V
Page 2/The Battalion/Tuesday, June 24, 1986
Opinion
Anti-porn crusade results speak for themselve
I’d like to shake
the hand of the
person who first
said “Critics are
those who ride in
Roger K.
Cunningham
Guest Columnist
after the battle is over and shoot the
wounded.”
Loren Steffy’s recent column (The
Battalion, May 6), which criticized the
efforts of those involved in the battle to
stop the sale of pornography in family
markets such as Southland Corp.’s 7-
Eleven stores, seemed to overlook a few
basic points and in the process shot
some of those wounded in that battle.
I am a Dallas businessman who
served as the local chairman for the
1983 Metroplex Rally for Decency
which was attended by 5,000 and who
served again for the recent march on
the Southland headquarters which drew
10,000. I have nothing to gain from this
activity; quite the opposite is true — it
has cost me lots of time and money.
Steffy accused our effort of being
misguided and of attacking symptoms
rather than the cause. Does it seem so
many ordinary citizens like me would be
committed for years, at great personal
expense, to this project of ending the
sale of pornography in family markets
like 7-Eleven without somebody asking
the question, “Hey, are we doing the
right thing? Shouldn’t we be going after
something more vile and depraved than
Playboy and 7-Eleven? I mean, after all
what about Jerry’s Kids?”
Not hours, not even days, but months
were spent discussing that very question.
Inadvertently, Steffy’s column illus
trates a critical point — most people do
not know what pornography is. It is
wonderful that Steffy is not a regular
reader of pornography. Even better, it
can be assumed he was not abused as a
child or raped as an adult.
He must not have any children in his
family who have been molested, because
if he had experienced any of those
things he might be more inclined to lis
ten to those who know that Playboy and
Penthouse are much worse than a “few
bare breasts nestled between ads for
whiskey and cigarettes” as he described
them.
Most people do not read porno
graphic magazines, but nevertheless be
lieve they know what is contained within
the pages of the magazines. By combin
ing that fact with 20 years or so of very
good public relations work, Playboy and
Penthouse were able to obtain so much
acceptance that major corporations such
as Southland sold their obscene prod
ucts without embarrassment.
Most people also have not learned
that pornography is addictive, so addic
tive it can lead an addict to commit sex
crimes, including murder.
Most people are unaware that obscen
ity is not protected by the First Amend
ment and that the Supreme Court has
consistently ruled that obscenity has no
redeeming social value. Most people
don’t know that existing obscenity legis
lation is pretty good, it’s just not being
enforced.
Steffy said we should attack these
Two simple ways
to ditch ABM treaty
EDITOR’S
NOTE: This is
the second in a
three-part series
on the ABM
treaty.
Under interna
tional law, there
are two grounds
for the United
States to end the
treaty it engaged
What came then was the declaration
of Reagan in March of 1983 — that we
would develop a Strategic Defense Ini
tiative, looking to the day when we
could so effectively protect ourselves
from Soviet missiles as, in effect, to
make it progressively suicidal for the So
viet Union to contemplate a first strike.
William F.
Buckley Jr.
Well, could we proceed with the space
shield, given the restrictions of the ABM
treaty?
in in 1972 in Moscow, forswearing anti-
ballistic missiles.
The easiest way to do it is to consider
the treaty as null and void on the
grounds that one of the contracting par
ties is in violation of it, and that there
fore the other party is relieved of any
further obligations. To do this is as easy
as opening the lips and pronouncing the
word “Krasnoyarsk.” Because there the
Soviet Union has built a phased-array
radar facility 470 miles from its nearest
border but oriented toward a border
2,500 miles away, in clear violation of
the treaty. No responsible official this
side of the Iron Curtain would deny
that Krasnoyarsk is such a violation.
On this matter there has been consid
erable debate. There are two ways to
read the treaty: One is the so-called re
strictive way, the other the permissive
way.
The second way to go is almost as
easy. It would require merely a stroke of
President Reagan’s pen, advising the So
viet Union that the treaty-specified six-
month countdown has begun, and that
therefore in December the ABM treaty
will cease to bind the United States in
any way.
There are great ironies here, because
when we were bargaining with the Sovi
ets in 1972 we tried very hard to get
them to agree to absolute restrictions on
anti-ballistic missile activity. But the So
viet Union declined to adopt such lan
guage. What emerged from it was some-
thing called Agreed Statement D.
