Posted on 05/24/2005 1:42:28 PM PDT by CHARLITE
Warning: This article contains graphic descriptions that may be difficult for some readers.
A crowd of people gathered on Capitol Hill last Thursday to hear experts* in obscenity law and sexual crimes speak in recognition of Victims of Pornography Month.
What they said in that room should be heard by every American. (It just so happens that you can download and listen to the presentations, including one by CWA’s chief counsel, Jan LaRue, on our Web site by clicking here.)
First, if you aren’t convinced yet that we, as a society, should crack down on pornography, consider some of the facts presented at the summit.
Where should we start? Maybe with this statement from Phil Burress, president of Citizens for Community Values in Cincinnati, Ohio: “I’ve never met a police officer yet who investigated a pedophile that did not find pornography. Every one of them said pornography is always on the scene.”
Or perhaps that the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children’s (NCMC’s) Cyber Tip Line (http://www.cybertipline.com/) collected about 1,500 reports of possible child pornography being transmitted online in a seven-day period earlier this month (and 293,000 reports since 1998), according to Marsha Gilmer-Tullis, Director of the Family Advocacy Division at NCMC. They received 35 reports of adults trying to meet and greet children in chat rooms that same week.
Or, we could also consider facts presented by Dr. Jeffrey Satinover, a psychiatrist, professor at Princeton University and researcher at the University of Nice, that the sexual slavery trade is the third-largest source of funds for organized crime, right behind drugs and arms, and that pornography drives that trade.
Plus, Satinover mentioned studies showing that brain activity associated with craving pornography is “identical to any other behavioral or chemical addictions.” In fact, some have pointed out that pornography is as addictive as cocaine, but even harder to overcome due to the images burned into the user’s mind. “It is not an art form,” he said. “No one gets addicted to The Washington Post. No one gets addicted to James Joyce [author of Ulysses, a book with some erotic scenes].”
Satinover also had the courage to point out the motivation behind the porn industry: “Its purpose is not to entertain.” Its purpose, he said, is to lead the viewer to “achieve arousal and orgasm” as quickly and frequently as possible. There’s a financial interest – the more the buyer gets aroused by pornography and achieves orgasm, the more he will purchase. Comparing the purchasing frequency of mainstream movies and pornographic ones makes that clear.
When the movies, magazines and Web sites just aren’t cutting it anymore, the user moves to the final stage: acting out. Rep. Katherine Harris (R-Florida) read the following quote from serial rapist Ted Bundy, made one day before his 1989 execution:
“The purveyors of pornography repeatedly challenge us to prove that pornography causes violent crime,” said Rep. Harris. “I challenge them to prove that it does not.”
Likewise, John Richter, the Acting Assistant Attorney General of the U.S. Department of Justice Criminal Division, said, “Because obscene material is so accessible, many may fail to realize that availability does not equate to legality.”
Concerned Women for America (CWA) Chief Counsel Jan LaRue wrote an excellent, full-scale paper on this topic, Hard-Core Harm.
So, what can you, as a citizen, do with the information these knowledgeable presenters gave? Here are several ideas:
Start with your own home. Supervise your children on the Internet, and teach them how to safely use it. Read CWA’s brochure, 14 Ways You Can Protect Your Children Online, for help. Watch out for peer-to-peer file-sharing sites like Kazaa and Morpheus, as they are virtually unregulated – children can easily access pornographic files and even give away your household’s personal information. If you or your spouse is struggling with addiction, there is help (see http://www.victimsofpornography.org/ for a start).
Be aware of what – or who – is in your neighborhood. Check with local law enforcement to see if it maintains a sex offenders’ registry. Use the registry to find out if any convicted sex offenders live in your neighborhood. If your state doesn’t have one, lobby your officials to make this information public.
Encourage your local officials to prosecute obscenity. If juries never get the opportunity to set community standards, then pornographers will set them. In cities where prosecutors have gone after pornographic shops and other sexually oriented businesses, all types of crimes have dropped. Local law enforcement should be enthusiastic about cleaning up communities in this way.
Encourage your local and national representatives to make laws to protect Americans from obscenity.
Sign up for e-mail alerts from groups like CWA that are fighting pornography. We’ll keep you informed as to how you can act on the issue. Sign up at www.cwfa.org.
Vote! Watch how your officials and representatives are voting, acting and responding to your requests regarding obscenity. Register to vote, and encourage your friends and family to register as well!
Educate others. One voice can start a movement! Join an organized grassroots organization like CWA – we’ll be happy to tell you how you can become active at the state level (phone: 800-964-2203). Encourage your friends to join e-mail lists, or form one of your own to pass around vital information. Organize events in your community and bring in experts like the ones at this presentation.
Contribute to hard-working groups like CWA, CCV and others. We are dependent upon generous giving from people like you.
John Richter ended his remarks by asking for continuing support of American citizens:
We aren’t backing down to the purveyors of obscenity… we do not fight these battles alone. We know that folks like you here today – decent, honest Americans – support us. And it is my last privilege today to ask for your continued support as we continue to move forward. I want you to think of our team as I think of them: As those men and women, at Justice, who seek justice, by doing justice, for those who deserve justice.
*Among the presenters were Concerned Women for America (CWA) Chief Counsel Jan LaRue; Citizens for Community Values President Phil Burress; Reps. Katherine Harris (R-Florida), Mike Pence (R-Indiana) and Joe Pitts (R-Pennsylvania); Sen. Sam Brownback (R-Kansas); Acting Assistant Attorney General for the Criminal Division of the U.S. Department of Justice, John Richter; Marsha Gilmer-Tullis, Director of the Family Advocacy Division at the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children; Focus on the Family Media and Sexuality Analyst Daniel Weiss; Florida Deputy Attorney General George LeMieux; and Dr. Jeffrey Satinover, a psychiatrist, professor at Princeton University and researcher at the University of Nice.
