Metauser

Urked about social issues

February 23, 2006 Posted by mitch | politics, thoughts | 0 Comments

There were some posts that came across the PLUG (http://plug.org) list the other day about a presentation given by Pete Ashdown (http://peteashdown.org) who is running for US Senate this year, against the long standing Orin Hatch(who I really despise). Anyway the discussion started up because a few (or maybe many?) of the plug members (most are LDS) disagree'd with his views on pornography. And were even going as far as to say that it should be treated as a drug?!? Don't get me wrong, I don't participate, nor contribute any money to the industry as I don't like it. However, going so far as to make it against the law or saying the government should step in to control it? That's going overboard, and it really upsets me. Utah is a very conservative state, thus it is also a very republican state (hence why Mr. Hatch has been in office so long...). The one thing I don't understand as its very contradictory, is Republicans always seem to want and give tax cuts, but they also want the government to step in and start controlling things that they feel are more and more offensive? This *requires* money people! You can't have your tax cuts and the government doing more "filtering for the bettering of our morals". Its one or the other... then they will also complain about the lack of budgets for education and want MORE tax credits given so they can send their kids to private schools... All of this makes me wonder... is it because most republicans, which I believe are usually religious people, know the moral standards they are supposed to have, but have a hard time keeping them selves on track? So their solution is it to make things against the law or harder to access because of laws, thus removing most of the blame on their own lack of will power?

I don't understand it... I've grown up here in "Happy Valley" and of the LDS faith, and for as long as I remember all the lessons I had while growing up were about acceptance of other faiths and beliefs. Sure we believe we are "correct" but... so do terrorists fighting for Allah? My point being that who are we to judge what is right for the rest of the world. If someone wants to listen you your message, that is their right. If they don't, that is also their right. The same goes with morals... If they want to abide by your morals... that is their right and they probably will. If they don't want to, that is also their right, so why do most (at least those that I've read and associated with) believe that it is their moral and ethical responsibility to make the rest of the world abide by their moral and ethical standings. As I said before I'm not a patron of porn myself. I find it repulsive. I disagree very much the thought of government regulation however. Because it'll be a lot of wasted money without much benefit. The solution is simple people... If you don't like it, *DON'T BUY IT*. I know, it means you'll have to practice some will power, and yes it also means your going to have to *TALK TO YOUR CHILDREN* about such things. You can't rely on this nice community to do it for you. You should be doing this anyway! The world can be a big bad place, if you let it. Ignoring that fact does not make it go away, creating laws for it won't stop it either. Keeping things out in the open is always the best way to handle things, because as soon as it goes underground you'll loose all control.

I get so aggravated over this... If you couldn't tell...