Heh. Since the paper tends to post every scrap of mail it receives, and posting this under my name in this town would see me ran out on a rail, I figured I’d vent here. After all – this IS my space and I can do and say what I want. So here’s the Letter, and my replies.<\/p>\n
\nAdult bookstore will only serve o hurt society as a whole <\/p>\n
News of the desire by some to establish an adult book and toy store in Soldotna has come to me.
\nI am chairman of the Kenai Peninsula Marriage Savers (KPMS) and have grave concerns and strong opposition to such a venture for the following reasons:
\n1. Any type of pornographic materials (printed, pictorial, video, or even in the form of “toys”) serves to diminish the value of members of the opposite sex to those who make use of such materials. This could well lead to either more domestic violence or mistreatment of members of the opposite sex.\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n–Well, the first sentence here amuses me greatly. You’re blaming domestic violence on porn and sex toys. You’re saying that because these are used or available that this is one of the root causes of such activities. I’m sorry, but as someone who has read\/watched porn and alternately enjoyed it, and laughed at it, as one who has bought the occasional “toy” I must protest this wide generalization. I’ve never beat up on my husband or entertained deviant thoughts toward any person or demographic. This could well lead to domestic violence or mistreatment? So could a million other things, such as a proclivity to such activities that are power related, and not of a sexual method at all. It is the desire to assert one’s domination and power over another that leads to domestic abuse, and mistreatment. The church itself suggests that Domination and Submission in a marriage is the only correct way to be. So let’s leave such sweeping generalizations out of it. Point out specifics, give statistics, give facts. And leave the Bible on your nightstand for the duration.<\/p>\n
\n2. The presence and availability of such materials is a ready source of suggestion and even prompting to action by those who already are sex offenders in our community. Why should we provide further temptation to those who already are struggling with the problem?\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
–Again, you’re putting the blame where it does not belong. Clearly these sexual predators are already offenders without the addition of this bookstore. Therefore, the temptation is rooted in something else and the effort to stop it by banning an adult bookstore is akin to… oh, I don’t know. Something ludicrous. You’re looking for a scapegoat, an excuse for activity that already exists. It may surprise you to realize that a number of “god-fearing, christian” men and women that I have known have been the worst predators of all in a variety of ways. And they sit in congregations, they read their bible, they lead bible studies, they do not have porn in their home or go to adult bookstores. They go home and they are verbally and physically abusive to anyone that comes within reach. The addition of “temptation” will not increase nor decrease the deprivation that already exists.<\/p>\n
\n3. The potential fallout in the lives of children in our community through molestation can only be compounded as the dissemination of such information is increased.\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
–And again. My experience is that the worst offenders are god-fearing Christian men and women. So how about we quit calling the kettle black here, hm? Parents – parent your children. Protect them. Teach them to protect themselves. Do not hide behind the teachings of a church, do not expect others to teach your children. Provide them with the tools to defend themselves! Conversations in my home go like this.
\n\tCan ANYONE touch you without your permission? No.
\n\tWhat if it’s someone you know, you trust? No.
\n\tWhat happens if they try? I scream, yell, fight, and come tell you.
\n\tShould you ever be afraid to tell me anything? No – it would never be my fault.
\n\tDo you ever get in the car with a stranger? No.
\n\tEven if they want to show you a puppy\/kitten or to help find a lost one? No.
\n\tWhat do you do? I yell for you, or for another adult.
\n\tSo on, and so forth.
\nI will not allow anyone with even the possibility of deprivation to have access to my children without supervision. This includes the Church in all its myriad of forms.<\/p>\n\n4. The potential of having men and women develop distorted views of sex and sexuality will only be increased, should such materials become more easily available to our population.\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
-Yes, because your view is the Right and True view, and all others are wrong and should be squashed at all costs. Because it’s porn that makes them that way. Ugh. Grow up and view the true signs and stats and facts and figures in front of you and quite being so damn high and mighty and judgmental. There are none so blind as those that won’t see.<\/p>\n
\n5. In an area where the divorce rate is 82 percent, KPMS stands opposed to anything that would serve to weaken marriage further, and pornography is one of the most virulent of the forces that serve to weaken relational stability. KPMS is committed to seek to strengthen marriages and reduce divorces on the Kenai Peninsula. To that end we are extremely sensitive to anything that would militate against such goals. I believe the presence of such a store in our community will be a detriment to the good of the community and the welfare of our marriages and families.\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
–Yeah, and in an area where the divorce rate is 82%, you’ve already done SUCH a bang-up job, haven’t you? What you believe has nothing to do what I may or may not believe. The welfare of marriage and families has nothing to do with you, your teachings, or a porn store on the corner. It has to do with a lack of respect for the fellow man, it has to do with people who have been raised to believe marriage is disposable and in a town so overrun with Churches, perhaps you should look behind your own bedroom doors instead of mine to discover the problem.<\/p>\n
\nCT, Chair, Kenai Peninsula Marriage Savers\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
— L, a mother who’d like to tell you where to stick that chair.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Heh. Since the paper tends to post every scrap of mail it receives, and posting this under my name in this town would see me ran out on a rail, I figured I’d vent here. After all – this IS my space and I can do and say what I want. So here’s the Letter, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-187","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-myriad"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gonfalon.org\/eclat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/187","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gonfalon.org\/eclat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gonfalon.org\/eclat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gonfalon.org\/eclat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gonfalon.org\/eclat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=187"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/gonfalon.org\/eclat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/187\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gonfalon.org\/eclat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=187"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gonfalon.org\/eclat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=187"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gonfalon.org\/eclat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=187"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}