Shaming Buyers of Pornography
Tim Bayly reports on this interesting idea to shame pornography viewers:
On our way to a family reunion in Bristol, Tennessee, my wife, Mary Lee, our children Hannah and Taylor, and I passed this pornography store next to the southbound I-65 entrance ramp at the Indiana State Road 250 exit, just south of Seymour. We stopped and talked with the men picketing the store and expressed our appreciation for their work. These brothers have two tactics: first, they have signs all over the place telling prospective patrons that if they patronize the store their picture will be taken, posted on the internet, and sent to their employer (if they’re a truck driver).
Second, they try to talk to the men driving by, exhorting them not to enter.
July 4th, 2006 at 4:54 am
I don’t know if it’s the same folks, but a buddy of mine was hassled by the folks at: http://www.war-line.com/busted.html — it didn’t matter much to him, he’s self-employed, very forthright, and was buying a sex toy for his wife. If you’re not ashamed of your sexuality and why it’s bringing you to an adult bookstore, these folks don’t have a whole lot of leverage.
I’ve been told that the fellow who runs the site is an unsavory type who has a significant criminal history. I don’t have any independent knowledge myself, but a couple of web searches trace the war-line site to a guy named John Renner in Kentucky and there was a John Renner in Kentucky who plead guilty to a felony in 1986 and was apparently still in jail as recently as 2000.
July 4th, 2006 at 10:57 am
Thanks for that comment. It made me look up the story. This news story tells about the photographing, and how a firefighter was fired for going to a porn store in his firetruck. The principal leader, John Reneer, himself was convicted of a major crime. He is in the Kentucky sex offender registry, for first-degree sodomy. That actually lends some support to the idea that porn causes rape, if that is why he came to be involved in fighting porn. Another news story says
Todd: I don’t know that the folks here in this WAR-LINE group should be casting stones.
Bowersock: In fact, WAR-LINE’s founder is himself a convicted sex offender.
Reneer: There’s nothing I can do now that could ever make up or alleviate what I’ve done in the past. My goal is to try to make a difference.
July 30th, 2006 at 6:47 pm
Today I was there at the gas station beside the porn store. I have never been in but I’ll tell you those protester’s sitting there for such a long time now make me wonder even more what’s inside. I almost went over there so I could get my picture taken. Maybe go in to see what the big deal is all about. Seem’s like these people could find better ways to help people. Instead of waisting there time harassing people. That’s seem’s more like what they are doing. Calling out liscence plate numbers and breaking there knecks to take people’s pictures. Geta life.