PressEthic

As The War in Iraq rages on, the budget for Hurricane Katrina reconstruction explodes, and Al Qaeda continues to stalk the US, the FBI has finally zeroed-in on the real problem facing America: Adults watching pornography. Channeling former Reagan-era Attorney General Edwin Meese, current AG Alberto Gonzales and FBI Director Robert Mueller III are currently building a dedicated team of eight agents, a supervisor, and staff to combat the obscenity prevalent in pornography. The initiative, which a July 29 email from FBI headquarters described as "one of the [FBI's]top priorities," is unique in that it is dedicated to stopping all "manufacturers and purveyors" of pornography and not just the universally unacceptable forms exploiting children.

So far, even the FBI, the government body charged with gathering evidence against the multibillion dollar porn industry, is openly mocking the formation of the "Porn Squad." As one national security analyst put it, "It's a running joke for us." Another FBI agent told the Washington Post reporter, "I guess this means we've won the war on terror. We must not need any more resources for espionage." (Other examples of the FBI agents' exasperation included in the article may be unsuitable for a family blog such as NYU's PressEthic).

As an FBI memo addressing the new initiative acknowledges, prosecuting pornography through the violation of obscenity laws often proves problematic due to First Amendment rights. After all, laws clarifying obscenity haven't advanced far since Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart's famous, vague statement defining it as: "I know it when I see it." Yet, despite this, a spokesman for the Family Research Council, a group that describes its mission as protecting 'marriage and family as the foundation of civilization, the seedbed of virtue, and the wellspring of society,' lauded the anti-porn action, saying they have "a growing sense of confidence in our new attorney general." But what about the rest of the country less bent on reverting to a woebegone era where all unmarried women are virgins and weekly church attendance is the norm? Will they stand in the way of the Bush administration's egregious attempts to intrude upon their privacy?

I hope so. The idea that the US government is spending its citizens' tax dollars prosecuting the producers of movies intended for consenting adults is nothing short of outrageous. But with soldiers dying in a war that looks more and more unwinnable by the day, with Al Quaeda and other terrorist groups undoubtedly planning future attacks on our soil, and with many victims of Hurricane Katrina still suffering without electricity or water, the government's anti-porn initiative is even worse. It's obscene.