The mother of a murdered British teacher is suing to have violent pornography banned. Her daughter's killer had a seven-year addiction to violent pornography, which she believes helped fan the flame of his violent tendencies, directly leading to the death of her daughter.
Elsewhere, a 69-year-old deacon of an Australian Baptist church was fined $3,000 for downloading 2800 images of child pornography. He had done so, apparently, while caring for his dying wife (who has since passed away).
Man, I hate pornography. I wish there existed more public discussion over how to deal with it, and more research out there on its effects. Not to sound like a commercial myself, but I'm more or less committed myself to installing XXX Church on any and every computer I use. I'm at my parents' house for the week, and I even installed it here. XXX Church keeps a log of your Internet activity, flags any questionable site, and sends it to an individual of your choice every 2 to 4 weeks. I think that of all the "solutions" offered to men who struggle with pornography, this one makes the most sense to me. I've stated this repeatedly on this website, but I'll say it again. Technology has over the last forty years made pornographic images more accessible. It had the unfortunate effect of lowering the social costs one incurs when consuming pornography - most notably the risks of getting caught. Now, unless one has an interest in child pornography, chances are one can lead a perfectly normal life with their interest in pornography completely hidden. One doesn't need to walk several city blocks and sit in a dark theater, where the chances of being seen or even arrested (Pee Wee Herman) are relatively high. One doesn't need to walk into an adult bookstore or a video store and have to actually look at the human being at the cash register. One doesn't even have to worry about what the mailman might be thinking of them. XXX Church is ideal because it forces pornography consumption into a slightly more public forum, where the person is forced to ask themselves, "Yes I want to view pornography, but do I really want it more than I want to have to explain it to one of my friends?" In other words, the marginal costs associated with pornography are socialized. It's effectiveness doesn't depend on one's own will power or self-control (which, let's be honest, if you had either of, then you wouldn't be addicted to pornography in the first place, right?). It just requires that the consumer be rational.
If you do struggle with pornography, and you're wanting to stop, might I recommend installing XXX Church. Choose a friend who you definitely would not want knowing that you have consumed pornography, though. Don't let the person who receives your bi-weekly email be someone who doesn't really care one way or the other. Send it to your dad, if you're really brave.
Posted by scott at March 9, 2004 02:43 PM | TrackBackIf I install it, can I send it to you?
BTW, I love the fact that you analyze this in econ terms.
Posted by: Paul Baxter at March 9, 2004 05:08 PMScott, I took your advice a few months ago and put it on my computer at home and work. I think the power of pornography lies in the shameful stigma that we attach to it as a particularly egregious sin (of course, all sin is egregious). There are probably many Christian men who do not struggle with it, but there are a substantial amount of Christian men who do and would be devastated if others knew.
On one hand, it is certainly wrong to view pornography and is justly deserving of condemnation. On the other hand, Christians need to understand that porn is very addictive and that with the Internet, everyone has quick and easy access to it. The church doesn't need to sweep it under the rug anymore, but should offer counseling, acceptance, and accountability for those who are struggling with it.
Posted by: joseph at March 9, 2004 05:41 PMThanks for this - I know some individuals who are looking for this kind of option. Your honesty is refreshing.
Posted by: Gypsy at March 9, 2004 06:14 PMPaul, absolutely man. I meant to say that if anyone wanted to include me as the person who they have their email sent to, seriously, I would be happy to be that person. Just send it to my hotmail account.
Joseph, I think you're right. It seems to me that sexual sin, in general, has a different effect on the psyche of the individual. I remember hearing Scot Sherman, of Intown Community Church in Atlanta, once preach on a passage from the Bible (I want to say 1 Corinthians, maybe?) where the writer says that when we sin sexually, we sin against ourselves. Or something like that. Sherman said he didn't really at all understand what the writer meant, except that he could only conclude that when we sin sexually, we "sin deep" (as he described it). I think that that is definitely true, and I definitely don't understand it. It's not that I think pornography or adultery are worse, necessarily. But I do think that their effects on the individual are worse. That is, forget about the game of "are any sins worse than others?" from any ethical ranking. When a guy cannot stop looking at naked girls doing various things to the point where it's compulsive, I think it feels a whole lot different than when that same person lied or stole something. It just feels more gripping, more entangling, more debasing and dehumanizing than a lot of other things.
Regardless, fewer things do I hate more than porn. I, unfortunately, hate it with an intimate familiarity with it. But XXX Church - and again, I sound like a commercial - really has been incredibly helpful in making porn less attractive to me. Not because I think I'm holier or have more willpower than I used to have. I just hate the thought of my friend Matt actually knowing the URLs of various websites I might have frequented. Just the thought of him reading those lines out of an email makes me not even want to go near any porn. And strangely enough, I can now work in my office, alone, at work without worry.
I think I've just been coming to realize that in sanctification, my preferences are not changing as much as I want them to and so I need to be more proactive in simply providing myself with incentives to avoid the crap that really hurts me. In a million areas of my life, though, I have learned that I actually prefer sin to goodness of any sort. I later regret it, which I rationalize as being some kind of high discount rate on my part which means I'm incredibly myopic about impatient about satisfying myself.
Posted by: scott cunningham at March 9, 2004 06:20 PMWhen I'm a full-fledged psychology professor and I can conduct the research I actually want to conduct instead of merely carrying out someone else's research interests I plan on investigating pornography in some way. I won't post my ideas because I want them to remain cutting edge -- but it is an area that will suffer greatly unless people (like all of you!) write to your congressmen and congresswomen telling them not to censor research based on perceived "obscenity." Right now, the gov't is striking grants that contain any reference to sex and denying the experiments funding.
Posted by: Russ at March 9, 2004 10:47 PMIf you had private funding, would that be acceptable to you?
Posted by: Charles R at March 10, 2004 05:14 PMSure. Private funding is a good thing -- it's just harder to come by.
Posted by: Russ at March 11, 2004 11:11 AM