Since being elevated to Speaker of the House, Rep. Mike Johnson has found himself in the media spotlight, and the target of criticism.
First, an old interview resurfaced where Johnson claimed that homosexuality caused the fall of Rome – a notion that experts dispute.
Another clip has since come to light, in which Johnson endorses an app called "Covenant Eyes" that reportedly tracks users’ online behavior to stop them from viewing "sinful" material, like pornography.
Johnson goes on to explain how the software – popular in evangelical circles – uses "accountability partners" to help monitor users' behavior, and that his partner in staying accountable and away from online porn is his 17-year-old son.
This revelation has drawn critical reactions from some commenters, who've called the behavior "creepy" and "abnormal." But some defended the Speaker's actions, arguing that using technology to keep families away from lewd online material is simply good parenting.
We’ll leave it to others to share their thoughts on the matter.
Meanwhile, we decided to dig a bit deeper to understand the technology at the heart of this story.
What is Covenant Eyes?
"Covenant Eyes" has emerged as a frequently-used solution for individuals and families striving to avoid pornography, and for those addicted to viewing porn.
Founded in the 2000s, the company markets its technology as “accountability software.” Its tools are designed to send notifications if a device with the software installed views any inappropriate content (such as pornography).
Users can subscribe as a monthly service and must agree to have their online behavior monitored at all times.
Evangelical Underpinnings
Covenant Eyes operates on a principle deeply rooted in evangelical Christianity: the idea of mutual accountability.
As Johnson describes, the app works to help users avoid the temptation of pornography by sending screenshots of their online activity to a chosen ally – a friend, mentor, or family member who agrees to help the user stay accountable.
If they view any lewd content, the software will notify the partner – who, in theory, can intervene and help the user change their behavior.
This concept aligns with biblical teachings about fellowship and accountability, which encourage believers to bear one another's burdens.
How "Purity Culture" is Involved
Covenant Eyes also has ties to a Christian organization called the "Promise Keepers" and has frequently been featured at the group’s conferences.
Founded in 1990, the Promise Keepers endorse a view of Christian manhood that aligns closely with so-called “purity culture,” which came to prominence around the same time period.
The group promotes fidelity and moral integrity among men, behavior which includes abstaining from porn – and which makes them obvious allies for a company with the technology to enforce such views.
The Religious Case Against Watching Porn
This notion of purity and avoiding pornography has deep religious roots. People of faith who advocate against porn cite a few different points:
- Moral Impurity: Many religions consider viewing pornography as a sin, citing scriptural mandates for purity of mind and body.
- Marital Sanctity: Pornography is seen as a threat to the sanctity of marriage, with the potential to distort a person's view of sex and fidelity.
- Human Dignity: There is a belief that pornography objectifies individuals, reducing them to mere instruments for pleasure rather than respecting them as beings made in the image of God.
- Addiction and Consequences: Religious advocates highlight the addictive nature of pornography and its potential to lead to other harmful behaviors.
Does the Software Work?
Religious views aside, is the software itself effective in its goal?
Proponents say apps like Covenant Eyes are successful in preventing users from viewing porn. By monitoring the entire screen of computer or mobile devices and employing AI technology to scan content, they can supposedly detect explicit images with a high degree of accuracy.
However, critics point out that it is not perfect. For example, prior to his conviction on child pornography charges, Josh Duggar (of 19 Kids and Counting fame), reportedly had Covenant Eyes installed on his computer. Duggar was able to avoid detection by logging in to a password-protected private network that the software was not able to access.
It has also been used in troubling ways, critics say. Far from being limited to families and church communities, reports indicate Covenant Eyes is also being used to monitor people on probation for unrelated criminal charges. In one such case in Indiana, an entire family was forced to use the software at the direction of the Monroe County probation department – essentially turning private anti-porn software into a tool for government surveillance.
Religion and Technology Collide
More broadly, "Covenant Eyes" represents a technologically modern approach to an age-old religious pursuit: the quest for moral integrity in accordance with one's faith.
However, the app, and the movement behind it, also face significant scrutiny and criticism from those who argue for a more nuanced approach to sexuality and pornographic content.
In the end, the debate over "Covenant Eyes" and the consumption of pornography is reflective of broader discussions about faith, freedom, and the role of technology in enforcing moral standards.
