Posted on 05/19/2005 11:05:47 AM PDT by .cnI redruM
On February 2, 2003, when seven-year-old Danielle van Dam disappeared from her family home in the middle of the night, every mother’s nightmare was played out on national television for almost a month while authorities searched for the girl. When Danielle’s body was found at the end of that month, the police and prosecutors discovered a frightening story about a neighbor of Danielle’s who had computer files filled with child pornography and even a sickening cartoon video of the rape of a young girl.
According to a report by Robert Peters, president of Morality in Media, on the link between pornography and violent sex crimes, the prosecutor in the Danielle van Dam case said “The video represented [the defendant’s] sexual fantasies and inspired the abduction, rape, and murder of Danielle.” According to Raymond Pierce, a retired NYPD detective who worked on the sex-crimes squad for many years and is now a criminal-profiling consultant, about 80 percent of rapists and serial killers are heavy pornography users. I was a victim of an attempted rape by a disturbed man who turned out to be involved in pornography.
May is Victims of Pornography Month. Today Senator Sam Brownback (R., Kan.), Rep. Katherine Harris (R., Fla.), Rep. Joe Pitts (R., Pa.), and leaders from the values community will participate in a summit to explore the troubling connection between pornography and violence against women and children.
Florida attorney general Charlie Crist advises parents that “we must never lose sight of the fact that sexual predators make the online world a dangerous place for innocent children. Parents must be ever-vigilant to make sure their children are not exposed to images and messages that would have been unthinkable just a generation ago.” Crist warns that we cannot allow the Internet to be a “pipeline for pornography aimed at children.” But while parents can use available means to protect their children when they are in their own homes, there is a cultural climate surrounding our children that threatens them the way Danielle van Dam was threatened. Because of the availability of pornography online, there is no way of knowing what lurks in the hearts of our neighborhoods.
More needs to be done to evaluate the connection between violent predatory behavior and pornography, and to crack down on these violent predators. Police and law-enforcement officers across the country report brutal instances in which those addicted to pornography utilized its sadistic images on their female and child victims.
Just this past February, the New York Times reported a story about a teenage babysitter who had raped three young children he was watching in their homes. According to the Times, his pattern was to watch pornographic videos with the oldest of the children, a 12-year-old boy, and intimidate them all by torturing them with a knife and threats to their family members. Perhaps one of the most notorious serial killers, Ted Bundy, participated in an interview with Dr. James Dobson shortly before he was executed. In the interview, Bundy explained, “I’ve lived in prison for a long time now. And I’ve met a lot of men who were motivated to commit violence like me. And without exception, every one of them was deeply involved in pornography — without exception, without exception — deeply influenced and consumed by an addiction to pornography.”
Since 1956, the Supreme Court has made clear that the First Amendment does not protect obscene materials. If we know from the perpetrators themselves how obscenity contributes to violence against women and children, what can we do?
We need to fund more studies of the addiction to pornography and its effects on violent behavior. Parents can install filters on any computer used by children and keep the family computer in a central location, not in a child's bedroom or someplace where parents might not regularly see it. We need to demand tougher law enforcement on the state and federal level. The Bush administration is stepping up federal enforcement of obscenity laws. This is a good first step. Contact the U.S. attorney for your district and ask what they are doing to enforce the laws. We need tougher state penalties against both possession and distribution of child porn and passing any kind of pornographic material to kids. Experts indicate that pornography is often used by pedophiles to break down the resistance of child victims. Parents should check out their state’s penalties for child rape and make sure offenders are going to jail and staying there for these offenses. Florida, for example, just passed a tough new law after the tragedy involving Jessica Lunsford, whose killer was a recently released violent offender. We should pass legislation to address the threat to children on the Internet. This includes chat sites, websites, spam, and peer-to-peer networks. Peer-to-Peer networks are of particular concern because they are widely visited by kids and offer porn for free without any age verification.
As Rep. Katherine Harris has pointed out, "Pornography displays human beings as objects, obliterating the wall between an individual's sick fantasies and the compulsion to act upon them. Often, the monsters who hurt women and children start with this malignant desensitizer." We need to all work together to find better ways to protect women and children against this violence.
"So if life imitates art, and a piece of suppossed art models a destructive form of behavior that we would never want to see indulged, should that piece of art be banned?"
Well, my opinion isn't as deep or erudite as others, but I think predators are predators, porn users or not.
Sick people will do whateverthehelltheywant anyway, so banning porn isn't going to stop them from being deviants in any way, shape, or form and harming children, women or other same-sex pervs.
Jeffrey Dahmer (my own Home Grown Freak) ate parts of people. He kept human heads in his freezer and fridge. Did they find copies of "Gourmet Magazine" in his apartment? Did they find a "Frozen Assets" (once-a-month cooking) Cookbook? ;)
I guess the Declaration of Independence is just a legal document then.
Not true. I worked on a newspaper covering crime and courts and had lengthy discussions with sex-crime detectives, juvenile detectives, prosecutors, etc.
Our current approach to discussing sex (bad touch, inappropriate behavior) is based on the situations that fell through the cracks in the past.
Plus, I was a kid in the 1960s and saw and heard about plenty of things that were sex assault that were never reported. There was very little porn available, just children's sexual urges.
