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The Enemy
Among Us
by
Kieth Merrill
The shock of
September 11 is subsiding. Each day adds distance. Distance diminishes
fear. Cautiously our lives are returning to normal. But "normal"
will never be the same again. We have seen the enemy and the enemy
is among us.
The terrorists
who destroyed the World Trade Center had names. Their infamous faces
are now familiar. Our senses have been heightened. Our assumptions
challenged.
There is another
enemy among us. They also have names and faces. Some you'll recognize.
It is an enemy even more dangerous than fanatics who kill with bombs.
Their presence is pervasive. They assault our markets, pollute our
airways and infiltrate our homes. They target men, women and children
without conscience or discretion.
They perpetrate
moral terrorism, disguised in the camouflage of distinguished citizens.
They are protected by the freedoms they pervert. Who is this other
enemy within?
The publishers,
producers, peddlers and purveyors of pornography.
I believe the
tragic events of September were inspired by an unholy alliance with
evil itself. The ancient War in Heaven continues. Pornography is
Satan's ultimate weapon of mass destruction. It is an anthrax that
can kill the soul being dusted into every corner of our lives.
Satan's diabolic
pledge to reign with blood and horror on the earth and possess the
hearts and minds of God's children is not idle folklore. Pornography
is a tolerated evil in American society. It is an evil that is increasingly
pervasive and invasive. In fact, it is totally out of control.
There are several
factors responsible for the explosive growth of pornography in recent
years.
The "H-bomb
of porn" has been the unstoppable - and irreversible -- explosion
of the Internet and computer technology allowing simple, inexpensive
delivery to multiple millions of consumers world wide.
No Surprise
It comes as no surprise that during the Clinton Administration
there was a near-collapse of obscenity enforcement. One of the smut
industry's top peddlers, Dennis Hof, associate of Larry Flynt [Publisher
of Hustler Magazine] characterized the pornographers dream years
under the Clintons.
"We've had eight
years of lack of prosecution of a sex industry. Who's Bill Clinton
going to prosecute with all his stuff going on? So the film industry
has gone from 1,000 films eight years ago to 10,000 last year. Ten
thousand pornographic movie! You've got Larry Flynt and Bob Guccione
[Penthouse publisher] doing things that 10 years ago you'd go to
prison for. Then you've got all the internet stuff. ( Hof goes on
to describe the almost unbelievable depravity on the internet .
His shocking descriptions are not appropriate for this space.) "
[Jenkins, Holman W. Jr, Pornography, Main Street to Wall Street.
Policy Review, February & March 2001, pg 7]
A More Disturbing
Reality
There is a more disturbing reality. Ten years ago Wall Street
and main stream American business would have nothing to do with
the business of pornography. Today some of our major corporations
are making huge profits from pornography.
"While Wall
Street may not brag about it, reputable brokerages have been glad
to help porn-related companies win public listings on US stock exchanges.
Visa and Mastercard play a large role in the industry by processing
its payments [American Express recently stopped processing charges
for "adult sites"] They don't advertise the connection, but respectable
companies like AT&T, Time-Warner, and the Hilton hotel chain
have quietly become major players in porn distribution.. AOL in
a sense, is one of the biggest beneficiaries of the Internet porn
wave, even though it doesn't consider itself "in" the porn business."
[Jenkins, Holman W. Jr, Pornography, Main Street to Wall Street.
Policy Review, February & March 2001, pg 8]
As a film maker
I have been particularly aware of the spreading influence of pornography.
As a father and grandfather I have worried about the dangers facing
the rising generations of my family. But it was not until this evil
enticed, captured and consumed a friend of mine that I recognized
it is an enemy among us-moral terrorists in our midst.
In a line up
of a hundred men my friend, Daniel, [not his real name] would be
the last person you would ever suspect of living a double dark life
in the world of pornography. Our association had been personal.
Our conversations about spiritual things. More than once we talked
about the great need to shield the innocent from images of evil.
Daniel is a member of the LDS Church.
