Posted on 11/19/2004 3:07:51 PM PST by Lindykim
Porn Like Heroin in the Brain by Stuart Shepard, correspondent
Senate committee discusses pornography and the First Amendment.
Experts on pornography's effects on brain chemistry testified at a Senate hearing this week where a key point of discussion was whether porn is a form of speech protected by the First Amendment or addictive material that should be unlawful.
Psychiatrist Jeffrey Satinover described how pornography is analogous to cigarettes, noting that "it is a very carefully designed delivery system for evoking a tremendous flood within the brain of endogenous opioids." It's time, he added, to stop regarding it as simply a form of expression. "Modern science," Satinover said, "allows us to understand that the underlying nature of an addiction to pornography is chemically nearly identical to a heroin addiction."
Dr. Mary Anne Layden with the Center for Cognitive Therapy at the University of Pennsylvania explained how a pornographic image is burned into the brain's pathways.
"That image is in your brain forever," she explained. "If that was an addictive substance, you, at any point for the rest of your life, could in a nanosecond draw it up."
Dr. Judith Reisman, president of the Institute for Media Education, called on the Senate to take action against pornography, saying it's time to mandate that law enforcement begin to collect all data and pornographic materials found in the possession of anyone involved in criminal activity. Doing so, she added, would yield data showing whether pornography is being used as a how-to manual for sex crimes.
"The evidence the panelists presented showed an overwhelming harm from pornography," said Daniel Weiss, media and sexuality analyst with Focus on the Family. He hopes the Senate will turn the evidence into action.
TAKE ACTION/FOR MORE INFORMATION If you think Congress should be taking serious action against pornography, you can start by thanking Sen. Sam Brownback for calling the hearing, then contact your representatives in Congress and let them know what you think. For help in contacting your elected representatives, please see our CitizenLink Action Center.
Also, to learn more about one person's struggles with pornography, we suggest the resource "An Affair of the Mind: One Woman's Courageous Battle to Salvage Her Family From the Devastation of Pornography." Author Laurie Hall shares her courageous struggle to protect herself and two children from her husband's addiction to pornography.
Certain types of acts are restricted. A death threat or yelling "fire" in a crowded theatre are really actions, rather than speech. Beating somebody up also involves a message on the part of the beater, but we don't consider that speech, either.
That is why the porn issue is so important in this first amendment issue. It has become the trojan horse in the assault against the moral and religious sensibilities of millions of people.
Tens of millions of Americans consume porn. So, it would seem that a significant percentage of your countrymen either agree with the message contained in porn or at least are not offended by it.
No argument from me. Pack our courts with good judges who don't tremble in fear at the wheezing of the ABA and the ACLU and I'll be all for banning porn and castrating pornographers.
The libs didn't change America overnight and we're not going to get it back overnight.
Set your vision on what America should be and then work methodically, logically, and strategically to accomplishing our goals without exposing our flanks to the enemy.
I'll support banning porn with the death penalty if decent people will enforce it.
Who do you plan to execute: Performers, producers and/or purchasers?
I am not arguing with you, I am simply asking questions. Logic itself is the harrying eagle that can keep arguers honest but logic has no where in and of itself to build its nest!
To deny morality or a notion of "what is good" as a motive force behind our constituion is to accept another notion of "what is good"!
I have often wondered if it is not time to have a third constitutional convention so that the current conflicts in our society can get a proper airing out. The electorate is clearly polarized between notions of 18th century morality as perceived as enshrined in our constitution as opposed to those who feel that our constitution should be stripped of such notions and interpretations to allow a more flexible approach to the vaguaries of the 21st century.
Then there are the islamist barbarians knocking at our door who feel they are stronger in that they see us as in moral confusion. They know that if moral clarity is restored to our nation, that they have no chance in ultimately defeating us. It would be ironic if we discovered that in order to defeat the rising Islamic hordes, we would have to become a little more like them...at least in terms of moral clarity!
Just a comment not meant to be taken literally.
But since you asked, I'm always in favor of punishing the demand side of any equation.
Punish drug users, child porn purchasers, illegal alien employers, etc. and the supply will perish with falling demand.
Execute a few child porn buyers and the demand will disappear precipitously.
I find this picture disturbing. What are we witnessing here!
This dog looks to be a few feet off the ground and is shimmying up a bamboo stalk. That's just not right - dogs can't do that.
What, are its little paws glued to the stalk?
And check out the dog's eyes - looks like it has been hanging out with Bob Marley.
I want no part of getting little puppies stoned and gluing them to a bamboo stalk. I have to draw the line somewhere!
I worry more that we are on a collision course in the same way the North and south were in the 1850's.
And we all know what settled those arguements....
To hear today's Lib's actually speak of secession...!?
The Democrats of the south tried that too in the 1860's...
then again we know what settled that arguement.
Just shows that Democrats never change...even in a 140 odd years!
