Once again, I wonder about some people. Who in the world is so oblivious to the world around him that this is acceptable? Come to think of it, though, while I would never even consider watching porn in the car, it never really occurred to me that others shouldn't be. I can't say as I ever really thought about car DVDs being used for such a purpose, either. There ought to be a law though. I can't imagine that it wouldn't be covered under some type of obscenity law.
On the subject of the rest of the article, I have to agree with the guy. I was always amazed by girls who came to school in slippers and had curlers in their hair. And neighbors never cease to amaze me. I never really thought about it, but I'm pretty big on public restraint. I'm a huge liberal in general, but that is mostly, everything I'm liberal about is stuff that shouldn't be public in the first place. Do what you want, just do it in your own house.
Posted by msquared (Member # 4484) on :
I just realized....
I don't know Jack.
msquared
Posted by Taalcon (Member # 839) on :
Holy crap...this happened to me a little over a year ago. I pulled up behind a car with a television. My friends and I wondered, Hey, what're they watching. And then I blinked, saw a couple of naked butts gyrating, and then said, "Uh...I think it's Porn."
Then after a moment of stunned silence, and further confiromation that yes, indeed, it was porn, we all started busting up laughing.
And then drove quickly away.
[ March 16, 2004, 02:33 PM: Message edited by: Taalcon ]
Posted by Xaposert (Member # 1612) on :
Umm.... I don't think TV screens inside other people's cars counts as public space any more than TV screens inside one's house.
If you don't want to see it, don't look.
Posted by UofUlawguy (Member # 5492) on :
I think showing porn on your in-car TV is more analogous (though still not precisely) to smoking in public. You can't just tell people not to breathe around you when you're smoking.
Posted by Bob the Lawyer (Member # 3278) on :
If I live in my car I can smoke and watch porn, right?
Posted by Jon Boy (Member # 4284) on :
But you can't drive naked, Xaposert. If it's visible to the public, I'd say it's pretty much a public space. And the "if you don't want to see it, don't look" argument is ridiculous. By the time you realize that you don't want to see it, you've already looked.
Posted by Storm Saxon (Member # 3101) on :
...brains all over the car.
Posted by Dobbie (Member # 3881) on :
quote:If you don't want to see it, don't look.
If you're driving you pretty much have to look forward at the car in front of you.
Posted by pooka (Member # 5003) on :
I think you can watch what you want but your liable if folks rear end you trying to get a peek. Seriously, though, I only found out last year that it's illegal for the driver to have a screen visible to them. At least in Illinois. So I would think there is a problem of some sort in having material that other drivers might have a hard time ignoring.
Posted by Anthro (Member # 6087) on :
All I'm thinking about is that poor little girl who saw that porn in the other person's car. For one, she's gotta be a bit disturbed. Two--well, how does Mom explain it to her?
Posted by luthe (Member # 1601) on :
Mom can just tell her it is kinda like the superbowl.
[ March 16, 2004, 05:06 PM: Message edited by: luthe ]
Posted by jeniwren (Member # 2002) on :
We lose on this one. If it's lawful to view porn over the internet in the kid's section of a public library, somehow I think we'll have a hard time outlawing porn viewing from onboard vehicle entertainment systems.
Sucks though. In a manner of speaking.
Posted by fugu13 (Member # 2859) on :
Jeni, its not lawful to view porn over the internet in the kids section of the library.
Posted by Dobbie (Member # 3881) on :
It's not really illegal.
Posted by pooka (Member # 5003) on :
Isn't that sort of thing up to local ordinances?
Posted by Chris Bridges (Member # 1138) on :
It isn't legal to display explicit sexual images where children can see them without warning. Such as, say, in the kid's section of the library. You've got leeway for such displays in your house, even if the curtains are wide open, because it's your property. But when you're in your car, even though the car is your property, you're in a public area and must observe local laws regarding the display of obscene material.
Posted by Slash the Berzerker (Member # 556) on :
We get worked up over the silliest things...