What is your reaction? Do you see this technology as a useful tool for accountability, or a violation of personal liberties in the name of religious beliefs?
62 comments
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Dr. Zerpersande, NSC
Yeah, tying AI to software designed to monitor computer usage….that sounds like acgreat idea.
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Melinda Fulk
What I really want to know is why conservative evangelical Christians have such a fascination with sex, especially with sex as something "dirty". It doesn't seem to matter if it's porn or not, although that would be the most easily accessible version they could get. I mean, really, why do they care so much about what everyone is doing in the privacy of their own space with someone else who is consenting? Jealousy because they were told by some very uptight folks not to do anything differently? (I'm mean, I'm pretty boring and vanilla in this area, but I also honestly don't care what anyone else is getting up to as long as no one actually gets hurt.)
I can see where the software might be useful to someone trying to fight a perceived addiction to pornography, but as Josh Duggar showed, there are still ways around the monitoring.
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The Marriage Minister
The United States is probably the only country that views sex as dirty. Nearly every other country in the world has a completely different view. I know this is very vague but, history tells us how the early ultra evangelical Christians invaded islands and shoved religion down the throats of the inhabitants and beat them if they resisted.
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Susan Colmenares
I would ask,”Are you kidding me?” Unfortunately, the answer would be a resounding no.
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Alfred B Jacobson
Whether you believe the scriptures, or not--Your end is disclosed there.
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Lionheart
Do you have any demonstrable evidence to back up your claim, Sir Alfred?
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Brien
What end are you referring to? Does this source have any evidence to back up this claim? If so, can this source disclose to me the next lottery numbers?
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Danny D. Maynard
I find it really overly creepy that these religious fanatics all want to share their choices of pornography!
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Gerard Anthony Ritchie
I think that pornography has a corrosive effect on how men, and society in general, view women and leads to their sexual objectification. But this story is really about trust. The message that the father is giving the son is, I don't trust you to exercise your judgement to avoid viewing harmful content on the internet and the reason is because I can't trust myself either. So I have to monitor you and you have to monitor me. If you don't have trust in a relationship then that will lead to resentment, suspician and conflict. And if the father feels he needs someone to help him avoid giving in to the temptation of accessing internet content for his sexual gratification, then surely his wife would be a more appropiate person to help him with that than his 17 year old son. Most teenagers don't like to think of their parents having sex so to put the suggestion into his head that his Dad might be jacking off to some online porn if his son isn't monitoring him is getting close to emotional abuse in my mind.
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The Marriage Minister
You nailed it.
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Catherine
Exactly.
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Michael Hunt
If a person wants to use this service for themselves it's fine by me but when the government starts using it to monitor people who are parole I have a big issue with that. The government shouldn't be monitoring a person's internet usage and requiring their whole family to use the program because that's a huge invasion of privacy. I hope the Monroe County probation department is prevented from requiring people to use the software in the future.
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Anisahoni
Mike Johnson is a bit creepy to involve his adolescent son in viewing his own use of pornography. His son is 17. Yes pornography can be addicting as it is developed specifically for men's brains, since they are more visual and there is plenty of supporting research and treatment approaches. Plus pics of scantily clad women are in our faces every day online. Objectifying women hasn't gone away and many women base their value on the size of their "girls." Yahoo is famous for it. I just hope he has healthy discussions with his son about sexuality and doesn't make him feel ashamed since his hormones are raging at this age and he probably is sexually active at this point. In addition, child pornography is a societal menace and anyone adjudicated for pedophilia needs to be monitored by their probation officers for community safety.
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Danny D. Maynard
The purpose of Religion is to control, and the men in charge of these religions want to control everyone and everything they do. Guilt is one of the main tools, after Fear, of course, these religious clerics use to control their flock! Once you have them att the Guilt stage, then that is the line in the sand for most parishioners. Either the Guilt drives them away, or it makes them into the religious slave. Fear keeps them as that slave.
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Rev. Mike Eggleston
A lot of pornography is developed specifically for women. Men aren't the only people who use pornography.
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Keith Allen Steele Eash
So you assume that every boy is sexuly active? I can tell you many boys remain a virgin until marriage. So you can get your dirty.mind out of the gutter.
