People lose their capacity to walk, run, travel, think, and experience life. I realise how important it is to use the time I have. —Viggo Mortensen
The GOP thinks porn is a public health risk. There are other things so much more important
Priorities can get really fucked up and one can lose sight of the things that are important when one is trying to run for office. The GOP, however, has really jumped the shark with their presidential platform. In addition to wanting to screw the poor, violate the First Amendment by requiring religious instruction, and rolling back marriage rights, the GOP has also decided that porn is a public health crisis.
I’m not going to turn this into another diatribe in support of porn. I’ve already done that enough times and if you’re interested I’m sure you can search our archives and find all those entries. What is important in this conversation is that the GOP doesn’t seem to have a clue what is really important across our country. Nowhere in their platform do they address the most critical issues that face our country. Instead, they choose to pick on emotionally sensitive moral issues that tickle the ears of those sitting in church pews on Sunday morning, an audience that is in steep decline.
GOP also seems to be woefully ignorant of the fact that morality cannot be legislated. Let’s use the 1986 Meese Report as a perfect example. Millions of dollars were spent, attempts were made to change laws, but nothing could ever be implemented because it would violate the First Amendment. Even when they do manage to enact a law, such attempts are ultimately unenforceable. Write all the bedroom laws you want, porn still happens.
Maybe we should focus on more important things.
Gun Violence
This should be the number one priority of any Congress and/or state legislature. We know that mass shootings have surged. We know that more and more people are being killed. We know that the United States is the only industrialized country with such a severe problem. Yet, Congress made it illegal for the Centers For Disease Control to even study the matter, let alone make intelligent recommendations on how to address the issue.
Excuse me, but would you care to explain to me what could possibly be any more of a public health issue than our own people dying at the hands of our own people? With few exceptions, it is American citizens who have grown up here all their lives, buying guns legally, that are committing these horrible acts. While a few recently might have been influenced by foreign groups, no outside terrorist organization has had any direct part in US gun violence. We are killing ourselves.
When was the last time you heard of porn being directly responsible for mass numbers of deaths, hmm? Can porn even come close to killing the number of people who are killed in the US with gun violence? Of course, not. This is the kind of nonsense that gives the impression that Congress is doing something while still ignoring the more critical issues. Gun violence needs to be addressed and until that happens almost anything else is a waste of time.
Matters Of Race
Stop pretending that the United States is not a racist society. The few steps forward that we’ve made since the 1960s have been largely gutted by the GOP. However, they would much rather address issues of porn and sexuality, which really are of no legitimate interest to anyone on Capitol Hill, rather than actually address the issue that is right in front of their faces. The GOP has repeatedly denied that a race problem even exists, despite countless studies showing that blacks and hispanics are disproportionately poor, disproportionately under-educated, and disproportionately incarcerated.
Republican attempts to ignore racial issues are done at their own peril. With the recent events of last week, it seems obvious to me that the disenfranchised in this country have or are about to reach a tipping point. Those who feel put down and disserviced by the current system are increasingly ready to rise up and begin taking action. Some of those actions will be legal and appropriate. Some will not. Either way, the status quo is not sustainable. Talk all you want about which lives matter, until there is some concrete action taken at a federal level there is no truly safe place in the entire country.
At the beginning of last night’s ESPY awards, which are for outstanding achievement in sports, four NBA stars, Carmelo Anthony, Chris Paul, Dwyane Wade, and LeBron James, started the show with a sobering statement regarding recent events and racial mistreatment. Their words are strong and important. I’ve not been able to find a copy I could easily embed here, but you can watch the video at The Wrap if you wish. I strongly encourage you to do that.
Crumbling Infrastructure
Many of the things that make this country run, such as highways and the power grid, were created in the 1950s and 60s. They are all woefully out of date and in desperate need of repair. Yet, Congress has continually ignored funding any updates and repairs, determined to focus their attentions on less important things like, oh, porn. One Republican senator was even caught watching porn on the Senate floor. Must have been some kind of undercover investigation.
