|
6/6/03
09/03 10/17/03
11/25/02
9/5/02 5/20/02
12/19/01
10/23/01
7/20/01
4/30/01
4/2/01 2/20/01
12/4/00
10/20/00
9/7/00 8/18/00
6/2/00 4/27/00
3/13/00
3/00
Nov. 2, 2007
Dec. 30, 2005
Sept. 9, 2004
My New Writing On Dennis
Prager
March 4, 2000
I listened to an interview Friday morning of Rabbi Joseph Telushkin
(click
here for a collection of his columns on ethics) by his friend
Dennis Prager on KABC radio. The rabbi has just written the book
that I was thinking of writing six years ago, when I decided instead
to write a history of hardcore. Here is an excerpt from the rabbi's
new book that I've taken from Amazon.com.
The Book of Jewish Values: A Day-By-Day Guide to
Ethical Living
By Rabbi Joseph Telushkin
On Hearing a Siren
What is your reaction when you are talking with a friend and your
conversation is suddenly interrupted by the piercing wail of an
ambulance siren? Is it pure sympathy for the person inside -- or
about to be picked up by -- the ambulance, or do you feel some measure
of annoyance? Similarly, how do you react when you are awakened
from a deep sleep by a series of clanging fire trucks or the wail
of a police car?
I am embarrassed to admit that, along with many others, my initial
reaction to such noises is often impatience and annoyance rather
than empathy. My friend Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi, known throughout
the Jewish world as "Reb Zalman," suggests that whenever we hear
the sound of a passing ambulance we offer a prayer that the ambulance
arrive in time. Similarly, whenever our sense of calm is interrupted
by fire trucks, we should pray to God that the trucks arrive in
time to save the endangered people and home. We should also pray
that no firefighter be injured. And when we hear police sirens,
we should implore God that the police respond in time to the emergency.
Reb Zalman's suggestion is profound. By accustoming ourselves to
uttering a prayer at the very moment we feel unjustly annoyed, we
become better, more loving people. The very act of praying motivates
us to empathize with those who are suffering and in need of our
prayers. Furthermore, imagine how encouraging it would be for those
being rushed to a hospital to know that hundreds of people who hear
the ambulance sirens are praying for their recovery.
Speaking to a Jewish group once in Baltimore, I shared Reb Zalman's
suggestion. After my talk, several people commented on how moved
they were by this idea, but one woman seemed particularly emotional
when she spoke of this suggestion. When she was ten, she told me,
she had been awakened from a deep sleep by passing fire trucks.
It was almost one in the morning, and now, twenty-five years later,
she still remembered her first response: it was so unfair that her
sleep had been ruined.
The next morning she learned that her closest friend, a girl who
lived only a few blocks away, had died in the fire. Ever since,
she told me, whenever she hears fire trucks go by, she prays that
they arrive at their destination in time.
Loving one's neighbor is usually carried out through tangible acts,
by giving money or food to those in need, by stepping in and offering
assistance to a neighbor who is ill, or by bringing guests into
one's home. But sometimes loving is expressed through a prayer that
connects us to our neighbor, even when we have no way of knowing
just who our neighbor is.
Week 1, Day 3 Tuesday
The Purchase That Is Always Forbidden
One may not buy wool, milk, or kids from shepherds. Nor may one
buy wood or fruit from the watchmen of orchards. . . . [Even in
instances where it is permitted to buy something], in all cases
in which the seller asks that the goods be hidden, it is forbidden
[to make such a purchase]. . . . -- Mishna, Bava Kamma 10:9
Common sense lies behind this ancient ruling. There is no way you
can know for certain that the shepherds or watchmen have stolen
the items from their employers, but common sense suggests that if
they are offering for sale precisely those items they are paid to
guard, they have probably acquired them illegally.
In modern terms, imagine that the checkout man at your local supermarket
meets you on the street and tells you he can deliver dairy goods
to your house at half the price you pay at the supermarket that
employs him. You can't be certain that he is acquiring the products
illegally, but nonetheless, Jewish law says that in such a case
you should regard the person as guilty until proven innocent, and
refuse to purchase food from him.
Similarly, one sees on the streets of many American cities people
selling videos of recently released movies for a fraction of what
they cost in stores. Since reason suggests that such films have
been "pirated" (illegally copied) or stolen -- how else can one
account for the cheap price at which they are being sold? -- Jewish
law would prohibit purchasing them.