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ServantOfJudgement
Monthly Subscription=Money Folk=Antichrist
If a Christian outfit really was trying to help people abandon porn it'd be a one time hit.
Hold Google and the US government (they're partnered ya know) accountable for kiddie porn and trafficking of sex slaves. You'll see the problem fixed quick and now.
As it stands, a kid can innocently search a fuzzy pussycat and google'll show the kid all the fuzzy pussycats they can stand.
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Michael Hunt
Unfortunately the almighty dollar still reigns supreme in our society.
Oh and Google has a safe-search setting built in to prevent pornographic content from showing up in innocent search request so it's not as easy for a kid to innocently stumble upon porn using Google as you claim.
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ServantOfJudgement
Oh, there is a button. Let's hope the technologically savvy kids of the day never figure out hot to push a button on a browser and turn it off......
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Danny D. Maynard
Nothing is unbreakable!
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Michael Hunt
Well at that point, their search would no longer be innocent as you outlined in your initial scenario. You paint a picture of innocent children searching for cats and getting naked women in their search results when that's not the case. They would have to go into the settings, turn off safe search, and then search for terms associated with pornography to get any pornographic results and at that point we're not talking about an innocent child stumbling upon porn, we're talking about someone seeking it out intentionally.
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Lori-Ann Neeb
Unfortunately that is one of the slippery slope issues concerning freedoms and rights. Everyone who isn't a perv may agree that things like child porn have no place. But if one group is allowed to control or manipulate any part of public media there is nothing to stop some other group from trying to push their agenda. We already have seen it in the media with attempted book banning, gender harassment and lifestyle issues, etc. Anytime one segment of the people is allowed to dictate or limit the freedoms of the others, it destroys the concepts of basic freedoms and liberties of all people. I think we can guess which side you are 9n and it would only be a matter of time until your side lost some battles. The system definitely is not perfect. The fact that a narcissistic perv who incited a riot on your national capital is still allowed to try a second time to see how much damage he can do is proof of the system impertions.
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Bishop William Dusenberry, DD
The question dejure is “can there be lusting, without any porn; or why else would the Holy Ghost insisted that Adam and Eve ( the first human lusters, who lusted before anyone (even the cave people) began to draw porn, on the walls of the caves, in which they lusted, after it got too cold to simply do so in the woods. Porn, was one of the ways that the Christian God got Adam and Eve, to be fruitful and multiply.
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ServantOfJudgement
I would expect tree worshiping folk would turn to a wet crotch of a tree that fit the task as they all do today. Hence the phrase tree hugging. No wonder some folk worship nature today, tree lust. Icky tree lust.
Thank God for public indecency laws.-
Danny D. Maynard
You have now made looking at a tree into pornography! My eyes will lust till I die, since I love trees, and have made them one of my life's avocations to capture them both naked and clothed in various states of dress and undress. I have poured out that lusty fertilizer and lusty water on trees, and cleaned up after they throwing their clothes on the ground! No more can I look at a tree without that guilt one finds from other lusty sins! I will be blinded by their capability to sin year round! Let's all burn them to the ground! /s
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The Marriage Minister
Hilarious reply. 😱😱😂😂
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Lionheart
I don’t think I’ve ever seen a tree with a wet crotch be convicted of public indecency, but I’ll take your word for it, SOJ. 🤭
Females seem to get away with flashing indecent exposure parts nowadays, but as soon as a man flashes his thing he’s hauled off to jail. Where’s the equity people like talking about? 🤷🏼
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ServantOfJudgement
Me neither but I bet a tree worshiping fella caught with his pants down would be and probably has been somewhere in the world.
I unfortunately seen a guy on a tire getting a very personal favor from a chick while at a guns n roses concert back in the 90's. Neither were easy to look at. Nobody complained.
Also at a pink Floyd concert a super hot chic wore a see through gown next to me. Nobody complained.
Must be a music thing, dunno. Should've been a rock star I guess. Then again, one by one they're all getting tagged for rape and whatnot nowadays. Better to be just some guy I guess.
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David Hinckley
How else do you measure the circumference of a tree without a tape measure? I have trees in my woods that are almost 2 hugs aroun.
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ServantOfJudgement
Tree Orgy Hug?
