The Optimist (Abilene, Tex.), Vol. 72, No. 25, Ed. 1, Friday, November 16, 1984 Page: 2 of 12
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Pornography
Despite
Probably one of the most
significant documents in recent
U.S. history to influence the legal
siaius oi pornojjrapny was uie
Presidential Commission Report
onObscenitv and PornosraDhv
!;publishedinl970.
! The report received much at
tention for its majority conclusion
that pornography is not harmful
and should be freed from the
restraints of censorship. The report
concluded: "There is no evidence
that exposure to or use of explicit
sexual materials plays a
significant role in the causation of
social pr individual harms such as
crime delinquency sexual or non-
sexual deviancy or severe
emotional disturbances."
In other words it essentially said
that the decontrolled allowance of
pornography would cost a society
nothing upon such a basis many
legal restraints to pornography
were removed in the early 1970s.
However these conclusions were
far1 from an accurate represen-
i.
j Dancing choice?
I To the editor:
Dancing at Abilene Christian
University supposedly is not
I recommended (Student Guide
; Page 10) but I believe students
should be able to make their own
j choices in the matter.
I assume the administration
i helleves that rinnHnff invited sin
j True a dance ultimately ended in
; the death of John the Baptist (Mark
6). seemingly because immoral
things can come from dancing as
; with the execution of John the
tl activity is forbidden outright here.
This extended reasoning is quite
; unacceptable. Students at ACu are
:: adults and should be treated as
P such. It cannot be established that
Z dancing in ami of itself is morally
y vyiuu sciMftiiuy uiuov; mm uu&iib
be caused to stumble by the ac-
tivity should refrain from dancing.
But the Bible does not condemn
dancing. If someone is afraid he
will sin because of my actions he
should privately approach me and
discover my motives not assume
the worst.
Sure John the Baptist was
executed after a lewd dance but I
seriously doubt that we as a body at
ACU are going to do an execution
Hanre ir rianrn at a tnnless hap.
-Certainly those things are wrong.
But there are positive benefits that
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tation of the actual situation and in
fact the commission majority must
have ignored several well-
documented negative studies in
order to reach its positive con-
clusion. These better-documented
but much-less-proclaimed minority
studies plus several subsequent
private studies conducted since
1970 have made the real costs of
pornography quite evident.
The conclusions of these studies
include:
(1) That a positive association
between deviant behavior and
exposure to pornography could be
shown at all ages of exposure and
"is the strongest predictor of
sexual deviance among the early
age of exposure subjects."
(2) That sexual arousal through
pornography can often be closely
and positively linked with
aggressive behavior. Experiments
snowed how the presentation of
either sexual or aggressive themes
in such a way that the taboos
shared by both sex and aggression
Letters to
can come from properly super-
vised dances. One can go to a dance
strictly to have fun and make new
friends. There are places even in
Abilene that one can go just for
such healthy social exchange.
As for the possibility of immoral
thoughts running through one's
head that is normal and human.
No one was perfect except Jesus
Christ. Even with him it was a
matter of choosing to not give in to
the temptation (Matthew 4). The
key to dealing with these thoughts
is one's individual control of them.
I believe that the decision to
dance or not dance should be the
students' prerogative not a
mandate of the administration.
ScotGoodroo
Freshman radio-TV ma jor
Memphis Tenn.
Election valuation
To the editor:
What a relief to see the 1984
political campaigns come to an
end I I thought the candidates and
television media would have
learned a lesson from their
mistakes in 1980 and 1962 but I was
wrong.
In Texas the U.S. Senate
campaign was even dirtier than the
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costs too
appeared to rio longer apply r-
lowered subjects' inhibitions and
encouraged them to break the
taboos in both areas.
(3) That materials portraying
women apparently enjoying the
infliction of pain are more sexually
arousing to male subjects than
when such enjoyment is not
suggested. "The message that pain
and humiliation can be 'fun en-
courages the relaxation of
inhibitions against rape."
(4) That some men admitted to a
decline in personal morals and a
lowered respect for women
because of pornography viewing
and that large percentages of both
men and women believed that
pornography might lead some
people to commit rape.
(5) That rather than the
predicted drcp in sex crimes
resulting from loosened restric-
tions on pornography the United
States saw a 139 percent rise in
reported sex crimes between 1964
and 1974; that Copenhagen Den
I v'wl Ztn r I H
the Editor
1982 governor's race. Both Gramm
and Doggett used half-truths and
propagandathroughout the cam-
paign and did enough mudslinging
to bury the entire state.
And 1984 now can boast of having
the most expensive statewide
campaign ever (more than $38
million between the two Senatorial
candidates I believe). It isn't
surprising that the money spent for
all 1984 campaigns (local throne h
national) could have paid the
national debt. The majority of that
money was used for television
commercials that Were too short to
cover the real issues they were
excellent for mudslinging though.
To make matters worse the cost of
a prime time political ad this year
was more than double the cost in
1980.
Then there wad television. After
suffering a lot of criticism for its
conduct in 1980 representatives of
that medium promised it would
behave this year. But then the
networks called Reagan the winner
at 7:15 Central 'time five hours
before some national polk had
closed. They sakl Reagan and
Gramm had won in Texas 45
minutes before 1 Paso's polk
which are in the Mountain time
zone had closed.
