The American Taliban, part unknown
The Washington Post ran an article today about the FBI's diversion of agents from cases to join an obscenity squad, which is tackling legal pornography now, not just child porn.
While child porn is absolutely wrong, and should be prosecuted, the Supreme Court has recognized the right of legal adult porn to exist and be distributed. Porn is a family issue, a church issue, but not a government issue, not when it comes to a legal business.
Outside of child pornography, the Supreme Court has struck down virtually every attempt to regulate the Internet or the adult pornography business. This is a waste of our time. Osama bin Laden and buddies are on the loose, and Speedy has gone off and pushed John "Cover that boob!" Ashcroft's plan of taking FBI agents and trying to arrest people doing legal things. Perhaps we should follow this up by arresting bloggers for bashing Bush. I mean, hell, obviously there's not enough illegal things for the FBI to be pursuing, so let's just ignore the law and arrest anyone we don't like.
And let's keep in mind that FBI agents themselves think this is stupid. Read the article. Once again, they know better than their political superiors what the real threats are. September 10, 2001. Ashcroft refuses to fund the antiterror programs the FBI have requested be implemented. We all know what happened the next morning. Can we keep that in mind before we go off ignoring the law of the land because some stick-in-the-ass feels like preaching?
While child porn is absolutely wrong, and should be prosecuted, the Supreme Court has recognized the right of legal adult porn to exist and be distributed. Porn is a family issue, a church issue, but not a government issue, not when it comes to a legal business.
Outside of child pornography, the Supreme Court has struck down virtually every attempt to regulate the Internet or the adult pornography business. This is a waste of our time. Osama bin Laden and buddies are on the loose, and Speedy has gone off and pushed John "Cover that boob!" Ashcroft's plan of taking FBI agents and trying to arrest people doing legal things. Perhaps we should follow this up by arresting bloggers for bashing Bush. I mean, hell, obviously there's not enough illegal things for the FBI to be pursuing, so let's just ignore the law and arrest anyone we don't like.
And let's keep in mind that FBI agents themselves think this is stupid. Read the article. Once again, they know better than their political superiors what the real threats are. September 10, 2001. Ashcroft refuses to fund the antiterror programs the FBI have requested be implemented. We all know what happened the next morning. Can we keep that in mind before we go off ignoring the law of the land because some stick-in-the-ass feels like preaching?
posted by Thad at 9:43 AM
1 Comments:
So long as what I do doesn't harm you personally, I have a right to do it?
Thats a terrible view and a view rejected by law enforcement policies all over the country. Were we to truly recognize such a philosophy, we would have to legalize prostitution, drugs and suicide -- as well as the murder of homeless drifters with no family or friends. After all, if someone kills a homeless drifter, how does that affect anyone else? Consent should make no difference here -- that's an imposition of your values. Just because a murderer offends your moral sensibilities doesn't give you an excuse to impose your subjective values on a society.
Such logic means destroying human communities. It is uncivilized, in the purest sense of the word. It makes us each selfish actors. The effects of our actions on others are irrelevant. No, you can't punch me in the nose, but if you choose to perpetrate genocide, and if none of my friends or family members is thrown into a mass grave, what business of mine is it? When everyone is an island, no one is safe. Actions cease to have consequences.
If we are to maintain communities, someone's standards must govern. Those standards can either make it easier or more difficult for the traditionally moral to live their lives (lest we forget, amorality is still a moral standard) The idea that no one's standards have to govern -- that everyone can do what he likes, when he likes -- inherently means tolerance for evil. Tolerance for evil means nourishment of evil. Nourishment of evil means growth of evil. Growth of evil is a direct affront to traditional morality.
There is no such thing as victimless crime, and pornography is no exception. There are VERY strict regulations on pornography in this country, and the proliferation of acceptance of such disgusting material is evident. We rail about how our kids dress, how our kids behave, that our kids are having sex in the fifth grade. Where do you think that mentality comes from? The idea that the kind of perverted behavior peddled by the adult film industry is not only acceptable but encouraged and empowering. Is it acceptable that girls walk around with Playboy tee shirts, pose for girls gone wild videos and perform oral sex on their 14 year old boyfriends? No. Its not. And to attempt to rescue society from the trash heap, we have to start somewhere.
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