Author: Jay Evensen

Date Published: 05/18/2012

Find Original Article here: http://www.deseretnews.com/article/765576682/Hard-to-wallow-on-porns-edge-and-not-fall-in.html?pg=2

The New York story brought to mind a column I wrote in 2007 about how difficult it is for lawmakers to keep up with the many devious ways pornographers go about their business. At the time, portable devices were beginning to make inroads, as were flash drives, making it easier to hide images.

Today the “cloud” and streaming video let users get around laws that specifically outlaw the act of downloading certain images. The New York court ruled that browsing was not the same as possessing child pornography.

This one had a happy ending, of sorts. Only 12 hours after the ruling, the normally divided New York Legislature had bills in the Senate and Assembly to close the loophole. Other states, however, remain vulnerable with their outdated laws.

The Powell case, meanwhile, is a textbook example of how pornography can capture a mind and change a personality. As Deseret News reporter Pat Reavy documented in an excellent piece on Powell’s background, those who know him describe how he went from a devout father and husband to a bitter deviant, and now a convicted felon, all because of an addiction to porn.

The culture appears determined to continue splashing around the muddy edges of this murky swamp while expressing outrage at those who fall in. This tug-of-war between the outer boundaries of an increasingly sexualized society and the inner guardians of basic propriety has been going on for awhile.

But the mixed messages and the never-ending development of new technologies are making the struggles more pronounced. A generation coming of age in the midst of this could use a lot less absurd behavior from the adult world.

Find Original Article here: http://www.deseretnews.com/article/765576682/Hard-to-wallow-on-porns-edge-and-not-fall-in.html?pg=2