The ALA’s Addiction to Porn

[Note: This commentary contains explicit language.] The citizens of Greenville, South Carolina, were shocked last December to read a story in the local newspaper reporting that their tax dollars were being used to fund obscenity in, of all places, the public library. The article documented that on one randomly selected day, adult men took up more than half the library's computers, prowling through online pornography. And one of them, it turned out, had been convicted for distributing obscene material to minors. In graphic detail, the report told of children attempting to complete school projects while men beside them gawked at all forms of perversion. But every American should take note of what happened next. When citizens complained, the library director shrugged it off, saying that the First Amendment gives people the right to see anything they want on the Internet, including pornography. Well, a firestorm erupted. Church and civic leaders organized, determined to take back their library. Congressman Jim DeMint urged citizens to flood the library board with complaints. But despite the uprising, the board and its director balked, refusing to install software to filter obscene material from computers. This time the citizens turned to the Greenville County Council, which appoints the library board, and they got action. Six of the eleven library board members were replaced. The new board fired the director and launched a study to find out how bad the situation really was. What they found should send shivers through every community in America. Their report showed that in one nine-month period more than 100 complaints were made about incidents arising from library patrons using the Internet for pornography. The library's own investigation had reported far less. In one case, a man grabbed a seven-year-old boy and forced him to view pornography. When the boy turned away, the man laughed. "Ten years from now, he'll be begging for it," he said. On another occasion, a staff member watched as a man and three 13-year-old girls viewed a website offering "sex with snakes." When these appalling facts, long covered up by the library director and board, became public, it galvanized the new library board. This month (August 2000), new software is being installed to block pornography in the Greenville County Public Library -- another hard-won victory by citizens who refused to let their tax money fund moral rot. But their fight may not be over. The board is anticipating lawsuits, perhaps from the ACLU, claiming violation of the First Amendment. But State Attorney General Charlie Condon has offered to defend the library if they are sued. In Condon's words, "A library is an information storehouse, not an Internet Penthouse." This case is a textbook example of what citizens can accomplish when they work together within the political system. But it also offers a warning. Across America, library boards are refusing to block Internet porn, under the misguided belief that patrons, even minors, have a constitutional right to view obscene material, no matter how revolting it may be. And sadly, their defense of pornography is orchestrated by the American Library Association, which has become an advocate for radical causes in America. Tomorrow, I'll tell you more about what's going on with the American Library Association and its agenda to turn our culture on its head, starting with your kids.

08/9/00