As a rule, otherwise honest people who buy stolen merchandise continue
to regard themselves as honest, and certainly see themselves as
being on a higher moral rung than the people from whom they have
purchased their goods. Maimonides makes it clear that Jewish law
does not share this view: "It is prohibited to buy from a thief
any property he has stolen, such buying being a great sin, since
it encourages criminals and causes the thief to steal other property.
For if a thief finds no buyer, he will not steal" (Mishneh Torah,
"The Laws of Theft" 5:1).
An actual, if less obvious, instance of dealing in stolen goods,
the insider stock-trading scandal, occurred in the late 1980s in
the New York financial markets; in that case, a financier paid employees
of law firms and financial institutions to inform him when companies
with which they dealt were going to be bought out. Knowing that
the stock prices in those companies would rise substantially, the
man bought shares and, over a number of years, made tens of millions
of dollars in profit. When his scheme eventually was exposed, he,
along with the people who supplied him with the information, was
sent to prison.
From my understanding of Judaism's perspective, purchasing information
that the seller has no right to market is yet another way in which
a person traffics in stolen goods. Very simply, if someone is trying
to sell you something that is not his to sell -- whether goods or
information -- you have no right to buy. As it is written in Proverbs
(29:24), "He who shares with a thief is the enemy of his own soul."
Luke: Rabbi Telushkin writes a regular column on Beliefnet.com.
Here's an excerpt from his latest column on prostitution and the
Marry A Millionaire Fox TV show:
Although the show appealed to the lowest form of human greed, I
don't automatically condemn it as immoral, probably for the same
reason that your friends don't. The women who appeared on the program
knew exactly why they were going on (to marry a rich man), and the
man knew exactly why they wanted to marry him (because he was rich).
Such behavior is greedy, even loathsome, but it's not, in my view,
immoral.
Is prostitution immoral? In my view, it's not--in theory, anyway.
(In practice, prostitution is very often immoral because it involves
young women being abused by pimps; many of these women come from
emotionally, physically, and sexually abusive homes, so the choices
they make to become prostitutes are often not really free-will decisions.)
I believe that prostitution is debasing to the human spirit and
that it's unholy, because it transforms the act of loving into a
business transaction. But if a woman freely chooses (that is, she
could earn money doing other types of work) to accept money from
a man in exchange for sex, I don't see the act in and of itself
as immoral.
I realize that many people, particularly those on the religious
right and feminists on the left, would disagree with me. I'm somewhat
puzzled by the feminist objections, since feminists are committed
to the belief that a woman should have the right to do what she
wants with her body. Does that mean that a woman should have the
right to do what she wants with her body only when she wants to
abort a fetus but not when she wants to sell her body for sex? Again,
I'm not advocating prostitution; it's about as unholy an act as
I can imagine. I'm only arguing that if the relationship is entered
into freely, it's not clear to me why this should be condemned as
immoral.
Feb 28
Devil's advocate: While listening to Dennis Prager this morning,
they were discuss the Bob Jones ban on interracial dating. The first
person to call in was a seemingly smart, middle-class black woman
that said she supports Bob Jones policy, because she doesn't want
black men dating out of their race(although she herself said she
wouldn't necessarily be opposed to dating a white man). And anytime
the subject of IR dating comes up on these shows, the only ones
you have that seem to oppose it are black women. Since you said
you know many other middle class black women, do you find that these
sentiments are representative? Are those black women that complain
about not finding men just whiners for the most part or do you think
there is any truth to what they are saying? Maybe they just aren't
desirable because they don't act in such a way, but then maybe they
are being shunned by black men and other men for no good reason
at all, I don't know.
Dennis Prager praised the critically panned film "Hanging
Up." He (and Mrs Prager agrees) said it was funny and good
and nice, and an accurate portrayal of women and their concerns.
P says critics are jaded and simply nice entertaining films do
not excite them.
Prager said what happened to the NY immigrant Amadou Diallo was
a tragedy, not an evil. P. says the black and civil rights activists
believe that malevolent police are too quick to kill black people.
P believes the killing was more tragic than criminal. P notes that
four members of the twelve person jury were black.
But this does not mean that we can't learn anything from the tragedy.
Liberal New York Times columnist Bob Herbert writes: "The
problems that the cops who killed Amadou Diallo have come to epitomize
will remain: the humiliation and brutalization of thousands of innocent
New Yorkers, most of them black and brown, by police officers who
are arrogant, tyrannical, poorly trained and often racist."
