Donna Rice Hughes, President of Enough is Enough, wants Congress to crack down on Internet porn because of the damaging effects to children who view it. As an Internet attorney and parent, of course I’m against kids viewing Internet porn.
However, let”s discuss Donna Rice Hughes and obscenity for a moment. This is the same person who destroyed the presidential campaign of a U.S. Senator by screwing around with him (adultery- gasp!) on board the yacht “Monkey Business.”
Hughes has turned up again looking for a second 15 minutes of fame. Now she’s an expert in protecting children online. Not only that, she’s also an expert in oil spills too. That’s watching the TV show Law & Order and claiming to be an Internet attorney because of it.
“We are facing a national crisis that is every bit as damaging to our citizens and our culture as the oil spill is to the Gulf and the Gulf community.” – Donna Rice Hughes
Her credentials?
- Former model? Check.
- Beauty pageant winner? Check.
- Former cheerleader? Check.
Do I want to protect children from Internet porn? Of course. But it is first and foremost the responsibility of a child’s parents to ensure the kid is not surfing the Internet looking at pornography. Hughes claims that kids 8 to 11 years old are exposed to Internet porn.
“For fifteen years, children have been spoon-fed a steady diet of pornography.” – Donna Rice Hughes
Really? Who is doing the spoon-feeding? Where are the parents? This is a parental issue.
Congress is not the national nanny…nor should it be.
And let’s be realistic. If the U.S. Department of Justice received billions from Congress to fund a crackdown on Internet obscenity, how effective do you really think it would be? If the entertainment industry can’t effectively stop bootleg music and movies, what’s the likelihood of the government being successful stopping digital distribution of obscenity?
Donna Rice Hughes should focus her efforts on something she actually knows something about…
How about lobbying Congress on behalf of cheerleaders, models, and beauty pageant winners who have been victimized by older married Congressmen? Maybe former Senator Gary “Monkey Business” Hart could co-chair the effort.
As a parent, it is my responsibility to ensure my kid isn’t viewing porn on the Web. In addition to real-time monitoring Internet surfing activities, there are also plenty of software programs and Internet browser settings that one can use to restrict the type of content that a kid is going to see online. Combine this with placement of computers in a heavily trafficked living area at home rather than sequestered in the kid’s room unmonitored.
Protect the children? Absolutely.
And that includes protecting them from people like Donna Rice Hughes and her political allies.
The problem with the Donna Rice Hughes of the world is that they acquire power at your expense. At first the cause is noble. Who doesn’t want to protect their kid from porn? But if Congress can take away that parental right, what’s next? What if Donna decides that children need to be protected from a “spoon-fed steady diet of candy” or required to exercise 2 hours daily to prevent obesity? At what point does your role/responsibility as a parent cease to exist to be replaced by the state and special interest groups like hers? As a father and an Internet attorney, I think she should focus on her own shortcomings rather than trying to live vicariously through government control.