More details
may invade Daniel's privacy, but the discovery of his addiction
to pornography has been devastating to me, to his family and to
our friends. Even more discouraging is his retreat into a world
of denial and rationalization rather than remorse and repentance.
The enemy has captured one of ours and I fear he may not escape
alive.
Prophets plead
with us from every pulpit to avoid pornography like the loathsome
plague that it is. They admonish us without equivocation to purge
our hearts, our minds and eyes of all things pornographic.
President Hinckley
has repeatedly condemned pornography . In his First Presidency's
Message, [Ensign, January 2002] he speaks about "Overpowering the
Goliaths in our Lives."
He tells the
story of David and Goliath and in his inimitable way turns that
historic mismatch into a meaningful metaphor for us in our own faithful
battle with evil. Following his statement, "There are Goliaths all
around us, hulking giants with evil intent to destroy," he puts
the greatest emphasis on pornography with an urgent admonition,
"Avoid pornography as you would a plague."
President Hinckley
goes on to tell the story of a man who lost every precious thing
because he indulged himself that first "curious" look and then could
not escape. Ultimately the prophet's story had a happy ending -
but only after years of loss and struggle. I whispered a silent
prayer for my friend Daniel.
A Cancerous
Growth
Like a cancerous growth protected in a petri dish, pornography
has mutated and multiplied under the protective glass of the First
Amendment. It's poisonous tentacles have infiltrated every delicate
fiber of the world wide web. It is not new information that pornography
is a mouse click away on every computer linked to the Internet.
"Nobody knows
how big the industry is. The most quoted estimate is $ 5-6 billion
in annual sales. The Internet is believed to account for over $1
billion in sales. Adult Video News claims sex videos generate more
in sales and rental revenue than legitimate Hollywood manages to
earn at the domestic box office." [Ibid.]
The rising level
and graphic depictions of sex and violence in movies and television
has been a popular political football since the Hayes office was
established in the fifties.
Some wag fingers
in righteous indignation at the correlation between violence in
movies and otherwise inexplicable acts of violence in the schools
and on the streets. Others argue there is not even a casual connection
between the "fantasy violence" of movies and television and real
life.
Ironically most
of the emphasis among media crusaders is on violence rather than
sex. I believe that the pervasive social change of the sixties,
"make love not war" imbedded itself in our national consciousness.
We can argue
about R-rated movies. We can reveal PG-13 as the haven for teenage
promiscuity . We can talk about the relative influence of language,
sex or violence. We can worry about the increasing exploitation
of women and men in sexually oriented advertising - if you've not
seen an Abercrombie and Fitch catalogue recently, make sure you
don't.
We need to stay
aware, on guard, defensive. As media becomes more salacious and
popular culture more tolerant to inappropriate themes and offensive
images we need to bolster ourselves. The world of media continues
to warp its way to ever lower levels of good taste and decency.
A Better
Guideline than MPAA
Because of all I have written and spoken on the subject, it
is of particular interest to me that the LDS church has elected
to abandon the MPAA rating system as a reliable guideline for youth.
In Q & A
For the Strength of Youth Pamphlet-Updated, Elder Cecil O. Samuelson
Jr, Executive Director of the Priesthood Department states, "It
is a doctrinal document but it is also very practical." As an example,
under "Entertainment and the Media" there is no specific mention
of any rating system. This is not to be interpreted that the Church
approves of R-rated or any other inappropriate movies. It is simply
a recognition that there is increasingly great risk in tying ourselves
to any rating system."
The pamphlet
for youth says clearly, "Do not attend, view, or participate in
entertainment that is vulgar, immoral, violent, or pornographic
in any way."
There are many
Goliaths in our lives, but as President Hinckley points out, not
all of them are 9 feet tall. Carefully selecting the movies that
we see, the television we watch, the music that fills our lives,
is critically important.
But the dangers
of main stream movies, music, TV and books pale in comparison to
the devastating destructive power of pornography!
"While Republicans
and Democrats are competing to see who can issue the most comprehensive
denunciation of Hollywood depravity, they ignore an authentic and
unprecedented phenomenon, the revolution in the availability of
pornography." [Ibid.]
