U.S. declares War on Porn

Baltimore Sun ^ | April 5, 2004 | Laura Sullivan

[Quick1]

WASHINGTON -- Lam Nguyen's job is to sit for hours in a chilly, quiet room devoid of any color but gray and look at pornography. This job, which Nguyen does earnestly from 9 to 5, surrounded by a half-dozen other "computer forensic specialists" like him, has become the focal point of the Justice Department's operation to rid the world of porn.

In this field office in Washington, 32 prosecutors, investigators and a handful of FBI agents are spending millions of dollars to bring anti-obscenity cases to courthouses across the country for the first time in 10 years. Nothing is off limits, they warn, even soft-core cable programs such as HBO's long-running Real Sex or the adult movies widely offered in rooms of major hotel chains.

Department officials say they will send "ripples" through an industry that has proliferated on the Internet and grown into an estimated $10 billion-a-year colossus profiting Fortune 500 corporations such as Comcast, which offers hard-core movies on a pay-per-view channel.

[Quick1]

More examples from your site: ⋅ The states with the highest readership of men's magazines also have the highest rape rate. (Baron & Straus, Sexual Stratification, Pornography and Rape in American States, 1983). ⋅ In a study of 38,000 sex offenders, 41 percent used some type of pornography just prior to or during the actual act. "The crimes included everything from exhibitionism to murder." (Lt. Darrell Pope, Michigan State Police). These might actually mean something to someone who hasn't taken a basic statistics class and learned the simple rule: Correlation does not prove causation. I bet all of those molestors breathed oxygen before molesting children too. Should all oxygen breathers be punished for it?

[Long Cut]

Let me guess...since two days ago, when I was last on this thread:

1. No one in favor of this "war" has come up with a justification for it, beyond their religious beliefs;

2. No one in favor of this "war" has been able to offer unbiased proof that the consumption of pornography harms them;

3. The thread has experienced long, rambling posts of Scripture, possibly even offered as "evidence";

4. Those in favor of this "war" have performed amazing feats of intellectual gymnastics to justify THIS particular interference in personal lives by the government;

5. Those in favor of this "war" have ignored all contrary evidence to their position, have made wild and off-topic accusations in leiu of debate, have made hysterical and emotional statements, and have ignored questions they cannot easily answer.

I can say this, because most of those in favor of this "war" can be found on the crevo or WOSD threads, doing the exact same things.

[sakic]

We'd all be better off if instead of spending all of the money for this project they should should just give every citizen a couple of hundred dollars.

[eleni121]

I can't believe you would post something as stupid as you did publicly.

It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that oxygen has nothing to do with rape and sexual abuse but using pornography does. Porn and sexual abuse are inextricably linked no matter what sophistry libertarians and the ACLU propose.

Actually porn is violence against those it exploits.

[Quick1]

It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that oxygen has nothing to do with rape and sexual abuse but using pornography does.

It may or may not. How do we know the people that rape and sexually abuse weren't already screwed up in the head? How can we prove it was the porn that caused that? Simply by showing that rapists have watched porn proves nothing, hence the rule that correlation does not prove causation.

Oh, and thanks for the ad hominem. I'm glad we can discuss this like adults.

[eleni121]

How do we know the people that rape and sexually abuse weren't already screwed up in the head?

If they were "screwed up", the availability of porn simply pushed them into commiting crimes. And crimes they certainly are. These are statutes on the books that need enforcement. They have been created and upheld by the citizens. Obviously they mean something to them. Get over it. AG Ashcroft's hands are tied up enough by ACLU types and those who are more concerned with their selfish pleasures than the well being and safety of a community.

[Longbow1969]

"Lam Nguyen's job is to sit for hours in a chilly, quiet room devoid of any color but gray and look at pornography. This job, which Nguyen does earnestly from 9 to 5, surrounded by a half-dozen other 'computer forensic specialists' like him, has become the focal point of the Justice Department's operation to rid the world of porn."

What a crock. We need a war on porn like we needed the war on drugs and war on poverty.

The fact that Mr. Nguyen and a half dozen Justice Department lawyers are wasting taxpayer time and money sitting around looking at porn tells me, again, how utterly unserious we are about the critical issues facing America today (priority number one being defending our nation against Islamic fanatics wishing to kill us all).

Going after kiddie porn or rape flicks I agree entirely with - those that peddle (and even intentially view) that crap should be prosecuted and put away forever. But wasting time and dollars worrying about run of the mill pornography featuring consenting adults doing whatever the hell they want is just stupid.

The Justice Department should immediately put Mr. Nguyen and his half dozen Justice Department associates on something that resembles a nation priority. The "war on porn" is not one of them.

Longbow

[familyofman]

War on porn, war on drugs, war on crime....yada yada yada...

[Quick1]

These are statutes on the books that need enforcement

Which laws, specifically, would render porn such as Playboy illegal?

[Ken H]

It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that oxygen has nothing to do with rape and sexual abuse but using pornography does. Porn and sexual abuse are inextricably linked no matter what sophistry libertarians and the ACLU propose.

I think we all agree that with cable tv, the internet, and eight years of Clinton that the quantity and availability of porn has skyrocketed.

If porn and rape are inextricably linked, then you would expect rape to have increased dramatically since the early 1990's.

Here are the figures with a link:

Since 1993, rapes have declined by 60%; attempted rapes by 71.4%; and sexual assaults by 37.5%, according to NCVS figures.

Dept of Justice Study Shows Rape Down

[Sweet Land]

If porn is coming into my neighbor's house that impacts directly on me and my children.

Please elucidate the nature of this "direct" impact.

The largest viewer category for hardcore porn is teenage boys between the ages of 12-17. [etc.]

You allow your teenage boys unlimited and unsupervised access to your neighbors' homes? If so, that's bad parenting, for which your neighbors and others should not be punished.

[biblewonk]

If you think it is oral sex, yes.

[Hemingway's Ghost]

Well done!

[biblewonk]

I stated earlier on one of these 2 porn threads "Hard core porn". That would be penetration and close-up detailed naughty-bit shots.

[antiRepublicrat]

Put a few porn people in jail, swiftly publically hang a drug pusher, line up a row of child molester and shoot them dead, that will be a deterrent.

Your ideal is sounding more like Saudi Arabia and Taliban Afghanistan with every post.

[biblewonk]

It would cost nothing at all to make a big improvement and I am not suggesting that all porn would go away. I'm not even suggesting people get rid of their stash. Just no more new porn and no more public porn. The only cost would be a few jail cells for the many that would snub the law.

[antiRepublicrat]

Please elucidate the nature of this "direct" impact.

Peepeing tom? Too cheap to pay for his own porn channel so he looks in on his neighbor?

[Sweet Land]

Porn and sexual abuse are inextricably linked [...] porn is violence against those it exploits.

Have any proof for these claims?

[antiRepublicrat]

These might actually mean something to someone who hasn't taken a basic statistics class

Or a logic class. It could involve any of the following fallacies: post hoc, joint effect, insignificant and/or complex cause. Personally, I think post hoc (what you described) and joint effect are the most likely.

[Sweet Land]

Peepeing tom? Too cheap to pay for his own porn channel so he looks in on his neighbor?

LOL! I do agree that his neighbor has a governmentally enforceable obligation to lower his blinds when watching porn.