Depending on how you read it, and the
two clauses it explicates, the United
States is not permitted to employ fresh
technology to pursue and test SDI (the
restricted version), or it is permitted
(the permissive version). The irony lies
in the Soviets’ insistence that the re
stricted version is the correct version,
given its historical resistance to the bind
ing version U.S. negotiators sought.
Now not only was this an option read
into the treaty at the time it was signed,
our representative at the ceremony,
Ambassador Gerard Smith, said that the
United States was going along with the
anti-ballistic missile ban in pursuit of
general disarmament. “If an agreement
providing for more complete strategic
offensive arms limitation were not
achieved in five years,” said Ambassa
dor Smith, at the direction of the ad
ministration, “U.S. supreme interests
could be jeopardized. Should that oc
cur, it would constitute a basis for with
drawal from the ABM treaty.”
Well, exactly that did occur. In the in
terval after SALT I, the Soviet Union
added 8,000 warheads, while we sub
tracted about the same number. The
projected mutual assui'ed vulnerability
was in shatters: The Soviet Union has
been busily engaged in defensive activ
ity looking toward impregnability, while
we have grown lilies in our old air raid
shelters. We should have spotted the
weakness of the ABM treaty in 1977
when the treaty’s contractual five years
were up; but that was a year of Jimmy
Carter, and we dreamed our way
through the balance of the decade.
forms of pornography which serve as
instruction manuals for child molesters.
Again, most people do not know Play
boy and Penthouse contain large num
bers of images of children.
The Department of Juvenile Justice
has been concerned with that fact and
ordered a study to be done by Dr. Ju
dith Reisman, research professor at the
American University in Washington,
D.C.
Reisman studied the past 683 issues
of Playboy, Penthouse, and Hustler, the
most common obscene material sold in
family markets and most easily available
to children. Reisman scientifically classi
fied the images found in the magazines
and found 6,004 images of children,
both photos and illustrations.
Playboy averaged eight children per
issue, Penthouse averaged six per issue
and Hustler averaged 14. Hustler has a
regular cartoon feature called “Chester
the Molester” which has as its main
character an adult child molester who is
portrayed as giving sexual pleasure to
children. The study was completed Nov.
30, 1985.
Reisman told me that of these 6,004
images of children, 93 percent showed
the child involved in sexual activity with
an adult, themselves, an animal or an
object. Hardly innocence portrayed.
She reported the great majority of these
images of children are illegal as de
scribed by existing obscenity laws, but
that the publishers have never been
prosecuted.
According to Reisman, Playboy, Pent
house and Hustler are used as instruc
tion books for pedophiles (child moles
ters), they instruct their young victims
by showing them images of children en
joying sex with adults, alongside inter
views with celebrities, under a title that
is sold at the same store where Mom
buys milk.
The most bizarre sex offenders art-
sex murderers. These men who kill and
often kill again were studied by the fed
eral Bureau of Investigation’s behav
ioral science unit in Quantico, Va., and
the results of the study released in Sep
tember 1985 showed 81 percent of the
sex killers reported their biggest sexual
interests were in reading pornography
— Playboy, Penthouse and Hustler in
cluded.
Did focusing on 7-Eleven and Play
boy mean we abandoned all efforts
against other forms of obscenity? No,
not by any stretch of the imagination.
Rather, by raising the issue, “How can a
family-oriented grocery store be the
largest retailer of pornography in the
world?” we caused people to think, to
investigate and to make decisions.
Once the public began to review the
issue, we gained and incredible amount
of support, as evidenced by the 10,1)00
who marched to Southland’s door.
Whenever an issue causes 10,000 to
march, it gets the attention of poli
ticians. Those in public office today are
much more receptive to enforcing
obscenity laws and to fighting problems
such as kiddy porn, peep shows and
obscene cable broadcasts.
Candidates for office are spl
out against pornography, and;!
forcement groups are thrill
obscenity cases now might hi
ecuted.
Even with these great advare
are not naive. We know wed
completely erase obscenity; then
can hope to do is put it backinl
ter where it belongs. Neverthek
are committed to pushingitl
as we can, and the sentimenttl
politicians now seems tobewithu
In all fairness to the 7-Eleveni
their recent decision to stop set;
nography because of its relate
sex crimes is in keeping with I
tion of concern for the comtniuj
salute them for consistencyanc
judgment.
