NICK EICHER, Host: Today is Wednesday, January 4th. good morning!this is the world and everything in it From the WORLD Radio that the listener supports. I’m Nick Iker.
Mary Reichard, Host: I’m Mary Reichard. Next is WORLD Classic Commentary.
WORLD founder Joel Belz wrote this column on porn in 1986. His message on the fallacy of extreme politics couldn’t be more apt.
JOEL BELZ, FOUNDER: Sometimes entire societies, or even small components of societies, just because someone stands there and says we can’t do it, let’s do something good otherwise may become paralyzed. may lead to An example of such a reaction emerged last week. Widely syndicated columnists ridiculed the Presidential Commission on Pornography, less so for the substance of what the commission found and recommended, but because of the controls the commission recommended, the columnists somehow knew that in the future it would automatically lead to more serious forms of pornography censorship that would be totally unacceptable to society.
The problem is that we have been too thoroughly inculcated in the old tale of the camel sticking its nose under the rim of the tent and taking the whole tent for himself. As is often the case with good parables, we apply that truth too much and forget that it is just one of many important insights.
Now, we need an equally memorable parable that tells us this additional truth. If you have good reason to keep your camel’s nose warm and you can control the situation, have it tuck under the edge of your tent. The fact, of course, is that almost everything we do can establish patterns of other forms of associated behavior that are unacceptable. Just watching a little TV can be addicting. Even conversation quickly turns into harmful gossip. But that doesn’t mean we’ve completely abandoned reasonably good activity.
So why should American society be so afraid of doing what is apparently right? Well, it is to elevate press freedom to a single unworthy pedestal. Ability to avoid.
Formidable columnists and people like the American Civil Liberties Union consider censorship of any kind to be extremist. But wouldn’t a real extremist be someone who bans all censorship simply because of where it could lead?
We Christians have made the same mistakes. But this time, it is the porn industry that has sold its goods to society with a very false logic.
Richard: Joel Beltz. I am reading a column in his book titled Camel Nose and Pornography. consider these thingsThis column was originally published in WORLD Magazine on June 2, 1986.
NICK EICHER, Host: Today is Wednesday, January 4th. good morning!this is the world and everything in it From the WORLD Radio that the listener supports. I’m Nick Iker.
Mary Reichard, Host: I’m Mary Reichard. Next is WORLD Classic Commentary.
WORLD founder Joel Belz wrote this column on porn in 1986. His message on the fallacy of extreme politics couldn’t be more apt.
JOEL BELZ, FOUNDER: Sometimes entire societies, or even small components of societies, just because someone stands there and says we can’t do it, let’s do something good otherwise may become paralyzed. may lead to An example of such a reaction emerged last week. Widely syndicated columnists ridiculed the Presidential Commission on Pornography, less so for the substance of what the commission found and recommended, but because of the controls the commission recommended, the columnists somehow knew that in the future it would automatically lead to more serious forms of pornography censorship that would be totally unacceptable to society.
The problem is that we have been too thoroughly inculcated in the old tale of the camel sticking its nose under the rim of the tent and taking the whole tent for himself. As is often the case with good parables, we apply that truth too much and forget that it is just one of many important insights.
Now, we need an equally memorable parable that tells us this additional truth. If you have good reason to keep your camel’s nose warm and you can control the situation, have it tuck under the edge of your tent. The fact, of course, is that almost everything we do can establish patterns of other forms of associated behavior that are unacceptable. Just watching a little TV can be addicting. Even conversation quickly turns into harmful gossip. But that doesn’t mean we’ve completely abandoned reasonably good activity.
So why should American society be so afraid of doing what is apparently right? Well, it is to elevate press freedom to a single unworthy pedestal. Ability to avoid.
Formidable columnists and people like the American Civil Liberties Union consider censorship of any kind to be extremist. But wouldn’t a real extremist be someone who bans all censorship simply because of where it could lead?
We Christians have made the same mistakes. But this time, it is the porn industry that has sold its goods to society with a very false logic.
Richard: Joel Beltz. I am reading a column in his book titled Camel Nose and Pornography. consider these thingsThis column was originally published in WORLD Magazine on June 2, 1986.
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