In his second hour, Prager condemned Bob Jones University for banning
interracial dating. Prager said that was unChristian and he asked
conservative Christians to condemn this.
I, Luke, remember interracial dating being banned at the Seventh
Day Adventist college I grew up on in Australia.
P condemned the liberal media for not pointing out how Bill Bradley's
supporter, director Mike Lee, at one time refused to give interviews
to white journalists. Lee says he gives an evil eye to black and
white couples.
In his third hour, Prager discussed child custody after a divorce.
Prager condemned how women who have primary custody are allowed
to move out of state and away from the father of their kids. Prager
said that he and his ex-wife Janet have had joint custody. Their
son David spends one week at Dennis's home and one week at Janet's.
And they've done this since David was four.
P says that therapists and psychologists who say that children
of divorce should have only one home, rather than joint custody,
"should die."
Prager has long said that he'd wait until his son was 18 before
Prager discussed his divorce in depth.
Jazzy writes about Prager on alt.radio.talk: "If you bother
to listen to him PONTIFICATE what you come away with is his hate
for women. He has actually stated that he believes males should
be the "patriarch" of the home. He tries to sugarcoat it and make
it seem benign but how many of you guys would like to your wives
to be the "matriarch" of the home. Dennis Prager is a bag fat bag
of stinky hot air."
Turner: "Ever since I can remember, Prager has taken the stance
that porn is not a contributor to those who commit sex crimes. (rape,
molestation, etc.) He doesn't believe that people can get addicted
to porn. (does he know the number one sites that are hit on the
web?) Since I heard him take that stance originally around 1994
on KABC-L.A. I lost the little bit of respect I had for him. Perhaps
he has the addiction."
Etc
Prager asked: Who's more blind in love? Prager says men are more
blind falling in love and women are more blind about staying in
love.
Men fall in love with their eyes, a superficial way. But women
often stay with men who abuse them.
Dr. Laura recently blasted "The Zone," Dr. barry Sears's
low carbohydrate diet which Prager endorses.
Turner writes on alt.radio.talk: "Ever since I
can remember, Prager has taken the stance that porn is not a contributor
to those who commit sex crimes. (rape, molestation, etc.) He doesn't
believe that people can get addicted to porn. (does he know the
number one sites that are hit on the web?) Since I heard him take
that stance originally around 1994 on KABC-L.A. I lost the little
bit of respect I had for him. Perhaps he has the addiction."
Phil Hendrie
Many listeners who enjoy Dennis Prager on KABC radio enjoy Phil
Hendrie on KFI. Aaron Gross writes: The hard part was learning that
he [Hendrie] was different from the rest of KFI's regular line-up
that tends to say outrageous stuff they don't believe. It reminded
me of the coaching my wife and I got before we went on (and won)
the Newlywed Game years ago. The producers said flat-out, even if
we agreed, to pile on the cheese and escalate any semblence of a
spat for the audience. Rule #1: Never back down, even if your partner
is right.
When I learned Hendrie was doing all the voices, I realized it
was brilliant. It's hard to imagine his not losing his composure
while switching persona. For the uninitiated, Hendrie's show starts
with a "guest" (Hendrie through a voice modifier) with
an outrageous premise (a school librarian who believes in corporal
punishment for children who bring books back late; someone who is
striking in support of the UPS drivers, who believes that the drivers
ought to be able to honk from the street and have you go and pick
up your own parcel; a 2nd grade teacher who has daily "field
trips" to local businesses where the children get to "try"
the work, like at a dry cleaner, small item assembly, whatever).
Invariably, someone not familiar with the show gets sucked in and
starts SCREAMING at the guest. One of the gimmicks used is that
if someone is really irate, they'll be kept on hold a little while,
so they'll be really steamed by the time they get on the air. Hendrie
is a genius.
Who Wants To Marry A Millionaire?
Mid Feb
Prager discussed the FOX TV show "Who Wants To Marry A Millionaire?"
While Prager of course viewed it as shallow and demeaning, he thought
it touched on some important truths about human nature. That many
women would be happy to marry a man if all they knew about him was
that he was a multi-millionaire. And that many men would be happy
to marry a woman if all they knew was that she was beautiful.
Feb 9
Prager discussed a column by Charles Krauthammer in his first hour.
Kraut criticized Christopher Reeves for raising hopes about a cure
for spinal cord injuries.
