them publicity which does far more for animals than arresting this guy who had a film .
IMO these stories are directly realted. A legal system that easily dismisses obvious animal cruelty ends up with this. http://www.post-trib.com/news/lake/2217118,New-gdead0430.article