WASHINGTON – U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, Verizon Communications, university “sex weeks” and Facebook are the biggest threats to the sanctity of the American moral compass, according to Morality in Media’s 2014 Dirty Dozen List. The list represents MiM’s annual finger-pointing at institutions and individuals it believes “are the leading facilitators of pornography.”
As usual, what the list actually represents is the companies and individuals that so far have declined to kowtow to MiM despite the arch-conservative organization’s tyrannical attempts to reform society in its own image.
“Once again, Attorney General Eric Holder tops our Dirty Dozen list for his support of pornographers over children and families,” MiM President Patrick A. Trueman said. “As the pandemic of harm from pornography grows, Holder gives criminal pornographers the green light to proceed by stopping all enforcement of federal obscenity laws.”
Trueman typically over-dramatizes the issue by conflating “pornography” with “obscenity” and presuming all pornographers are criminals. As an attorney, he knows better. Between the constitutional precepts of free speech and innocence until proven guilty, Trueman is spitting into the wind when he calls anyone who disagrees with him and his spiritual compatriots a criminal. Public shaming is among the go-to tactics for playground bullies, not responsible, socially conscious human adults.
MiM Executive Director Dawn Hawkins appears no less fanatical.
“These Dirty Dozen companies profit daily from the sexual exploitation of others and our campaign against them will not stop until their exploitation stops,” she said. “Many of them may be in violation of current, enforceable U.S. obscenity laws that prohibit the distribution of obscene or hardcore pornography.”
Point of order: The production and distribution of hardcore pornography is not illegal in the U.S. Obscenity is illegal, but obscenity can be determined only by a jury, not by self-appointed moral watchdogs.
MiM’s 2014 Dirty Dozen are:
U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, for refusing to prosecute hardcore pornography under existing obscenity statutes.
Verizon Communications for “push[ing] porn into our homes through hardcore pay-per-view movies” and offering insufficient internet filtering options.
“Sex Week” on college campuses, because college students should not subjected to the “glamorization” of porn or lectures from porn stars.
Sony’s PlayStation, because the game console’s “live-streaming abilities are filling thousands of homes with live porn, and the PlayStation Store sells hundreds of pornographic and sexually violent games.”
Facebook, which has become “a top place to trade pornography, child pornography and sexual exploitation.”
Barnes & Noble, which is “a major supplier of adult pornography and child erotica.”
Hilton Hotels, which offers adult movies on its in-room pay-per-view service.
American Library Association, which consistently has opposed internet-filtering initiatives and supports libraries and librarians who resist efforts to censor reading materials.
Google, because the search giant includes adult websites in search results and declines most demands to censor YouTube, GooglePlay, Google Images and advertising.
Tumblr, which has declined to censor user uploads.
50 Shades of Gray, because the bestselling novel series and upcoming mainstream feature film “normalize sexual violence, domination and torture of women.”
Cosmopolitan magazine, for publishing “how-to sex guides [and] encouraging women to accept the pornified culture around them.”