Then in his second hour, Prager discusses the need for men to be
alone with other men. A caller suggested strip clubs. Prager did
not realize that men talk to other men at strip clubs. The other
alternative is religious groups, like synagogue mens clubs.
Singlemom writes on the Prager List to ChrisDnld about the KABC's
low ratings: "You also try to mitigate his responsibility for
the KABC tank because DP is only on for a few hours a day. What
you also fail to point out is that Prager has humbly boasted on
air that he had a hand in KABC hiring both Larry Elder and Al Rantel.
That adds up to 10 hours of KABC programming a day - "The Prager
Troika"! And you neglect to point out that Prager's show has
been dropped in one or more of the syndicated markets.
"(Chris - Before you open your stink glands and spray and deny
that Prager was connected to the hiring of Elder and Rantel, take
a look at some of the "Prager Troika" Usenet threads from
98 and 99 addressing the Prager's "job placement" of Elder
and Rantel - or listen to his show. I would imagine that Prager
still periodically boasts about it and still accepts thanks from
callers for bringing Elder and/or Rantel to KABC. And before you
open your stink glands and spray and deny that the show has been
dropped anywhere, do the research.)"
Jazzy writes: Prager's topics can be summarized as follows:
*Rationallizing porn for males
*Rationallizing his need to reduce women to sex objects who should
only be
concerned with their physical looks.
*Denying the existence of racism and sexism.
*Babbling on about his bizarre religious views.
I always end up feeling sorry for his wife after listening to his
show.
Feb 4, 2000
In the Los Angeles Jewish Journal, www.jewishjournal.com,
the editor and publisher of New York Jewish Week writes about creating
Bar Mitzvah buzz:
Consider what Marty and Phyllis Flashner did a couple of weeks
ago in honor of their daughter Jill's bat mitzvah at Temple Sholom
in Greenwich, Conn. In addition to having Jill deliver a D'var Torah
and lead the services on Shabbat, the Flashners brought in Dennis
Prager, the Los Angeles-based national radio talk show host and
author, as a scholar-in-residence for the weekend, and the synagogue
members are still raving.
"It was a way of thanking Dennis, and introducing our community
to him and his ideas," explained Marty Flashner, a tax accountant.
He said that Prager, whom he had never met, has had a powerful Jewish
influence on his life over the last five years, through his writings
and tapes, and has made him 'a serious Jew.'
"I send my kids to day school, I keep kosher, I put on tefillin
every morning," he said, as a direct result of Prager's combination
of traditional and innovative Jewish ethics and philosophy.
In preparing for Jill's bat mitzvah, Phyllis Flashner called a
number of friends of friends in Greenwich to ask how much they spent
for such a simcha. "The number she kept hearing was $35,000,
for these big parties," said Flashner. "That just wasn't
our style."
Flashner came up with the idea, instead, of bringing Prager as
a scholar-in-residence for the weekend. "I wasn't trying to
make a statement," said Flashner, "but it struck a nerve
with peolpe that this is a better way to celebrate a young person's
coming of age."
.................
Luke: Feb 4. Prager spent his first two hours on miracles and alleged
communication between the dead and living. Numerous persons called
up with accounts of miracles or signs of divine intervention, including
Prager's assistant Laurie Zimmet.
In the third hour, Prager hosted his oldest son David, who's just
turned 17 yo. David expressed his gratitude that his parents rarely
fought despite their divorce, for it makes him most uncomfortable
when one of his parents criticizes the other.
David said he did not have a great love of learning.
Here's a good topic for a Prager show:
From the WSJ.com: ...Saul Bellow, whose forthcoming novel, "Ravelstein,"
is based on the life of the late political philosopher Allan Bloom,
who was Mr. Bellow's friend and colleague at the University of Chicago.
The novel, the 84-year-old Mr. Bellow's first full-scale work in
more than a decade, reveals that Bloom was a homosexual who died
of AIDS, a truth long kept quiet out of respect for Bloom's privacy.
...Bloom has lost the iconic status he once enjoyed among conservatives,
who initially hailed his work but have been more subdued in recent
years, owing mainly to uneasiness about his homosexuality.
Still, what purpose is served by outing Bloom? Mr. Bellow has already
given
one answer: Bloom's homosexuality was no secret to those who knew
him or
followed his career. Acquaintances say he lived openly with his
male partner,
who by all accounts is portrayed respectfully in "Ravelstein."