President Hinckley
warned that "It is almost impossible to entirely avoid exposure
to their products. " [Hinckley, Gordon, Overpowering the Goliaths
in our Lives. Ensign, January 2002] Few escape some brief exposure
to enticing titles that appear in e-mail or the slippery traps of
a curious click.
For most of
us the first brush -- and blush -- is more than enough to understand
that even a tiny dose of pornographic poison is ultimately deadly.
It must be avoided at all costs, all together, completely.
"One can only
speculate here, but pornographic sexual images are different from
entertainment sex and violence. They are real. They are processed
differently. The 'suspension of disbelief' has always been baloney.
The fictional media don't play on the powerful chemical signals
that real sexual stimuli activate, producing states of motivation
so powerful they can temporarily overwhelm even the strong sensations.
[and will] Now this stuff is coming into the homes of people who
would otherwise never have encountered it." [Jenkins] pg 10]
What can
we do?
It is easy to feel helpless. From the writings and ranks of
anti-porn activists comes a call for courage. "a false sense of
helplessness is one of the pornographer's best allies" they tell
us . [Nordlinger, Jay, Getting Aroused, National Review / November
19, 2001. pg 44] .
We must be willing
to stand up and stand against the invasion of pornography into our
homes, our community and our lives. We can be outspoken. We can
make sure our local libraries and schools prohibit access to pornographic
sites on the Internet. We can support politicians who do battle
with this enemy within. We can voice our opinions to those "respectable
businesses" who peddle porn. We can deprive those who profit from
porn of our support and business.
Most of all
we can make sure that our stance is without the slightest shadow
of hypocrisy. We must be vigilant in shielding ourselves and those
around us.
No one likes
to face the reality that not only is this enemy in our midst, it
has captured, conquered and destroyed many. Pornography has poisoned
them and "turned them to the dark side of the force", to borrow
George Lucas idiom of speech.
Perhaps you
are one of the willing victims of the enemy's insidious tactic.
The typical customer -- according to what little information is
available about such things -- is male, late 30's or 40's, reasonably
affluent and well educated. But we can be certain that the targets
and victims of pornography are far beyond the borders of that narrow
sector.
I am bold enough
to presume that someone reading this is being tainted by - or wholly
immersed in - pornography. Ya, I know, but none of us could have
imagined that Daniel was living a double life either.
My brother-in-law
was bishop in a ward adjacent to a major university. He told me
the single biggest problem among young married couples was pornography-the
husband's addiction or his effort to involve his wife.
Pornography
has been identified as the first misstep in numerous broken lives;
divorce, disaffections, domestic violence and even serious criminal
acts.
The statistic
that is most interesting --and very disturbing -- is that based
on the usage rate of the Adult Pay-Per-View product (i.e., pornographic
movies) amongst the cable subscriber base, the data indicates that
the percentage of customers that purchase these adult movies on
a monthly basis is approximately 33% higher in the Utah cable systems
than the national average. This was shared with me in casual conversation
with a cable TV industry executive.
Little wonder
President Hinckley puts such pointed emphasis on defeating this
Goliath threatening our lives.
The Lord has
warned us that he does not tolerate a little sin. Likewise, the
Savior's archenemy, Satan, will not be satisfied with a little curiosity.
Do not be deceived! Whatever your rationale, if you willingly expose
yourself to pornographic images and ideas in the slightest degree
you risk more than you can ever imagine.
I urge you to
discuss the dangers and devastation of pornography openly with everyone
you love. Talk to your spouse. Quiz your teenage kids. Ask your
college students point blank if there is a problem with pornography
in their life or the environment in which they live. Do they have
room mates who indulge? Friends who entice? Parties that display?
If you indulge
in pornography at any level, STOP IT NOW.
Bolster your
courage and strengthen your resolves. The smallest dose of porn
poison is deadly.
The enemy is
real and lives among us. An act of terrorism can kill your body
in a moment suddenly . An addiction to pornography will kill your
soul one image at a time.
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© 2001 Meridian
Magazine. All Rights Reserved.
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