GREGG MADSEN is a
senior news-editorial
major and * a Daily
Nebraskan columnist
It’s as easy as buying a maga
zine, watching a movie or pointing
and clicking on the Internet. And
it's as dangerous as strychnine.
Pornography is one of die
largest industries in the United
States - revenues from pornograph
ic videos and magazines have
grown from $1 billion in 1970 to
$10 billion today, and show few
signs of letting up.
The immorality of pornographic
material is unquestionable, yet it
still exists in convenience stores,
television stations, movie theaters,
and Web sites. It’s been swept under
the rug by many as something that's
sick, but tolerable. The consensus
seems to be that what people do in
the privacy of their own homes is
their business.
Sadly, the consequences of
pornography are ofren overlooked.
Countless rapes, incestuous acts
and other sex crimes have a direct
link to pornography.
It is time to seriously address
and correct the problem. Monday is
the first day of Pornography
Awareness Week, so let’s become
aware.
■ In a study of 43 pedophiles,
the Los Angeles Police Department
found adult or child pornography
(magazines photos, or videos)
involved in 100 percent of the cases
investigated.
Price of pornography
Usage should depend on statistics
■ According to computer bul
letin board operators, 98.9 percent
of the consumers of online pornog
raphy are men.
■ Eighty-five percent of rev
enue from pornographic magazines
and videos goes into the pockets of
organized crime.
■ There are more outlets for
hard-core pornography in this coun
try (an estimated 15,000-20,000)
than McDonald’s restaurants (about
9,000).
■ An estimated 70 percent of all
pornography ends up in the hands
of children.
■ States with the highest read
ership of “men’s magazines” have
the highest incidence of reported
rape.
■ The newest generation of
pornography allows personal com
puter users to control sexual situa
tions on their computer screens,
disrobe images of women and use
simulated sex toys on them.
■ In addition to 800 numbers,
many pom lines give customers the
option of dialing an international
phone number. Most of the lines are
to small countries like the Republic
of Sao Tome, an island off the
African coast. Some of these coun
tries have about 2,000 phones, half
of them being answered for interna
tional pom calls.
■ Peep-show booths, which
sometimes have holes built in their
walls to allow men to perform
anonymous sexual acts with one
another, play a significant role in
the spread of sexually transmitted
diseases. >
■ Playboy’s electronic head
quarters received 4.7 million hits
(electronic visits) in a recent seven
day period.
Had enough? That’s not all.
■ Mass murderer Ted Bundy
admitted that he copied and was
stimulated by pornography in his
Florida killing spree.
■ In recent studies, Los
Angeles compared its statistics on
crime in areas of sexually oriented
businesses with those of a survey in
1969. Businesses saw an increase in
pandering by 340 percent, murder
42.3 percent, aggravated assault
45.2 percent, robbery 52.6 percent
and purse-snatching 17 percent.
■ A recent study by FBI
researchers of 36 serial killers
revealed that 29 were attracted to
pornography and incorporated it
into their sexual activity, which
included serial rape and murder.
■ 86 percent of all rapists
admit to regular use of pornogra
phy, with 75 percent admitting actu
al imitation of pornographic scenes
in commission of sex crimes.
Free speech?
At what price?
Is it worth preserving this bil
lion-dollar industry to ensure the
continued exploitation of and vio
lence against our nation’s women?
Wake up to reality, it’s not worth
it.
Pornography isn’t even an issue
of free speech. Is an issue of taking
advantage of a principle designed to
protect the free expression of ideas.
Is it OK to freely express utterly
disgusting material that is linked so
clearly to such heinous crimes?
I am quite confident the framers
of the Constitution did not have
Hustler, Playboy and the Spice
Network in mind as they wrote the
Bill of Rights.
Pornography is not free litera
ture or speech. It is not entertain
ment. It is not trivial. It is not
healthy.
It is trash.
It is poison to the mind, body
and soul. It is demeaning to men
and women alike, and it is a killer.
If the immorality of pornogra
phy doesn’t change your mind, then
maybe the facts will.
a
I am quite confident the framers of the
Constitution did not have Hustler, Playboy
and the Spice Network in mind as they
wrote the Bill of Rights.”
Motor
control
Civility should
he meaningful
MATTHEW WAITE is a
senior news-editorial
major, Daily Nebraskan
senior news reporter and
opinion editor.
Oh, mother, I hate to tell you this.
It pains my heart I thought that col
lege was supposed to educate people.
Round them out Make them thinkers.
But oh, here in the last months of
my collegiate education, I can’t help
* but feel saddened. It seems that civility
and the ability to think before your
mouth opens has gone away. I realize
all the world is not like college, but I
thought this place was supposed to be
better.
It isn’t
Someone - and you better be
thankful for this - whose name and
phone number I know but won’t pub
lish for all the world, decided to take it
upon his drunk self to call one of my
columnists and open his mouth long
before he thought And he did it with a
group of laughing folks in his resi
dence hall room.
And it isn’t even over anything like
race, or gender, or something impor
tant and fiery.
It’s about the Dukes of Hazzan^
forcryingout lotah***~*&»* X, \
: But I bejieijsfehig-wowfa alwuS^tj
appear in piiht, so the good folks
East Campus can defend themselves
against such wonderful thinkers like
this joker.