Steffy feels we have been fc
symptoms and not the cause.Tk
of the rapid onslaught of pome
is that it found no opposition. 1
too busy being unconcerned oi
that others would think uspruit
what was right. We did not
long it became unfashionable to
out against pornography.
The cause? I he cause wast
men and women did nothing.)
hitting right at the cause,«
aroused those good men and
and motivated them to act.
W.
ISupri
go>U
Bu
R oger K. Cunn ingham is a era
surance agent in Dallas and it
president for the Dallas Assock
Decency.
I! Ay Nowia a l-ivf CxJMvf riwi' tK-M mrt
Things not always as they seen
in world of business, economic
In the world
of business, fi
nance and eco
nomics, things
may not always
be as they seem.
John
Cunniff
AP analyst
The legal adviser to the U.S. Depart
ment of State, Abraham Sofaer, is a
scholar of some renown (he was the
judge who presided over the libel suit
brought by Ariel Sharon against Time
magazine). He testified before the Sub
committee on Arms Control, Interna
tional Security and Science of the House
committee on Foreign Affairs on Oct.
22, 1985, and quite simply demolished
the restrictive interpretation of the
treaty. However, President Reagan had
announced that he would proceed un
der the restrictive version, presumably
just to be a good sport. How much did
that decision damage the SDI program?
Item: The civilian unemployment
rate was 7.3 percent of the labor force in
May — but don’t try to apply that rate to
all areas. Things are bad enough in
some parts of the country to suggest
that America has two distinct econ-
Well, an expert concedes, it is true
that if there had been no ABM treaty,
the structure of the research program
would have been different. He concedes
that there have been a few “worka
rounds,” which is to say, some zigzag
ging with the view to abiding scrupu
lously by the treaty, as interpreted
restrictively. The question just when
might research be practically impeded
by the treaty, particularly if read restric
tively, is a subject the Defense Depart
ment doesn’t want to talk about. Be
cause, you see, the question is a political
one, and very, very sensitive, as we shall
see.
Copyright 1986, Universal Press Syndicate
omies.
Overall, lirban America is doing
fairly well, especially in areas that have
turned toward the production of serv
ices rather than goods.
But it’s another story in rural Amer
ica, where the four basic industries —
agriculture, timber, mining and textiles
— are suffering in unison, although for
somewhat varying reasons.
According to an analysis cited by the
Work in America Institute, a nonprofit
analyst of employment and jobs, 91 per
cent of the counties with jobless rates
double the national average are rural.
The study, by the Rural Coalition and
the Full Employment Action Council,
says prospects for recovery are bleak.
The study says that without diversifica
tion, rural areas will suffer more than
the rest of the country for the next de
cade.
Various studies show that the big
growth in jobs for the remainder of the
century will be in services — business,
government, financial, sales, health, se
curity and social services being the lead
ers.
Adding to the problem is an erosion
of the social-economic infrastructure in
many rural areas, making the comeback
all the more difficult.
Item: According to one of the most
trusted maxims of American business
life, your business is assured of success if
you build a better mousetrap. Satisfy
your customers, it is said, and they will
tramp to your door.
Really?
At least one authority on the subject
disagrees, and he has credentials so
solid any American business person
would be wise to take heed.
Speaking at Columbia University re
cently, the gentleman declared: “You
can’t stay in business just by having satis
fied customers. Satisfied customers
switch.” It is not enough that they be sat
isfied, he said.
“Customers should be elated,” he de
clared. “They should boast about the
product. They have to come back and
bring a friend.”
Those words were uttered by J. Ed
wards Deming, the management au
thority who is credited with having
taught the Japanese how topi
high-quality products for an
market that at first shunned I
nese label.
For reasons not thorough
stood, Deming is virtually ur
many American business p
contrast, he is honored by thejifj
whose first automobiles for the!
can market were ridiculed.
One reason why many ^
companies so often fail to elate0
ers, says Deming, is that theylea'l
agers in a job for just 2 Vs years.
“H ow can they know a job!
time?” he asked. “They cant;
people are studying reports aid!
tics, managing by numbers. |
work.”
prenn
tide
fencei
bat n
Wan a
1 Th
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The
died
tor
John Cunniff is a business i
The Associated Press.
The Battalion
(USPS 045 360)
Member of
Texas Press Association
South west Journalism Conference
The Battalion Editorial Board
Michelle Powe
Loren Steffy Opinion Pi
Scott Sutherland M
Kay Mallett New
Ken Sury Spork
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