I haven't thought of that movie in a long time! Deborah Harry was in that movie!
The scene where they stick the video tape into his stomach is "burned" into my memory.
Millions of people supported the Nazi's and burned jewish and Christian books with the worst of them...many justified this as being "right or good" and in keeping with the needs of the public order.
Describing millions of folks as under-taking a noxious activity(such as porn or Jewish pogroms) is simply describing reality...that millions of folks do it doesn't justify it as "right or good"!
I thought we were talking about adult porn.
Sure. But those actions were clearly wrong since they violated the rights of the victims. The difference is, porn harms no rights.
Ahhh... Blondie... the breathing TV... "Come to Nikki."
But porn has been shown to harm the public at large, reducing its performers to little more than sex objects who are often abused and hooked on drugs. It has lead to families being broken up and to the sexual abuse of children. The national discourse has become coursened, it's fine musical traditions cheapened by so called artists who push moral toleration to the bleeding edge. The evidence of the corrosive effect of porn on our nation is all around us. Even the hypocritical Islamic extremists see these corrosive effects as oppurtunities to recruit the disaffected and to plot to bring our nation down.
Porn harms all rights by chipping away at the morality and religion that suports those rights(as Washington argued!)
But porn has been shown to harm the public at large, reducing its performers to little more than sex objects who are often abused and hooked on drugs. It has lead to families being broken up and to the sexual abuse of children. The national discourse has become coursened, it's fine musical traditions cheapened by so called artists who push moral toleration to the bleeding edge. The evidence of the corrosive effect of porn on our nation is all around us. Even the hypocritical Islamic extremists see these corrosive effects as oppurtunities to recruit the disaffected and to plot to bring our nation down.
Porn harms all rights by chipping away at the morality and religion that suports those rights(as Washington argued!)
In the very small rural town I live 4 miles from (a town of 1200) a porn shop opened on the main street, right next to a family restaraunt. There was a lot of protest, many citizens didn't want it there. But there is no way, currently, for citizens to have a say about whether porn shops can be located in their neighborhood or not. Every day high school and grade school kids walk by the porn shop. That is not a good thing, it is a bad thing.
Here's the crux of the issue - people like me who understand the necessity of moral absolutes will never surrender to people like you who think your own mind and desires should be the guide of mankind.
People who think that pornography is either morally neutral or good are living in the dark. It is not morally neutral, it deserves no protection by law, and the only reason it is all-pervasive is because of the leftist ACLU, leftist SCOTUS, and the influence of porn mongers such as Larry Flynt. You like that crowd, you're of their ilk, so be it.
Actually the main reason the Nazis did the book burning was to burn the records of their sexual exploits and perversions housed in the Human Rights organization headed by the main "femme" homosexual rights dude Hirschfield. That's well known.
And as far as porn violating no "rights" - it harms people. There are no "rights" that exist separate from the people who possess them.
Rights means "peoples' rights". Porn itself has no rights.
Porn should be difficult to obtain, not difficult to avoid.
What does the porn shop look like? Are the videos and "marital aids" displayed in the windows or is the front of the shop blacked out? If the latter, how are kids affected in any way? If the former, then you have a point.
Furthermore, where do you get off trying to tell a property owner he cannot sell a legal product or lease retail space to a seller of legal products? What makes you think that you have any right to dictate to a private property owner what legal products he can and cannot sell? If you don't like what is being sold in the store, go ahead and buy the property and refuse to lease it to an adult shop. You sound like those liberals that want to use laws to ban people from building on their own land.
people like me who understand the necessity of moral absolutes will never surrender to people like you who think your own mind and desires should be the guide of mankind
The difference between me and you is that I have no desire to tell you how to live your life. I couldn't care less if you read Hustler or the Bible in your spare time. And I certainly have no desire to use government force to make you change what you do with other consenting adults in the privacy of your own home. I trust you to run your own life, and ask only the same in return.
It is not morally neutral, it deserves no protection by law, and the only reason it is all-pervasive is because of the leftist ACLU, leftist SCOTUS, and the influence of porn mongers such as Larry Flynt.
Or, maybe, because a large percentage, probably a majority, of Americans either enjoy pornography or aren't bothered if others watch it.
As has been said a million times on these threads, if you don't like pornography, don't watch it. If enough Americans share your sentiments, porn companies will go out of business. Pretty simple, really.
I have no idea whether this is true or not and its kind of irrelevant to this discussion. I'm not the one who brought up Nazis, anyway.
And as far as porn violating no "rights" - it harms people.
So do fatty foods, alcohol and tobacco. So what? We're talking about consent here. If porn is shoved in your face or exhibited in public, then yes, your rights are harmed. If porn is consumed consensually in private, no rights can be harmed.
Rights means "peoples' rights". Porn itself has no rights.
True. But adults have the right to view or read anything in private so long as no unconsenting person is harmed. This includes depictions of adults engaged in sexual conduct.
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