I would make it mandatory that everyone have porn running in their car at all times if it would put an end to drunk driving and drive by shootings.
People do far worse things in their car than look at some boobies.
Posted by SoberTillNoon (Member # 6170) on :
Umm, I am sorry to say this, but am I the only one that finds this funny? I mean, if you are sad enough to be attached to porn that you have to have it everywhere, should we do anymore tho that poor soul. Well, other than laugh at his wretched existance....
Posted by Unmaker (Member # 1641) on :
Dude, if you think boobs is what is the mainstay of porn, Slash, it's been a while since you watched it. I'd rather not have my 6- and 11-year-old daughters catch an eyeful of snatch and schlong.
Posted by Storm Saxon (Member # 3101) on :
You know what I am waiting for? People who show 'The Passion of Christ' in their cars to turn other people to Jesus. I can TOTALLY see it happening.
Posted by Unmaker (Member # 1641) on :
False analogy.
Posted by skrika03 (Member # 5930) on :
So where is the line between a 5 inch screen attached to the back of the driver's seat and a 37 inch plasma screen mounted in place of the rear window?
Posted by SoberTillNoon (Member # 6170) on :
You imagine such a line would exist?
Posted by luthe (Member # 1601) on :
The line is intent. A screen on the back of the front seat is designed for use by the passagers of the car. The fact that you can see what they are watching in doesn't change this. A 37 inch screen at the rear of the car is not intended for use by the passagers, and could be view as an advertisment. Which have their own set of laws.
A more interesting question: What if the windows were tinted dark enought that you could not see into the car, would it still be wrong to watch porn there. If you cannot see in does the interior of your car become a "private" place goverened by the new rights the supream court recently came up with.
Posted by jack (Member # 2083) on :
Yup. As long as I don't see or hear it, do whatever the hell you want.
Posted by Jon Boy (Member # 4284) on :
The line is not intent. Even if I don't intend for anyone to get hurt in a stampede, I still don't have the right to yell "fire" in a crowded theater. Even if I don't intend to kill the president, I still don't have the right to threaten his life. If anything, the line is harm.
Posted by A Rat Named Dog (Member # 699) on :
If you can reasonably predict a negative consequence of your actions, and disregard it, then you're still culpable as though you had intent. You may not have intended the consequence, but you certainly intended to risk it.
Posted by blacwolve (Member # 2972) on :
Did anyone else think of the scene in Working Girl where the guy "accidentally" finds porn in his car tv when they read this?
Posted by Book (Member # 5500) on :
Who in God's name can drive and watch porn at the same time? I mean, traffic accidents are caused by attractive CLOTHED women all the time.
I hope they at least aren't driving standard. Posted by Danzig (Member # 4704) on :
No one is making anyone look, althoug I do have to wonder about who would want to do that.
Posted by Jenny Gardener (Member # 903) on :
Would having porn on in your car be any different than making out in your car?
Posted by twinky (Member # 693) on :
Are you driving while making out?
(And if you can do that... well, I'm impressed.)
Posted by Eljin (Member # 6354) on :
"We get worked up over the silliest things...
I would make it mandatory that everyone have porn running in their car at all times if it would put an end to drunk driving and drive by shootings.
People do far worse things in their car than look at some boobies."
I saw the article as more of a "what is the world coming too", rather than "this is a pressing, life-threatening problem we have to throw millions of dollars at." The issue is not what the person in the car is watching, but what they are putting out into public view where others will see it.
Posted by Javert (Member # 3076) on :
I may be bringing down a lot on top of my head by saying this, but how is viewing porn necessarily damaging to children?
Our society seems to see sex as a horrible, filthy, dirty thing that nobody talks about and if you see it when you're younger than a certain age you're going to be damaged.
Note, however, that I'm only refering to talking about or viewing sexual acts, not doing them. I also believe that just because these things are seen and talked about doesn't mean that people will do them.