Recent Articles
What the ‘Average Joe’ Can Do About Porn…and Why CWA Sponsors Capitol Hill Summit on Pornography Penny Nance on Pornography and Women on National Review Online CWA’s Jan LaRue Speaks on Victims of Pornography Porn, the Io-way: University Of Iowa Offers Porn Class CWA’s LaRue Addresses Obscenity Enforcement at Victims of Pornography Summit on Capitol Hill Hyundai Owners Cool to Howard Stern CWA’s LaRue to Speak on Capitol Hill Indicted King of Porn Runs Charity for Needy Kids May is Victims of Pornography Month
Because I'm imperfect, and because I'm a sinner, that's why. I would have thought that was so incredibly obvious, and simple that it went without explanation. Why you're trying to drag it up and make something personal out of it, is beyond me.
Perhaps if you let some of these things go, you would have to struggle with this burden.
You mean then I could be a perfect !$$()%^ like you? No thanks.
Uh, you are patronizing me. You know very well the effects.
As I said, some dive in, others it takes a while, maybe I should have said, other no effect. Pot never effected me, so I didn't stick to it, however drinking did.
I should have recognized the flawed, "Everyone who drinks is an alcoholic" logic as that of an reformed drunk. I've met plenty of AA types who operate under that exact same assumption, so I really should have recognized it. It's almost a stereotype it's so common.
Moral Absolutes Ping.
Haven't read the article yet, just got on FR, and the thread is peopled with pro-porn individuals, natch.
Why people think that there is an inalienable right to sell, make, distribute and view pornography I'll never know. Actually I do know. People who are motivated by personal gratification rather than the desire to know the truth and live by the truth see what they want to see, rather than objective reality.
We only see the truth when we want to see *and* live by the truth. There's a high price one has to pay to know truth. If we'd rather see and live in the miasma of our own stew of desires, that's what we get to have.
Let me know if you want on/off this pinglist.
Welll how about that!! An honest man! Sounds like you had other problems that needed being dealt with, just like I said. Too bad you didn't care enough about the wife to actually try to treat the problem. Or did you eventually?Sounds like, instead, you then went to the porn rooms to look at the saddest women of all. Those who spread 'em for a buck.
You are right on point.
Former drunks are worse than Carrie Nation ever was. It's almost as bad a a reformed smoker, and I know, I'm a reformed smoker.
I think the popularized usage comes from the Simpsons, in the episode where Homer becomes a missionary...
Regarding?
" You wish to see all Jews come to Jesus and forgret their Judaism. Make you happy?"
Are you quoting me with your phantom accusation to justify you paranoia? OR is it the little voices in your head?
"It's the same thing, with different words as saying the extermination of Judaism."
Thanks for perhaps THE most disjointed post I've ever seen at FR.
I suppose your pastor would love to hear about the porn in your life.
Incredibly obvious why you are struggling too...
Perfect like me... HAHAHAHAHAHA
Thanks for the compliment, but I am hardly perfect. I am just merrily mentioning that Porn is bad. for a Chirstian as you call yourself to say it's good and nothing wrong with it, really makes a mockery out of either you or God's Word. So, with that...you make the choice. Either you do not believe in the Bible, or you do. If you do then you have to take God's word as a whole. Because in part, you aren't a Christian, you made your own religion.
I am a social drinker (and a rare one at that, these days) and it has nothing whatsoever to do with my ability to control myself. If I want a drink, I have one, but I quite rarely want a drink. To the contrary, I feel that I don't drink anywhere near enough because moderate drinking is good for your health. I actually try to tell myself to drink a glass of wine a day, but I hardly ever do.
There is nothing whatsoever to suggest to me that I could ever 'progress' to alcoholism. So far as I can tell, it's simply not in my nature. I assume with confidence that I'm not unique in that regard.
Your statement is simply false as an absolute statement (that drinking alcohol is inherently a prelude to alcoholism, absent willful self-control).
Well, at my age that better happen soon. LOL!
The point is that you find something to accomodate you, porn wise. Lingerie catalogue? Sears catalog if you're desperate. They even have a kid's section.
never said all who drink are alcoholics. I am saying there are that will become alcoholics. I do not know what AA teaches.
As I said, some dive in, others it takes a while, maybe I should have said, other no effect.
I am not patronizing you. Yes, you should have said "others, no effect", and if you were being perfectly honest you would have said "for the vast majority, no effect". I realize that there are alcoholics, and that some people are prone to alcoholism with devastating results but you're not going to convince anyone by characterizing it in terms they already know are objectively indefensible.
If you aren't a proselytizing freak, then you obviously don't fit into the group I was speaking og. As I said to Skooz, I have no quarrel with Chrisitnas who leave Jews alone and do not actively attempt to convert them.
Drinking isn't a sin, so let me get on record for that...
I do not advocate against drinking. Please just don't drive if you do
projection (pr&-JEK-sh&n): The attribution of one's own attitudes, feelings, or desires to someone or something as a naive or unconscious defense against anxiety or guilt.
You're right, AG.... Alcoholics think all people are potential alcoholics and we are on their way there if we drink at all... and it's just not true.
Name it for me: drinking, porn, smoking, drugs, work, shopping, gambling, AND (drum roll please...) masturbating at porno........
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.