The Wall Street Journal published a very frightening article yesterday (that is, unfortunately behind a paywall), documenting how severely at risk our nation’s power grid is. We don’t even think about the fact that most substations have no security other than a chain link fence. Sabotage a handful of those substations at the same time, and the chain reaction could cause the entire nation to go black. Are you afraid of the dark? We are so heavily reliant on electrical power, we would be sitting ducks. There would be no way to communicate with police or other emergency responders. Chaos and anarchy would be inevitable.
Congress has known for several years that the infrastructure was in desperate need of attention. Unfortunately, they would rather spend their time and our tax dollars on things like propagating war and tax cuts for the super-rich. They have woefully lost sight of what is genuinely important and making up false issues to please the ears of mindless voters who are incapable of seeing the wool pulled over their eyes.
Other Important Things
The complete list of things more important than porn is far too long for me to list here. Needless to say, there is nothing in the Republican platform that is genuinely critical. There is nothing in the Republican platform that manages to benefit society. There is nothing in the Republican platform that anyone with half a brain would want to support.
Meanwhile, issues such as child hunger, obesity, access and quality of education, preschool, poverty, water availability and quality, global warming, prescription drug abuse, abuse of the elderly, and dozens of other issues are totally ignored, many  of them by both parties. Congress and state representatives seem to have no clue as to what is actually bringing harm to America. There are real health crises out there, but no one is paying any attention.
One final thing that is more important than porn: real sex. Might I suggest this article on How To Organize A Threeway. You know you’re curious. This could be just the thing to save you from ravages of porn. Be sure to read the sidebar addressing STD issues as well. This is a health issue, after all.
When one loses sight of what is important, one is no longer in any place to govern. For that matter, those who cannot determine what is a priority isn’t fit for employment for any kind of job. This GOP platform has no qualities that qualify for public debate. This is all nonsense that needs to be burned and put away forever.
Just The Facts
Prejudice is a great time-saver. You can form opinions without having to get the facts. —E. B. White
Everyone has their opinion, and numbers can be easily skewed but the facts are indisputable
Making clear decisions is difficult at times. When emotion and tradition say one thing but facts and raw numbers go a different direction, finding a point of reconciliation between the two seems impossible.
I’m not sure there is any issue that illustrates this fact than does the debate across the United States over guns and whether there should be any level of governmental control. I have plenty of liberal friends who are fine with the concept of no one having guns at all, including police. I have a sufficient number of conservative friends for whom even mentioning the words “gun control” borders on infringing the Second Amendment.
Philosophies on both sides are well known and I’m not going to embrace either one because both are severely flawed. The point of today’s article is not to take a side on any portion of the gun debate. Rather, to look at the numbers, the one set of indisputable facts, and see what they tell us.
The numbers related to gun deaths I’m looking at were compiled the website FiveThirtyEight. Their research was exhaustive and goes much deeper than I have time to  regurgitate here. If the issue is a strong one for you, I strongly encourage you to read their article and follow the links.
Talking Points
I know sorting through raw numbers can be challenging. Drawing correlations and finding trends and patterns takes a lot of time. Sometimes one’s attitude gets in the way of finding the facts. So, before we drill down too deep, let’s take a look at some of the major talking points to come out of the FiveThirtyEight research.
There are many different ways to die, but for these numbers the one thing they have in common, often the only thing they have in common, is a gun. The actual reasons for the violence vary tremendously. Gun violence is not a single point issue. We must get past the idea that there is a single solution that solves all gun deaths. The problems are much, much deeper.
Most Likely To Die
Let’s start with the top level number and move down from there.
There were 33,599 gun deaths in the year 2014
The picture there is pretty stark: men are more likely to die from gun violence than women. The difference is extreme. But while that looks as though we have a problem with men running around shooting each other, the reality is quite different.