Not so.
Research shows that most men who drink one beer a week do not become addicted.
Most men who start out whackin' to porn once a week, do.
All of our laws are based on the Decalogue.
I'm not Catholic, only educated by the Jesuits--but they have been in trouble with the Pope since at least the 1960s, and maybe earlier than that. But that's really beside the point.
Just because lots of people choose to ignore one of Jesus's teaching doesn't mean it isn't there. I quote Matthew 8:19-20:
And a certain scribe came, and said unto him, Master, I will follow thee whithersoever thou goest.
And Jesus saith unto him, The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head.
Jesus says that following him isn't easy. It takes moral fortitute and sacrifice. Again, the morality of the death penalty aside, taking pleasure from the suffering of others is decidedly un-Christian.
My only point is that people who claim to take a moral Christian high ground really don't have much ground to stand on--especially when you consider Matthew 7:1--"judge not that you be not judged."
Bzzzt !
Those words were penned by a DEIST, Thomas Jefferson. Deists have a vastly different conception of the Creator than what you're suggesting.
When the words of the Declaration were being debated, it was suggested that the words "Our Lord, Jesus Christ" be inserted after the word "Creator".
The Founders voted it down !
So much for their desire to establish a Christian theocracy. Else why don't we find the Ten Commandments in the Constitution ?
So, were you a conscientious objector?
Gunny wrote:
"That kind of response just proves that you are loosing the argument. Pornography is dark and is consumed in secret dark places. It is shameful and if it werent, it would be done in the light of day in plain sight."
Does this apply to all sex, as a general rule? Is sex dirty?
It is rarely done in the light of day, in plain sight. Even when done by good, god-fearing, Christian folk like you (presuming you can actually find another human being that will have sex with you).
Really?
Then what did you say in #286 above?
Art, like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder.
I am not a promoter of porno, but millions of couples, men, women view the stuff in on degree or another.
No I don't think it should be banned.
The deviant murderers are playing out their fantasies and committing horrible crimes, can't blam the video.
However ther are some lines that should never be crosses and using Children in an adult illicit way is criminal also snuff films.
Wether one watches soft or hard porn with consenting adults is a personal choice and if a wife does not want it in the house the husband needs to consider that and vice versa.
Being homosexual and watching same sex porn is also a personal choice and I do not support it but if my neighbors choose to watch it in the privacy of their home legally so be it.
When my son turned 21 he wanted to go to a Gentlemens Club. I was very open to other Catholic and Christians that if my son was not a quadroplegic dependant on total care he may choose to go and it would be his personal choice, so he did go.
In confidence I had a yound man of the same age, who's parents are very known in the Church and very conservative who balked at me for allowing my son to make his own decisions as an adult, come to me and say good for you don't tell Mom and Dad but I have gone too out of curiosity.
Been there and done that.
King Vanity and I have a mutaul agreement as he is dependent on me for his total care.
When he turned 21 he was allowed to make all his own choices as long as
1. It would not adversely effect his physical health.
2. It is not an illegal activity.
I don't like soft porn or strip clubs and as I would not promote drinking outside of moderation ect.
But who am I to make my sons decisions because he is a quadroplegic he has a mind and a moral upbringing and personal choice.
He is an active Catholic but if he chooses to sin and watch the stupid adult movies in the privacy of his room that would be his choice.
However he has to show mutual respect for me and my veiws.
He is going to be 26 Monday and our agreement has worked par excellant.
Now he plays the State Keno when we go out shopping and his goal is to win $25,000.00 so he can ship prostitutes in from the Bunny Ranch. It is a FANTASY as it would breech our agreement on both counts. Yet I am not going to pun on my mothers hat and remind him of rule 1 and 2 cause he knows it ain't ever going to happen and I am not his mind/thought monitor. That is between him, the priest and God
See #200 above.
It did in fact set the tone for the founding of our country.
I glad to see you admit it.
Here's another one where the Founding Fathers were looking to God for guidance in governmental matters:
"Whereas it is the duty of all Nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey his will, to be grateful for his benefits, and humbly to implore his protection and favor, and Whereas both Houses of Congress have by their Joint Committee requested me “to recommend to the People of the United States a day of public thanks-giving and prayer to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many signal favors of Almighty God, especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness.”
Thanksgiving Proclamation City of New York October 3, 1789 by: George Washington
AFAIK, no automobile manufacturer has ever been held liable because one of their customers committed a crime with an automobile.
Products liability is a totally different matter, however.
You are the one being naive. Children have been exposed to sexual acts since the dawn of humanity. Check out the Roman emperor Tiberius - he would bathe with young naked boys swimming around.
Also remember that until recently, girls were married at 13 and 14 years old. Today that would be called statutory rape. In fact, if we did roll things back to the way things were in 1957, it would be more likely that 15 year old girls would be married off to 30 year old men.
No one said that porn causes violence so you are creating a strawman. BTW alcohol doesn't cause car wrecks. It is a factor in accidents.
Sorry, you're stating the conclusion as a premise.
I really don't care whether homicidal predators or pedophiles use porn or drink alcohol or milk.
Homicidal predators need to be executed. Pedophiles need to be imprisoned. Repeat pedophiles need to be imprisoned for life.
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.