This was transcribed from Todd
Munson’s answering machine Tuesday
morning.
“Hey Todd, you dumb f****r.
There are those of us out there that live
in Burr Hall who I guaran-ft*****g
tee that when the Dukes are on, every
f*****g room is watching die f»****g
Dukes. So let’s see. No. 1, there’s not
incest No. 2, they don’t run ‘shine
anymore. OK? Now let’s get your
f****g facts straight, understand? All
right? You pissed a good share of us
off. I hope to P****g god that you
don’t have any f*****g classes on
East Campus, because I guaran
f*****g_tee most everybody out here,
including the professors, watches the
Dukes. All right, I’ll catch you later.
Thanks buddy. See you.”
Wow.
in one answering macmne mes
sage, this gentleman managed to
harken each and every negative stereo
type any student has ever held about
East Campus.
Does this bother anyone else?
Have we, as the human race, gone
from thoughtful, meaningful public
debate about the day Ts issues to veiled
threats and obscene tirades on peopled
answering machines?
Where did we go wrong?
Is civility dead? Is discussion a
thing of the past? Can we criticize any
thing without using a word that ends in
-uck and doesn’t start with s- or f-?
And aren’t there more pertinent
things to talk about? After the chalking
bombardment of letters to the editor;
they slowed to a trickle. And in that
time, we discussed serious issues such
as free speech and morality. We even
ran a story about open strip night at a
local chib with a fleshy photo and no
one batted an eye.
But mess with the Dukes and look
out
Have we replaced intellect with
television?
Shame on you.
Nursing home insurance
Parents don’t always have answers
KAY PRAUNER is a
senior news-editorial
major, Daily Nebraskan
copy desk co-chief and
columnist.
As I find myself getting older, I
often feel like die last child out of
bed for the Easter-egg hunt, who
shrieks in horror when she finds
nothing colorful nor sweet.
Especially along the lines of
positive reinforcement about the
future.
I guess it’s time I learned to
stop looking inside my shoes and
under the couch. I'll find nothing
but dust-bunnies there. I think
even someone as oblivious to reali
ty as Tony Robbins knows better.
In fact, so does my 4-year-old
cousin, but she also knows more
about long division than I do.
ao wnere to turn/
I usually search for the one per
son who beats an offensive line
man-size chocolate bunny by leaps
and bounds - the sage of all my
situational trauma.
I call Mom.
But the other day when I called
her, no more than five minutes into
our conversation, this wise woman
threw me for a loop:
“Dad and I bought nursing
home insurance yesterday.
“How depressing is that?”
Whoa.
Nursing home insurance?
I didn’t even know such cover
age existed. I couldn’t say any
thing in return.
For all the times I’ve heard that
turnabout is fair play, I guess I’d
have to call her statement good,
considering I’ve put her and Dad
through nothing short of Dante’s
ninth and final circle of hell.
But why, why, why must I hear
this? I’m the one who should be
planning for the future, not my
parents! And why, why, why must
my dear, sweet guru of life’s
lessons let me down by revealing
that she’s gearing up for the geri
atric grand finale?
Now I have no idea what it is
about parents' getting older. Some
simply fear it, some laugh at it,
some grow bitter about it, and
some start regressing into children.
My parents have done all of die
above.
For example, they first fell into
a revived puppy-love phase. Once
again they began acting like besot
ted, 16-year-old sweethearts. And
that was fine, if not fantastic. I
could only hope for that much
someday.
Then they hit me with the
“tacky factor.”(If any of you has
older parents, you know what I’m
saying. And grandparents may pre
sent an even greater example of
this phenomenon.) This is when
assorted ceramics and the Crock
Pot take decorative center stage,
when striped carpet samples fall
into the Ford as floor mats, when
the outmoded Zenith consistently
broadcasts aural artillery that
makes it seem as though they’re
watching their programs on loca
tion.
Then came the morbid talks /
about The Will - the filing cabi- f
net, the brown zip-up binder, the '
“arrangements.”
But even after all the heinous
home-decoration and perfunctory
pre-death preparation, which I
casually pushed to the back of my
mind.
At the mere thought of Nursing
Home Insurance, of my parents in
a nursing home - of nursing
homes, period -1 shudder to think.
Now I know it’s me who is
most afraid, not them. It’s me who
cannot accept my parents’ growing
older.
Because now I find myself
embarking on the journey I’ve
always feared: the transmigration
between child and adult, adult and
child.
I know that in a few years -
possibly less than a decade -1
have to watch my parents become
children, I have to tend to them as
children, I have to be an adult, a
parent.
I’m not ready for that.
These people are my touch
stones. These people are the only
family I have. These people are the
only parents I have.
And they will always be my
parents.
But they won’t always
be around.
Not a color
ful
thought. Nor sweet.
But true, nonetheless, quirks
and insurance policies notwith
standing.
I guess this is just another thing
they’ll teach me. Just as I now
know, through their experiences,
that Mom and Dad aren’t always
invincible, they don’t have all the
answers, they can’t live forever.
They saw their parents through
the last years of their lives. They
quickly became the adults, the par
ents.
Now it’s my turn.
Soon I’ll find exactly what they
have found.
And knowing who they are
now, I guess that should make the
^^hunt worthwhile.
^^Matt Haney/DN