Beyond that,
sexuality was a preoccupation of Bloom's writing. As a classicist
and a close
student of Plato's "Symposium," he thought long and hard
about "eros," as he
called it, and linked its "divinatory powers" to the greatest
poetry and
philosophy.
Jan 29
I watched Prager deliver the sermon this morning at his temple,
Stephen S. Wise. Public speaking is his strongest of many communications
mediums.
He's an engaging speaker, full of self deprecating humor.
He made two main points today about the "Yitro" Torah
portion which contains the Ten Commandments.
One. The importance of the Fifth Commandment, to honor father and
mother. Prager finds it to believe that someone could honor God
without honoring his parents. This commandment teaches us that there
are things higher than ourselves worthy of honor.
Prager relayed some funny stories about raising kids. He says he
is a soft father, perhaps too soft.
Though one time, at 3:30AM, for about the sixth time, he put his
son back in his bed. And Prager threw his son into bed. His son
replied, 'Dad, I'm not a baseball.' And Prager says he crumbled
at that remark.
Prager plans to have his oldest son David on his radio show next
week. David is turning 17.
"Yitro" was David's Bar Mitzvah portion. And four years
ago, when Prager, at the Sephardic Temple on Wilshire Blvd, was
called to the Torah to say a blessing in front of his son, Prager
cried.
For two chief reasons. It was his son's Bar Mitzvah, and two, Prager
believes that the Ten Commandments are the best solution to evil.
On his radio show Friday, a man called up and told Dennis that
he could do a considerably better job of writing the Ten Commandments
than the Biblical author, by including such admonitions as to love,
and to pursue social justice.
Prager disagreed. His second main point today was that the five
ethical commands are all phrased in the negative - do not murder,
do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not lie in court, do not
covet. Prager says 'Do not steal' is the most important of all,
and covers all Ten Commandments.
While it is not enough on a personal level to simply abstain from
doing evil, says Prager, if all society kept the five ethical laws,
we would live in a heaven on earth.
Prager said that prohibiting these five specific evils was far
more morally effective than admonishing people to love. Prager says
our society may be overdosing on love, as you can overdose on anything.
On his radio show Friday, Prager had his friend the psychiatrist
Dr. Steve Marmer on for the second hour, the Happy Hour. They discussed
the role of therapy in happiness. Dr. Marmer said that one third
of therapists are destructive and one third are useless. Prager
agreed.
They both agreed that virtually everyone could benefit from good
therapy.
Dr. Marmer phrased it in terms of taking control of your life,
like a captain guides a ship. Don't be held emotionally hostage.
Find out what drives you.
SSW had a bigger crowd than normal, about 150 persons.
On his show this week, Prager praised Hopalong Cassidy's Creed
for American Boys and Girls (hopalong.com).
When DennisPrager.com links to other websites, it does so within
its frame system which exposes him to liability. A Microsoft website
was successfully sued for doing something similar, because this
method of linking adds the content of other sites to your site.
1. The highest badge of honor a person can wear is honesty. Be truthful
at all times.
2. Your parents are the best friends you have. Listen to them and
obey their instructions.
3. If you want to be respected, you must respect others. Show good
manners in every way.
4. Only through hard work and study can you succeed. Don't be lazy.
5. Your good deeds always come to light. So don't boast or be a
show-off.
6. If you waste time or money today, you will regret it tomorrow.
Practice thrift in all ways.
7. Many animals are good and loyal companions. Be friendly and kind
to them.
8. A strong, healthy body is a precious gift. Be neat and clean.
9. Our country's laws are made for your protection. Observe them
carefully.
10. Children in many foreign lands are less fortunate than you.
Be glad and proud you are an American.
Prager devoted a couple of hours to the question of should one
be proud to be an American. What about all the bad things the country
has done, like slavery.
Prager says it is good to be a proud American because this country
has done more good than harm (when judged against the performances
of other countries).
Nelson writes on alt.radio.talk:
"Anyone catch the recent Dennis Prager show where he
was talking about Communist countries and the court systems. First,
he got very upset and hung up on a caller who stated that someone
would have about as much of a chance at justice in a Chinese court
as the Cuban boy's family would in an (anti Castro) court in Miami.
I found Prager's reaction to be quite interesting since he spends
a considerable amount of time bashing the U.S. courts. His favorite
phrase is about the CONTEMPT he has for the court system.. He sure
did an about face on the issue with this caller.
