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Jan. 30, 2007 Here are some rather jarring statistics from Dan Poynter’s Para Publishing website and other sources in parentheses: Each day, people in the US spend 4 hours watching TV, 3 hours listening to the radio and 14 minutes reading magazines. (Source: Veronis, Suhler & Associates investment bankers); 70% of Americans haven't visited a bookstore in five (5) years. (Michael Levine, June 2002); Customers 55 and older account for more than 44% of all books bought. (2001 Consumer Research Study on Book Purchasing by the Book Industry Study Group); 42% of college graduates never read another book, 80% of US families did not buy or read a book last year, 70% of US adults have not been in a bookstore in the last five years and 57% of new books are not read to completion. (Jerrold Jenkins, of JenkinsGroup.com) According to the Entertainment Software Association (“Computer Gaming Becoming Increasingly Popular with Both Women and Adults”), “Today more than one third (41.9%) of frequent American computer game players and more than a quarter (28.5%) of frequent video game players are women. The average age of a game player is 29 years old. In terms of parental attitude towards games in general, nearly two thirds (65%) of parents with children under the age of 18 say that computer and video games are a positive addition to their children's lives.” Bear with me, there’s more. According to Jerry Ropelato’s, “Internet Pornography Statistics,” “Porn revenue is larger than all combined revenues of all professional football, baseball and basketball franchises. US porn revenue exceeds the combined revenues of ABC, CBS, and NBC (6.2 billion). Child pornography generates $3 billion annually.” Also, the size of the U.S. adult video industry is $12 billion annually. $11 billion is spent on escort services, 4.5 billion on telephone sex, $7.5 billion on girlie magazines, internet sex $2.5 billion. No need to go on. According to the article, “Movie Day at the Supreme Court or "I Know It When I See It": A History of the Definition of Obscenity” (FindLaw.com), in 1957, (Justice William) Brennan, in Roth v. United States, wrote the majority opinion, stating that obscene speech was “…to the average person, applying contemporary community standards, the dominant theme of the material, taken as a whole, appeals to prurient interest" and which is "utterly without redeeming social importance..." The current definition added a clause stating the material must substantially go beyond “customary limits of candor in description or representation," and defined community as nationally, rather than locally. In 1973, after hearing the Miller V. California case, the crux of the U.S. Supreme Court’s definition of pornography and obscenity entailed the following standards: 1) Would the average person, applying contemporary community standards find that the material: when taken as a whole, appeals to a prurient (“substantially beyond customary limits of candor in description or representation of such matters.”) interest in sex (i.e., an erotic, lascivious, degrading, unhealthy, morbid interest)? 2) Would the average person find the material depicts or describes: sexual conduct (i.e., ultimate sex acts, normal or perverted, actual or simulated, lewd exhibition of the genitals, excretory functions, sadism, and masochism) in a patently offensive way? And 3) Would a reasonable person find the material: as a whole, lacks serious literary, artistic, political or scientific value?” This is tricky phraseology, to be sure, and seems in my opinion, nearly impossible to prosecute. NOTE: While the information provided within were actually gleaned from the aforementioned sources, I wrote this as a tongue-in-cheek (no pun intended) piece. ------------ About the author: Timothy N. Stelly, Sr. is a 46-year old poet, novelist and aspiring screenwriter who resides in northern California with his three youngest children--Lawrence, Kimberly and Dante. He is a member of various writer's groups and has three novels in print, his most recent, "Like A Straight-Up Sucka," is available at www.lulu.com. website: http://stellbreadO@tripod.com Email: stellbread@yahoo.com Tell a friend about this site! ------------ All articles are EXCLUSIVE to Useless-Knowledge.com and are not allowed to be posted on other websites. ARTICLE THIEVES WILL BE PROSECUTED! |
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