t’s always a good day when pornographers are upset and unable to distribute or share their dangerous content, especially to children.
Pornhub, the fourteenth most popular website in the world, is not happy – and that should bring some measure of relief to many. That’s because the leading prevaricator of pornographic material has decided to suspend access to their site in Texas – a protest move designed to express their objection to new age verification laws in the Lone Star State.
Texas’ legislation was passed last year and has been caught up in the courts. The Fifth Circuit recently ruled the government has a legitimate interest in protecting children’s welfare. They’re correct.
Addressing the legislation designed to protect children from the deviance they trade in, Pornhub qualified the law as “ineffective, haphazard, and dangerous.” They also said it would “inevitably reduce content creators’ ability to post and distribute legal adult content and directly impact their ability to share the artistic messages they want to convey with it.”
Referring to pornography as “artistic” is both comical and tragic, a distortion of God’s intent of creativity. It recalls C.S. Lewis’ comparison of a man “making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea.”
Pornography sits at the summit of the slum, corrupting, corroding, and destroying the very sexual appetite it promises to satiate.
Pornhub is the dangerous actor, not legislators committed to protecting children.
How dark are Pornhub’s leadership and vision to object to tools and laws crafted to protect young minds and hearts from such obscenity? Its brazenness appears to know no bounds.
The company’s leadership loathes age verification laws because they work – and because they work, the company will make less money. Peddlers of online content don’t care who’s clicking and how old they are, they just want the clicks because the greater the clicks, the greater the profit.
Texas may be the biggest state to try and protect its children with age verification laws, but it’s not the first. Eight other states have similar protections: Arkansas, Virginia, Montana, Louisiana, Mississippi, Utah, North Carolina, and Indiana.
Do you notice any ideological pattern with the state legislatures that have moved in the best interest of children?
All of them either enjoy a socially conservative governor or a majority of representatives who care more about the minds of kids than the wallets of the pornographers. Is it any wonder that families with children are fleeing the more progressive states and cities and taking refuge where they see the government as an ally and not an adversary?
There was a time when neither party nor politics stood in the way of protecting children. People on both sides of the aisle recognized the need to shield young eyes, ears, and hearts. This bipartisan commitment is desperately needed again.
The good news is that nineteen other states have proposed similar age verification laws. Our Daily Citizen team is tracking the progress of this legislation and readers can get a quick glance and update by visiting this site.
Pornography’s prevalence is startling. Sixty-seven percent of young males view it on a regular basis. They’ve no doubt been exposed to it from a young age. Companies like Pornhub benefit when kids get hooked young. They’ve contributed to the fact that porn use for this generation is no longer the exception, but the norm.
One of the many lies told with increasing frequency of late is that pornography is harmless and victimless. It’s neither. It’s a destructive influence that’s always crouching at the door. The industry is well-funded and has even been paying psychologists and other pseudo professionals to spread false information about porn’s so-called innocuous nature. It’s a vicious lie.
When it comes to protecting our children, we must leave no stone unturned in our clash with the pornographic industry that strives to capture the imaginations and minds of children. There is too much at stake – and much work still to do.
