I read one of my favorite blogs this morning, "It's a Porn World After All" posted at Mallot's Blog. Chris shares with us a story about his brother who's a preacher in Florida. Mallot writes
" He said he was home alone one day watching a movie which wasn't porn, but that he still shouldn't have been watching. His wife arrived home and as he heard the door open he jumped up, grabbed the remote, and turned off the TV. He suddenly realized that he had been watching something in God's presence that he was ashamed for his wife to see him watching. So, he cancelled the premium channels."
The post points out the struggle we all have with porn. After reading the post and commenting, I thought I would impart a story I read a few days ago. It seems the Saudi Kingdom is experiencing their own problems with porn. Centuries of concealing and segregating women, as religiously mandated by the kingdom, has not eliminated the natural urges of men. Technology is aiding the rampant immorality among teens. The BBC reported the phones of teenagers, detained by religious police, contain pornographic files. Bluetooth technology is allowing the religious apartheid kingdom to circumvent the vice laws and download porn.
America has slowly let our moral guard down. Sitcoms, magazine ads and billboards put sex right in our face. It's hard to avoid. As we advance technically, the envelope is pushed even further. But culture that sets itself apart, and criticises the west, is itself fast becoming morally corrupt. This wahhabi sect of islam that's stuck in a 7th century, nomadic posture is using modern ingenuity to feed inherent desires. The very technology that enables their existence allows the corruption of their youth, and I believe others as well, in the kingdom.
The pinnacle of hypocrisy? I'm not sure. America (and the west) is openly struggling with this issue. I think the difference is the appearance of piety. While Christians and Jews in the America struggle within and do change the channel. We boycott companies that don't reflect Judeo Christian values without disrupting society or calling for government to install vice laws to protect us from ourselves. The Saudi kingdom, for example, has religious police who comb the streets looking for an ankle or strand of hair creeping out from under the burka. Hand holding in public is banned and women aren't allowed to shop alone. Segregating the sexes in schools, the workplace and during worship in an attempt to quell impulses and purify the soul, as mandated by the islam. Taking away personal responsibility on the matter. I would rather struggle internally with all the evils around me. Seeking guidance and forgiveness from our Lord when I fall, not the government.
Sunday, April 29, 2007
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2 comments:
So... are you saying that we should take a leaf out of right-wing Islamic regimes and have totalitarian restrictions on the media in the name of preserving "morality"?
Not at all Jacob.
When my son was little I tried to shelter him, as all parents do, from bad influences. When he was 4 I took him to register for kindergarten at our parish school. Christopher scored well above the others on all the tests required. He spoke well (from being around and talking with adults) and understood directions. He could count and spell. He read at a grade 2 level.
The final test was "social" in nature. As I watched him in the social area I knew I'd done something wrong by keeping him around friends and family (he only played with his cousin and the boy next to my Mom). He didn't know how to play with other children and became withdrawn, preferring to play by himself. The Sister in charge of applications told me he would do much better if we waited until next year. (He was a going to be 5 just after the start of school that year) She said he was very smart and probably do well academically, but his social skills may hinder him and it would be better to have him start next year after he learned how to play with other children.
My point here is you can't shelter your family from the evils outside your home. (not that other children were evil, I have "germ" issues) I could control what went on in my home and by enrolling him in Catholic school I knew my values would be taught. I now needed to let him "play" with others and hope the values I taught him would remain. And they did.
I changed to channels, censored the VHS tapes and controlled the influences around him, not the government.
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