The solutions to these problems
are quite obvious. The television
media could be harnessed if all
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much
mark saw rape reports steadily
rise from 173 in 1963 to 484 in 1978;
that other nations where por-
nography was decontrolled saw
corresponding rises in rape
reports while some nations where
pornography wds restrained ac-
tually saw decreases in reported
sex crimes.
(6) That in recent years the
United States has seen literally
hundreds of thousands of young
people taken into the sex industry
to be exploited as child prostitutes
and pornographic models.
(7) That the establishment in
cities of pornography districts has
been closely tied with the rise of
illegal drug trafficking
prostitution organized crime and
police corruption.
Need we say more?
The price of pornography is too
high for us to keep lining the
pockets of those who purvey it.
Let's not buy it let's fight it let's
put it as far behind bars as con-
stitutionally possible.
polls nationwide closed at the same
time. A 24-hour voting day would be
the best method of doing this. With
this system all U.S. citizens could
vote at the most convenient times
of the day for them with all polls
still closing at a uniform time.
(Incidentally more voters would
vote if the 24-hour voting day was
conducted during a Sunday instead
of a Tuesday.)
Excessive campaign spending
can be controlled either by
legislation or by peer pressure.
Peer pressure is what one
congressional candidate used this
year. He said that if his opponent
agreed to keep hk spending below
a certain figure ($4000 1 believe)
then he would do the same. His
opponent agreed.
If one candidate in every race
issued this challenge how could his
opponents refuse? If they did
muse lie would be able to use that
as a very effective mudslinging
tool.
I hope we all have learned
something from the way this year's
campaigns were conducted. If so
the campaigns of 1986 1983 and
beyond may be less vicious less
costly and more truthful.
Sincerely
MarkMullins
Freshman
Lubbock Texas
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lash out?
Evan before Indira Gandhi's
death India was a country almost
overwhelmed with problems.
Boasting the world's highest
population per square foot of land
mass and among the wordm
highest death rates from starW
vatlon the nation of India was
already a powder keg waiting to
eXfiow that Mrs. Gandhi has died
the nation of India la exploding at
least on the scale of communal
violence between vengeful Hindus
and retaliating Sikhs. But India
could explode on a much larger
scale a scale that would directly
affect us here in the United States
unless we become more aware of
her problems and ways we can hcl A
alleviate them.
The new prime minister Mrs.
Gandhi's son Rajiv has been at-
tempting to quell the violence ever
since he was voted into office the
day after hte mother's death. But
already nearly 2000 jpeople from
both groups have been killed
numerous dwellings cars and
businesses have been burned or
ransacked and the country's police
forces were just ordered by the
prime minister to shoot anyone
seen instigating violence. Jf
But this harsh measure wilr
restore quiet in the streets only
temporarily at best because the
tensions in India run much deeper
than just revenge over a leader's
death or religious differences.
If Rajiv Gandhi can restore
quiet he still will have to deal with
what is probably the country's
most pressing problem: a
population of more than 790
million the majority of whom get
by on one meal a day or less andA
who are hungrily looking loMg
anything or anyone to lasn ouf
against.
And what are Gandhi's alter-
natives for trying to solve this root
problem? As far back as 1974.
internationally famous economist
Robert Heilbroner said: "There
seems little doubt that somw
nuclear capability will be in thP
hands of the major underdeveloped
nations certainly within the next
few decades and perhaps much
sooner.... I will suggest that it may
be used as an instrument of
blackmail to force the developed
world to undertake a massive
transfer of wealth to the poverty-
stricken world.... 4Wars of
redistribution' may be the only way
by which the poor nations can hope
to remedy their condition.' "
Less than a year after Hellbronej
made this prediction India dl
ploded her first nuclear bomb.
The threat is there. The situation
in India is desperate enough that
Rajiv Gandhi may feel compelled
to do what his mother never did and
use a threat of nuclear blackmail to
acquire larger amounts of U.S. aid
for nis country.
We need to pray for India. We
need to pray that Rajiv Gandhi and
the other Indian leaders can find
less volatile ways of solving their
country's hunger problem. And wj
need to pray for the people of thW
United States. May God help us see
what we should to do to help India
alleviate tliat hunger problem
before Rajiv Gandhi's finger hangs
poised over a missile-launching
button.
Optimist
Kty Paytoa-cdltorln chief
KMitoHwjjy-friday news editor
MM MtwWrlw-frlday features editor
Nfa DfiUrd-friday features assistant
Km SmaHteg sports editor
Gary rattwion-asst sports editor
Byroa EKa-friday chief photographer
AHah Gol&on-frlday copy editor
Cfadi FWterao-frlday design editor
Kevin Wegnw-stat services director
Rob FuWon-ad sales manager
DtvW DMb-ad production manager
Ctrnta ScHferoufh-ad creative director
DtMMwwAh-assLcrcaUve director
MM EaMuh-ad director (B
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The Optimist (Abilene, Tex.), Vol. 72, No. 25, Ed. 1, Friday, November 16, 1984, newspaper, November 16, 1984; Abilene, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth96147/m1/2/: accessed July 13, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Abilene Christian University Library.