If a child does see it, I think there's a lot more damage in an adult trying to avoid the subject entirely than telling the child the truth about what they've seen.
Maybe I'm a little off topic, but I just don't agree that people viewing nudity and sex, by accident or on purpose, is going to bring down society.
Posted by Richard Berg (Member # 133) on :
I agree completely.
However, porn, for the most part, IS dirty and degrading. (Honestly, Y chromosome or no, there's nothing attractive about the vast majority of stuff on video.) That's not an argument for getting worked up over it, but shows that for a parent there is far more explaining necessary to keep a child's view of the matter well-grounded.
I saw this analogy dismissed before, but I think it's worth exploring: what should the public's reaction be to someone showing The Passion on a small but easily viewable screen? On a plasma display mounted to the rear window?
Posted by mr_porteiro_head (Member # 4644) on :
I'd be upset.
Posted by Book (Member # 5500) on :
I'd probably have a wreck, or at least hold up traffic for a while. Or maybe frantically follow the person.
Posted by Jon Boy (Member # 4284) on :
Javert, sex ≠ porn. I don't know about you, but I've never been taught that sex is a horrible, filthy, dirty thing. However, I have been taught that porn is a horrible, filthy, dirty thing. Many studies have shown that porn does have harmful side effects. This isn't about avoiding the issue of sex; it's about teaching it in a healthy and proper way.
Posted by Richard Berg (Member # 133) on :
quote:However, I have been taught that porn is a horrible, filthy, dirty thing.
See opinion above. Yet to be fair, this is just as subjective as the musical tastes thread. Lots of people seem to like it, to the tune of several $B$ and countless Usenet spams.
Posted by Jon Boy (Member # 4284) on :
Well, gee, I guess if millions of people like it, then it must not be all bad.
Posted by Javert (Member # 3076) on :
My point is, it seems that the general response when a child witnesses porn or sex is to not talk about it or to tell them it's bad and they should never do it. By doing this, both porn and sex become taboo and the chances of the child attempting to see or do them goes up.
I, of course, can only talk from experience and from the experiences of those I know. As a younger child, my friends and I were far more likely to at least investigate something if our parents forbid it.
In an small attempt to prove my point, I think this phenomena is exactly why I never tried smoking and neither did my sister. Both our parents have smoked as long as we can remember, and therefore never could forbid us to talk of it or consider it due to the chances of being seen as hypocrites. It was never a taboo subject that we wanted to explore because our parents wouldn't talk to us about it. As a result, it was never an attractive thing.
Posted by ssywak (Member # 807) on :
What about homosexual sex? By married homosexuals, no less?
I'm afraid that just might be the end of society as we know it.
Wait a minute--it's always the "end of society as we know it." Nevermind.
But seriously, I think that Pitts' reference to a need for people to acknowledge the "public square" is great...but how do 1) we get back to it, and 2) enforce it (in other words--punish people for not respecting it)?
I guess we start by imposing it on ourselves, and on our children, and hope for the best.
BTW: and what if the people in the other car were playing Grand Theft Auto? Or one of those James Bond video games (in our house, we've banned all "Bloody Shooters"). I think I'd rather have my kids watching porn.
[ March 25, 2004, 12:10 PM: Message edited by: ssywak ]
Posted by Xaposert (Member # 1612) on :
Okay, I don't really see much value in worry about this issue. Adults can go around arguing the morality of porn in cars forever, but I think your average kid probably knows the correct response to the problem: Point and giggle at it, then make jokes about it later, then forget about it. That's how I'd deal with people watching porn in cars, at least.
[ March 25, 2004, 02:19 PM: Message edited by: Xaposert ]
Posted by Jon Boy (Member # 4284) on :
Is that really how four-year-olds react to porn? Point and giggle, and then forget about it? Somehow, I kinda doubt that.
Posted by mr_porteiro_head (Member # 4644) on :
And forget about it? More than 20 years later, I remember some of the porn I was exposed to as a kid.
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