The AFA and others are making themselves out to be put upon by the networks, but it seems to me that far too many of those folks just don’t want to do the work of filtering for themselves. This is why I am not passive about what I watch or read; the networks should not be making up your mind for you.

This also seems to be a case of a religious (or religion-based) organization of confusing ‘religion’ with ‘morality’. Or in the case of the AFA, confusing ‘family’
with ‘religion’. If this Christian organization really wanted to change minds, they should stick to illuminating the contents of the Bible (in its entirety, no cherrypicking allowed) instead of trying to impress their personal choices (which have more to do with sin than the life of Christ)on everyone else. They may not want to admit it, but it is possible to be a good person in life and still take an occasional peek at ‘Playboy’.

In a hotel room where the content is PPV, is a ‘family’ really going to be watching the ‘Wet and Wild Amateurs, Vol.2′? Whose in charge of the credit cards, Mom & Dad or the teenage son? Besides, have you seen how much they charge for those movies? Sheesh, you’d be better off bringing a laptop (no puns, please) with you own downloads on it!

The AFA and everyone else should remember that the conditions that allow someone to indulge in watching porn or gambling on horse races are the same conditions that allow someone to believe in God or UFO’s, without interference. It is indeed sad that some unthinking individuals make poor decisions, and fail to consider what their choices will mean to the people around them. I agree that porn can be pretty stupid stuff and a waste of time; the same applies to arguing that the earth is really only 6,000 years old. However, to restrict the right to choose to do either is a step backwards, and goes against the ideals I was led to believe were fundamental to the concept of ‘land of the free’.

The key concept is CHOICE. You find porn repugnant? Don’t watch it. Televangelists bother you? Change the channel. YOU HAVE THAT CHOICE.

That was my first thought. How would children be accessing the PPV without their parent’s knowledge? Are the children unsupervised in the hotel room while their parents are out on the town? Or do the parents simply not care what the kids are watching? Either way, there’s a much bigger problem at hand than Marriott’s entertainment options. Thanks for the thoughtful response. –LB

Pornography may very well be worthless. But it and other similarly “worthless” pursuits are often the first to be attacked. If we don’t defend our freedom to view nudity or smoke cigarettes or drink whiskey, some of us (ok, me) fear a trickle-down effect, in which not only these “immoral” things would be prohibited, but perhaps more basic rights would be regulated (like, having an opinion about anything). Unlikely maybe, but it’s happened elsewhere before. –LB