home
***
CD-ROM
|
disk
|
FTP
|
other
***
search
/
CD ROM Paradise Collection 4
/
CD ROM Paradise Collection 4 1995 Nov.iso
/
edu
/
essy53.zip
/
42.DOC
< prev
next >
Wrap
Text File
|
1994-12-21
|
7KB
|
119 lines
ESSAY 42
THE "PORNOGRAPHY IS HARMLESS" MYTH
Ted Bundy, who sexually abused and murdered 24 young
women and children, was addicted to pornography. Shortly
before he was executed, he had an interview with Psychologist
James Dobson. In his interview he made a plea to halt porno-
graphy. Knowing that he would be dead within a few hours,
his testimony was credible. Bundy was quite articulate:
I tell you that I am not blaming pornography.
I am not saying it caused me to go out and do cer-
tain things. And I take full responsibility for
whatever I have done. That's not the question here.
The question and the issue is how this kind of
literature contributed and helped mold and shape
the kinds of violent behavior. . . .
Once you become addicted to pornography, and I
look at this as a kind of addiction like other
kinds of addiction, I would keep looking for more
potent, more explicit, more graphic kinds of
material. . . .
I have lived in prison for a long time now and
I've met a lot of men who were motivated to vio-
lence just like me. And without exception, every
one of them was deeply involved in pornography,
without question, without exception, deeply in-
fluenced and consumed by an addiction. The FBI's
own study on serial homicide shows that the most
common interest among serial killers is porno-
graphy. . . .
There are loose in the towns and in their
communities, people like me, whose dangerous im-
pulses are being fueled day in, day out, by vio-
lence in the media--particularly sexual violence.
. . .and it's coming to the present now because
what I am talking about happened 20, 30 years ago
in my formative state. And what scares me, Dr.
Dobson, when I see some of the movies that come
into homes today, the stuff that they wouldn't
show in X-rated theaters 30 years ago. (Donald E.
Wildmon, Ed., AFA JOURNAL. Tupelo, MS: American
Family Association, March 1989, p. 1).
In the truthful words of a dying man, Ted Bundy relates how
pornography helped form him into a pedophile, rapist, and
serial killer.
The scientific work of Dr. Victor Cline shows that Ted
Bundy is not an exception, but an illustration of a common
pattern of progression with many pornography users. His
research revealed the following steps in degeneracy:
ADDICTION to hard core pornography, ESCALATION in
the need for more shocking material, DESENSITIZA-
TION toward initially shocking material and IN-
CREASED TENDENCY to "act out" sexual activities
seen in pornography. ("It's Obscene," pamphlet by
Coalition Against Pornography. Kansas City; 318
East 55th Street, Kansas City, MO 64113).
"It's Obscene" also gives the following statistics:
1. PORNOGRAPHY IS AN 8 BILLION DOLLAR INDUSTRY 85
PERCENT CONTROLLED BY ORGANIZED CRIME.
2. THERE ARE MORE "ADULT" BOOKSTORES THAN McDONALDS.
3. OVER 250 OF THE 450 DIFFERENT PORNOGRAPHIC MAGA-
ZINES ARE CHILD PORNOGRAPHY. Most readers of porno-
graphy are between the ages of 12-17. Pedophiles
break down the resistance of children by showing
them the magazines.
4. HARD CORE PORNOGRAPHY INCITES VIOLENT SEXUAL
ASSULT AND CHILD MOLESTATION.
Organized crime hires slick lawyers who rationalize away the
destructiveness of their product in the court room. Some who
are hooked on pornography and pornography publishers join
their notorious organized crime conspirators in attempting to
defend this national pestilence. Their interest in the con-
test is obvious.
The Supreme Court has ruled that pornography is not pro-
tected by the first amendment. However, the attempt to de-
fine pornography by geographical relativism thwarts the de-
cision.
The First Lady, Hillary Rodham Clinton, issued the
following strong statement about pornography. First a per-
tinent question by Dotson Rader, then her answer:
In homes with cable TV, very young children
can turn on channels showing R-rated and even X-
rated films containing extremely graphic sex and
violence--films that it is illegal for them to pay
to see in a theater. How can you defend the cul-
ture of a country that allows a child access to
hard-core pornography and extreme violence?
I CAN'T defend it! It's wrong, and I wish it
would go away, because I think it's so destructive
to children and adults to have that kind of materi-
al shown. I don't think there's anything wrong with
parents' groups or other groups calling for people
to boycott certain kinds of entertainment. That's
advocacy, education and choice. (Dotson Rader,
"Hillary Rodham Clinton: When It Comes to Family
Values. . .I Worry About Television," PARADE, April
11, 1993, p. 10).
This writer has participated in national boycotts against
companies that support violence and pornography on tele-
vision. If enough of us heed the First Lady, television
programming will change!
END