Comments on: Is Utah the porn capital of the United States?

By: David L.

David L. — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 12:36:57 +0000

I heard someone repeat this “Utah is the online porno capital of the USA” in church last sunday & I got a pit in my stomach feeling there is something suspicious & WRONG about this claim. I moved to Utah from California where most of the porn is produced & distributed from, to get my kids away from the tide of erroding family values I saw them having to swim against in CA. The statement is physically impossible to be true! There are around 39 million people in California & New York also & only less than 3 million people in Utah & I would bet that there are about 3 million online Porno users in California alone and so every man, woman & child in Utah would have to be a porn user for that statement to be true. Utahn’s don’t know how sheltered they are here & a bit gullible, which I love, yet they believe some study ment to taint the good wholesome environment in Utah & so people continue the lie & feel kind of dirty living here which I think was the study’s intent. I love my neighborhood in Utah & having lived outside the state I know how many incredibly good people live here. Others envy it & some even want to diminish the goodness here & native Utahn’s don’t even realize it. Yes, there is a porno problem in every state & it is addictive & destroys family values. I wouldn’t want my children engaging in un-married sex & on camera, destroying their self worth with the risk of disease or getting pregnant as a single person but, if in a committed marrage I don’t care how wild or how often their sex is with their spouse. If committed partners would care for & open up to eachother more there would be less of a lure to any other type of fantacy.

By: David Duke

David Duke — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 18:39:41 +0000

What should come through loud and clear, if you actually read my posts, is that I admit there are problems here. I believe I even said that. What should also come through loud and clear, Caleb, is that you tend to write things like “interracial themes, of the type discouraged in real life in those states” as if they are facts when you have no idea if they are or not.

I don’t live in some Pollyanna dreamworld. I know there are issues and problems. However, you seem to think they are somehow larger here in Utah. Having lived in 4 different states, I’d say they are no worse here than in any other where I have lived.

By: Caleb Powers

Caleb Powers — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 18:24:48 +0000

David, you’re right: I don’t know the first thing about Utah or its people. However, what comes through loud and clear from your comments is that you will brook no criticism of Utah or the LDS Church from outsiders, and I suppose that is your right. However, I still can’t believe that EVERY article (and there are many) that suggests that there are worse than average racial tensions in Utah is wrong, any more than I believe that every article suggesting that there are lots of problems in Kentucky is wrong. We live in troubled times, and it’s always better to deal with problems than to deny or sugar coat them.

By: Lynster

Lynster — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 17:29:25 +0000

All of the other states in the survey have maybe 1/10 (that’s a high estimate on my part) of LDS worshipers. If it is non-LDS people looking at the porn wouldn’t it follow that Utah with 50-60% LDS population would be on the bottom especially given the very low population of Utah.

When people in power try to make something taboo, there is a natural reaction to find out why.

I moved to Utah 4 years ago for cheaper cost of living. I’m female and old enough to make up my own mind about what I want to eat, drink, wear, watch, worship or not, get married at 17 or 18 or not, have 8 children or not, ad nauseum. I am also happy to watch others do as they are told, and not interfere.

NO HUMAN BEING is my Godhead or whatever you call your …snicker… porn watching husbands. The concept of shunning and plural marriage is alien and sick to me. You let that go with a wink and a nod. But pitch a fit if someone watches a litte porn.

Before you all tell me to leave Utah let me say in advance I would in a heartbeat if I could get any money from my house. I’m stuck here like Alice in “Oh my heck! land”

On the plus side, commenting on an earlier post, while I believe Utah was unbelievably late to the interacial party. I think they are making great strides in this area. I have not heard a racial slur since I’ve been here. I sure heard a lot in some of the most liberal states in the union.

Question authority.

By: David Duke

David Duke — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 05:12:57 +0000

I’ll only say this Caleb; I’m sure I know more about the beliefs of the common Utahn than you, notwithstanding what you might have read. For you to say different would be akin to me saying I know more about the people of Kentucky than do you. If there are issues here, and I know there are, I would suggest those issues are in the hearts of a very small minority. I wish that weren’t the case, but we will never eradicate racism from everyone, neither in Utah or anywhere else.

By: perplexed

perplexed — Sat, 07 Mar 2009 15:24:00 +0000

I was watching an interview on CNN with Paul Harvey and Larry King,King asked what was one thing that had changed radio since Paul’s career had evolved. Harvey replied that anyone with an opinion was an expert now and they could access radio with relative ease. This just struck me and the first person that came to mind was Rush. I take this statistics in the article with the same grain of salt as I take Rush. I need to go put some manure on my garden now!

By: Frank replies

Frank replies — Sat, 07 Mar 2009 13:24:28 +0000

David,

Even if Utah were 90 percent Mormon, I’m not sure it would be possible to “direct this to members of the Mormon church” because only 0.169 percent of Utah residents are buying this porn from this source.

