Justice or Porn?

Justice or Porn? Which one is more important? Being familiar with the environment of a school like SIU, it was not difficult for me to guess the answer. But what I saw last night was more disappointing than what I had guessed.

Like any other school, we have all sort of public talks. These talks will help students deepen their insight into areas of public interest and develop their intellectual capabilities by getting to know about different perspectives first hand. Hearing about somebody's viewpoints from third-parties is far different than hearing directly from the very person. On that account, I approve of having all sort of speakers on campus, even if not approving the speaker's viewpoints. Well, of course when it's not funded out of the fees I pay as a poor student.

Last night, we had two public talks on campus. The first one was titled: Attorney General Lisa Madigan, A Rising Star in Illinois Politics. The talk was sponsored by the Paul Simon Public Policy Institute at SIU. Lisa Madigan is the first female Attorney General in the history of Illinois. She's been reelected to the position by 72.4% of the vote. Having read the following on the event flier, I made a mental note to attend her speech:

Lisa Madigan, the first woman to serve as Illinois Attorney General, has earned a reputation as a distinguished public servant and tireless advocate for protecting the public and improving the lives of Illinois citizens. Following a successful tenure in the Illinois Senate, Madigan was elected as the state’s chief legal counsel in 2002. Re-elected in 2006, she captured the largest vote total of any statewide candidate. As Attorney General, she has dedicated her office to protecting communities from sex offenders and online predators, safeguarding the environment, fighting for open and accessible government and defending consumers from fraud and deceptive practices. Madigan previously worked as a community advocate to develop after-school programs and volunteered as a high school teacher in apartheid-era South Africa.

Then, I found through my professor of Introduction to Sociology about another talk. It was a debate between Ron Jeremy and Craig Gross. Ron Jeremy is a former schoolteacher turned porn-actor, having the Guinness Record of Most Appearances in Adult Films, having performed in over 1900 films and directed 246. And Craig Gross is a pastor who has founded XXX Church.com to challenge porn addiction among the youth, not by escaping from the problem, rather by giving information about it. He also tries to help ex-porn stars come back to normal life.

I was already familiar with their debate tours. They visit universities, debating each other about whether porn is good or bad. I had watched one of their debates on the Nightline last year. And I was amazed by the support Ron Jeremy received from college students. He argues that there is nothing wrong with porn. It's a natural thing and more so, it's an artistic performance. So, porn per se shouldn't be considered a problem. If it causes any problem it's that person's fault. So, basically smoking should not be banned. If smoking causes any problem, it's that person's fault, not the cigarette.

Or when Pastor Gross argued that porn is degrading to women (in that it reduces them to sex objects or makes men have unrealistic sexual expectations), he countered that porn is liberating and empowering not degrading women. And to support his argument, he mentioned Jenna Jameson as a success story who has made over 17 million dollars and asked if that is not empowering, then what is? Quite an argument! I'm really glad that he left his job as a schoolteacher. What was he teaching those poor school kids?

Pastor Gross on the other hand, supports his case by giving statistics and horror stories about people whose life has been ruined by this natural artistic performance. Interestingly, as a pastor, he doesn't bring in religion in the argument to further his case (well, except for repeating that God loves everybody); he just relies on stats and facts to prove that porn is a nasty harmful thing. And he frequently visits porn shows and tries to give bibles with a title of "Jesus Loves Porn Stars".

What's interesting about their debates is the way they address each other. If you're not familiar with their diametrically opposing views, you might assume they are close friends or at least close colleagues. Maybe the latter is not so far from truth. When you frequently visit colleges with this other guy, even though he is at the other end of the spectrum, these frequent campus visits make you colleagues, even if your collegiality is to discredit each other.

So, being familiar with their debates and arguments I didn't have difficulty deciding between the two public talks last night. And I really enjoyed listening to Lisa Madigan. And knowing about SIU atmosphere, I could guess what would have been the easier choice for the majority of students. And it appeared that she was kinda unhappy about the other talk overlapping hers; although the Law School auditorium (the venue for her speech) was full. At the beginning of her speech, she quipped about the swarm of students around the other event and promised us that her speech would be at least as entertaining as the other one. And it was.

After her speech (which was about her fight against injustice in Illinois), although I didn't personally need to attend the other event, I felt curious to evaluate the swarm. And as a TA, I knew that a lot of my students would attend the debate and some of them would choose to write about it as their Assignment no. 1. So, I pedaled my bike fast toward the Student Center. And man, I got to know what she meant by swarm. One of the doormen (in fact a SIU staffer) told me there was no room in and that he had turned away five hundred people and in a not-so-polite way, told me to stay away. Actually, I could see lots of disappointed students who had not been able to get in. Although I was not so eager to go in, his attitude didn't feel nice on me.

I went around the building and found a way in through the backdoor. The ballroom was overcrowded with enthusiastic students who would shower Ron Jeremy with their applause from time to time. And when the debate finished, there were many students eager for an autograph from their star. Apparently for these guys, deepening their insight and building on their intellectual assets were not at the top of their priorities for attending this public talk.

Pastor Gross joked that "it's OK to ask Ron Jeremy for autograph, but please don't pull out your penis for that; students who did that in previous events did not get a good autograph, as the signature would not stand well on a penis". Quite a pastor!

For more news coverage, look here and here.

Thinking about the stark difference between the number of students in these concurrent events made me think about the way our society is going. Surely, as a conservative, I don't agree with all the liberal views of Lisa Madigan (like on abortion or homosexuality).

But I wonder who should be the role-model for our students who will be our future professionals building our future society? Which one should be the true star? A filthy porn star who has a Guinness record of public adultery and promoting perversion? Or a rising shining star who has dedicated herself to fight injustice? And this brings me back to my first question: Which one is more important? Justice or Porn? Unfortunately, the answer is crystal clear for many students at SIU.