"Later in the same show he did a bit of blowing his own horn
when he said "if any of you wonder how I'm so knowledgeable
about Communism, it's because I studied it for my master degree
at Columbia". One of Prager's favorite themes is how inept
the university system is and how higher education actually makes
you stupid. So, apparently everyone who gets a masters degree or
doctorate becomes unable to think rationally---except for Dennis,
who becomes an expert in his area of study. Amazing!"
Doug Hill writes on the Prager list: DP is fond of the G.K. Chesterton
quote: "When people stop beleiving in God, they don't believe
in nothing, they believe in anything." The article below offers
some empirical data that argues things are a lot more complicated
(if not simply otherwise) than Chesterton's quote.
AMHERST, N.Y-- Are people who are devoutly religious also believers
in UFOs, ESP, and psychic ability? Conventional wisdom has tended
to answer "no," but a new study published in the January/February
2000 issue of Skeptical
Inquirer, The Magazine for Science and Reason, indicates that the
two belief systems often go hand-in-hand.
Jan 20
Prager deplored a talkshow host in Buffalo asking Mrs. Hillary
Clinton if she had always been sexually faithful to Bill. Prager
says public figures should boycott members of the press who ask
them about their sex lives.
In his third hour, Prager discussed the return of the girdle. Not
one caller thought this was a bad thing.
January 19, 2000
By Tom Looney @ http://www.radiodigest.com:
Mr. Morality Pants Says What?
Recently, while preaching loquaciously on the air about his micro-macro
view of the world, KABC's Dennis Prager once again took liberal
potshots at the 1960s. "You can't name me anything positive
that came out of the 1960s," Prager mantra'd. (Note to self:
Send Dennis Prager a picture of Neil Armstrong walking on
the moon ... and Martin Luther King, Jr. marching through Selma
... and Hazel baking cookies for Mr. B.)
One caller phoned into KABC and asked Prager, "What about
the music?" "I'm not really familiar with the music of
the ’60s," Prager socially retardedly retorted. "I
spent most of my free time studying and listening to classical music
back then."
What a doofus. Can you just picture him, hurrying to class wearing
his pointy-toed loafers, humming Bach with a yamika on his big ol'
head?
Dr. Laura, who also went to college in the '60s, says she never
did drugs, even though they were all around. (She wouldn't lie,
would she?) Thank God for big favors, though. If Dennis Prager
and Dr. Laura spent their college days like normal people, gobbling
down LSD, smoking pot and listening to Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely
Hearts Club Band, we'd be stuck each day listening to Royal Oaks
on KABC and Barbara Whitesides on KFI.
The socially retarded "outside-looking-in" chip on both
of their shoulders is what makes Prager and Schlessinger —
and most good talk show hosts — intriguing to hearken. In order
to do three or four hours of preaching, nagging, punchlining, pontificating,
opining and improvising about social and political issues every
day, it's necessary to have some "serious issues" yourself!
Despite my looney barbs, I listen to both of them all the time.
Jan 3, 2000
About two years ago, Prager did a show on Y2K. Prager said he is
almost never alarmist, but this Y2K problem sounded like something
worthy of becoming alarmed about. Now we know Y2K has turned out
to be a dud.
Prager pointed out that he had no subsequent shows on Y2K. He relied
on his common sense that it seemed worthy of attention.
Prager wondered what type of person buys a generator and hoards
food and who doesn't? Prager did not buy a generator or hoard food
or withdraw lots of money from his bank.
Prager wondered if the $500 billion spent on the Y2K problem was
excessive as Russia spent hardly anything and did not have Y2K problems.
In his second hour, Prager strongly opposed criminalizing the creation
and viewing of computer generated child porn. Prager believes that
viewing of pornographic images is but a man indulging his fantasies,
and is not inherently harmful. Prager opposes child porn because
of the damage it does to the children posing.
Prager wrote an essay opposing Harvard's firing of the Divinity
dean who was found with thousands of pornographic images on his
Harvard-owned computer. Prager finds this crackdown on porn images
frightening. Perhaps it is just frightening or threatening to Prager
personally?
Prager took a call from Rick, a professional photographer on the
way to a porn shoot. Rick supported the ban on computer generated
child porn images because it would allow people to take pictures
of the real thing, of children, and then claim the images were computer
generated. And there is no way to prove the difference if you don't
have the photo negative.
|