Again, I think this report is completely unreliable — and so do a lot of othe folks, including a large number of evangelical leaders…

By: Caleb Powers

Caleb Powers — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 23:35:05 +0000

It is a statement, David, and one based on numerous articles from the recent press that suggest that while things are no doubt improving for the few African Americans in Utah, they have hardly overcome. I suspect that many of your Utah brethren do not share your laudable beliefs.

By: David Duke

David Duke — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 22:16:17 +0000

I wouldn’t mind if you were just asking questions, Caleb. However, “of the type discouraged in real life in those states…,” is a statement, not a question.

Not that it bothers me that much either, to tell you the truth. I realize that sometimes it’s just easier to hang on to old ways of thinking. We’re all human and I do it, too. I just hope someone points it out if they observe me doing it.

By: Caleb Powers

Caleb Powers — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 18:44:19 +0000

David, I just ask the questions; I don’t answer them. I have no knowledge of what is in the hearts and minds of anyone in either Utah or Mississippi; that’s why I wonder if either state’s choice in pornography gives any indication of that.

By: David Duke

David Duke — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 05:09:32 +0000

Having read the article, I find the study highly dubious also. Another point;
the state of Utah at this point is barely 1/2 LDS, so it’s impossible to direct this to the members of the Mormon church. Obviously, though, there are members of the church that have issues with pornography. If there weren’t, there wouldn’t be at least one of the general authorities giving a talk (sermon) at general conference warning us to stay away from its filth. Sitting on disciplinary councils, there hasn’t been one in my experience where the sin is unfaithfulness to one’s wife and pornography was not an issue in the man’s life. This “minor” sin (in some’s eyes) can lead to much greater sins.

However, I could see that in a society where a majority (however slight that majority) listens to their church authorities tell them what filth it is, then online sources would give them a sense that they can hide that particular sin from the world.

Unfortunately, hiding it from the world is not what they should be worried about. All of our unrepented sins will one day come out, either here or in the life to come.

I have to take issue with one of your statements, however, Caleb. “I’m suspecting that in both places interracial themes, of the type discouraged in real life in those states…” I can’t speak for Mississippi, but living in Utah, this really isn’t the case anymore. Obviously there are those who can’t get past what previous church leaders have said, or perhaps what they were taught in their homes, but interracial marriages aren’t that big of a deal, at least not in Eagle Mountain, Utah, where I live and which probably has the highest percentage of active LDS in the state. We have had two bishops in our stake (one previous who moved to another city and one current) who are black men and (GASP!) their wives are both white. No one here cares. They are both wonderful men who honor their priesthood and care for those in their congregations.

My wife is the aunt to a Korean nephew, Indian Niece and two Black nephews. None of them are treated differently than any of the white members of the family. Not by me and not by their 84 and 80 year old grandfather and grandmother, both born/raised in Utah. This lifelong Utah, LDS, white family, has shown me what the true attitude should be towards race…None. All are treated equally in what is expected from them as human beings and members of the family.

As a lifelong LDS member, I would have no issue with any of my four daughters marrying someone of another race. More important to me is are they worthy men who will be wonderful husbands to my daughters and future grandchildren.

I guess what I’m saying is, Caleb, don’t judge the current by what may have been the past attitude.

By: Caleb Powers

Caleb Powers — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 19:31:06 +0000

I don’t know what kind of research this article was based on, but if its only basis is statistics from one online pornographic service, I agree that’s a little thin. However, I suspect the real point of the article is that America wants Utah to have some sort of secret vice, to make up for its self righteousness, and to show that, even in Utah, it’s not good to have a society dominated by one repressive religious organization.

Interestingly, the other state mentioned in the article as having above-average internet porn usage was Mississippi, a state perhaps locked down by the Baptists as thoroughly as Utah is locked down by the Mormons.

Perhaps religious repression leads to pornography generally. I read the other day about a series of pornographic books called “Stalags” that were passed about underground in the early days of Israel, where they were virtually the only pornography available. Their general themes had to do with the sexual torture of American and Allied prisoners by the Nazis. I wonder if any particular themes emerge in the subject matter of the pornography watched in Utah or Mississippi; I’m suspecting that in both places interracial themes, of the type discouraged in real life in those states, are popular precisely because they depict conduct not condoned by society.

By: José

José — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 00:34:28 +0000

Statistics are funny things, and very dangerous in the hands of the untrained or the malicious. I read a book review the other day about weird statistics. Frank, did you know that most people in Arkansas have bodies with more than the average number of feet? (Yes, the kind of foot that you typically find attached to the bottom of your leg.) It’s true, no kidding.