The leading cause of death among men, especially those 45 or older, is suicide. We touched briefly on this topic earlier this year when new suicide statistics were released. However, when we look at the numbers in relationship to gun violence. The facts don’t point to open carry laws or assault rifles as being the primary problem. Instead, mental health and economic issues are where we need to focus our attention if we want to bring down the largest set of numbers.
And there’s the problem. We’re more than happy to yell and scream about guns, but you don’t see many people protesting over access to mental health care or the death rate due to poverty. Those are facts we’d rather ignore. They make us uncomfortable.
Killing Each Other
Interestingly enough, this is one area where the numbers are going down and have been for nearly 20 years. Attributing the decline to any one cause, such as gun laws or better policing, is coming at the problem with skewed vision. If we want to find all the solutions, we have to look deeper.
11,726 gun deaths are homicides. 9,935 are male, 1,791 are female. Those numbers include every form of homicide: during the commission of a robbery, domestic disputes, arguments between “friends,” drug-related crime, “honor” killings, gang-related hits, police-involved shootings. There are even more causes if one wants to drill down further. Each cause represents a unique problem. Each problem must be addressed individually. Just because they all have guns in common doesn’t mean that addressing the gun issue solves the problem. Â
Oh, and look at this: Only 3,049 homicides are white. 6,503 are black, 1,878 are Hispanic, 186 are Asian, and 109 are native American. That’s victim count, mind you. Blacks are being killed at twice the rate of whites. We have to realize that, to some extent, the rate of homicide is more of a race issue than a gun issue.Â
It’s Not My Fault
Accidental deaths, especially those of children, always get a lot of play in the media. Who doesn’t feel bad that a toddler’s life is snuffed out by a playmate who found a gun in a drawer? These  are emotional issues that get a lot of people talking, but too often they don’t have the facts to make an accurate statement.
Here are the real numbers: 427 gun deaths are of people under 15, 59 of those are accidents, 221 are homicides. Homicides. Children intentionally being killed. Mostly by adults. While accidents pull on our heart strings, that’s not the bigger problem, is it?
Accidental gun deaths occur most often among people ages 15 to 34. 210 accidental deaths were reported within that age group during the year. Then, for an interesting racial spin, they are more likely to be white males. Â 102 is the number there. Almost half. Call it the Bubba Factor, good ol’ boys just playing around, not paying attention. “Hey look, ya’ll, watch this …” becomes their last words. So, where’s the campaign against carelessness?
Our Fear Of Terror
One of the more interesting items in the FiveThirtyEight article is finding out that Mother Jones maintains what may be the most complete and accurate table of mass shootings. I would have expected some government entity, or a branch of the United Nations perhaps, to have taken on that responsibility. You can see the full table for yourself at the Mother Jones website.
Terrorism numbers are not included in the 33,599 deaths mentioned above. Terrorism is not a gun issue. Terrorism is a terror issue, a matter of war, and can only be resolved by addressing it as such, even if the “terrorist” is a lone gunman with a personal agenda. Guns are never the issue in these situations. Just last week, we saw how one terrorist used a truck, of all things, to kill nearly 100 people in Nice, France.
At the same time, however, keeping assault weapons out of the hands of terrorists, whether foreign or domestic, is a facet of that conversation. Again, let me say it one more time, there is no single-point solution to any  of these problems!
Stay Calm & Think Rationally
The facts of gun violence show a very different picture than what is represented in the media. Looking at raw numbers removes a lot of the emotion we get from reading an article online or watching the video of a single event. Numbers give us a chance to gain a bit of perspective and logic.
After all this, here’s one last number to throw at you: 33,599 is less than .0001% of the total US population. More people die of cancer. More people die of heart disease. More people die of causes related to obesity.
I don’t say that to diminish the importance of gun violence.  Cancer doesn’t kill you while you’re walking down the street. Obesity doesn’t happen by accident. We all want to feel safe. I merely want to put the issue into some perspective.
Guns are not the bane of society.
The Second Amendment is not sacred text.
When both sides decide to get off their high horse, stop being do damned defensive and look at the facts, then maybe we can begin to make some progress.
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