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Keith Allen Steele Eash
Oh boy, here we go putting false info out there that absolutely has no theological basis on Adam and Eve. Why is everything you post reeks of negativity.?
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Minister Raymond Butterworth
William,
What porn do you say God used. Please elaborate.
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Catherine
Sheezus. What a bizarre discussion. Private or public.
Is this a new philia? If this is what 'Covenant Eyes' promulgates, how is it legal?
Is this a form of minor sexual abuse?
What happened to boundaries?
Johnson and his son monitoring each other's porn is very creepy in this society. In which society would that not be so?
Does Johnson's son have a provclivity his father thinks should be monitored?
Will Johnson be angry if his son shares activity with someone else?
Why not porn without monitoring each other? There's a weird voyeur bent.
Adds bizarre meaning to father and son time. Is there an implication we should all be similarly comfortable with our children? Where does that take father and daughter and mother and son time? My brain just cringed and went gray.
How did Johnson think this would play out? What kind of 'Dad of the Year' is he aiming for?
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Patricia Marie Davis
Extremely well said!
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Michael Benjamin Roberts
The Bible tells us that accepting Christ as your Personal Savior is borne solely of free will not coercion, or surveillance. The Evangelical ChristIan obsession around judging and controlling the personal behavior of other people has nothing to do with Christ or his Church.
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John Robert Peters
I never realized that Big Brother was a conservative Republican Evangelical. Thank you for pointing this out. Remember...Big Brother loves you and will only punish you if you are a depraved and dirty evildoer.
May God and Goddess save us from the mind control of the true believers.
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Minister Raymond Butterworth
It's not the true believers that you have to be concerned with. It's the ones who use religion for their own ends and purposes.
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Ronaldo
Since this software is so easy to circumvent, the users would still have to make a choice to avoid pornography on their own. While I spend a lot of time on a computer daily, mostly for research purposes, I can find better things to do with my time than look at porn. I do know that there are those out there who are obviously addicted to it. When I worked in IT prior to retiring, we actually had to terminate two men for looking at pornography at work. We warned them three times prior to termination, once verbally and two written, and they still could not stop looking, and lost their jobs in the process.
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The Marriage Minister
If this software is intended to keep you from watching let's call it "evil" images or video content, it should also monitor your viewing of the evil and corrupt garbage coming out of the so called "family values" party. Mike Johnson is a fraud in every sense of the word.
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Douglas Robert Spindler
While Christians might say they hate porn publicly when in private they love it. They watch it along with God.
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He Who Breathes
What about his other computer/s?
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Amber Fry
I think the man is sick anyway. If he has such a problem then another adult sponsor should be who he is linked up with, or at least the wife as she's the one who should know. Not the son.
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Patricia Marie Davis
I, personally, find this software extremely offensive and creepy. It seems like a great tool for identity theft. Call me crazy!
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Deborah Lynn Strafuss
I am in agreement with Gerard above - a 17 year old son should in no way be monitoring his father, but it seems his dad did that so he could monitor his son. Not a good arrangement to me. Give your wife the reins - but I bet Mike does not have enough respect for her to give her any position of monitoring him as it would seem to then put her "over" him. Not a good sign in a marriage - that's a one way superiority deal and it does not work for the woman or for the man or the marraiage. See the next paragraph because this teaching and belief in the evangelical community may well be a contributing cause to the problem.
Lastly - why do these evangelicals need pornographic monitoring? What is the sickness and the root that is causing this to be an issue in evangelical circles? That is the real crux of the matter. Sickness of heart and mind will not be cured by AI. Monitoring the outward actions without addressing the root causes is not a cure.
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Dianne Couldry
“Any fool can be happy. It takes a man with real heart to make beauty out of the stuff that makes us weep.” Clive Barker
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Doctor Loyal
Tattletale Software? How inane can one get? If you truly Believe, truly have Faith, and Trust in Heavenly Father, you would see this software usage as a simple statement of your own superior Holiness and is equivalent to bragging. Don't demean yourdelf to stoop so low as to make such a claim or fall for such a snare.
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XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
"Speaker of the House Mike Johnson admitted that he and his son monitored each other’s porn intake"
Maybe it's just me but that sounds kinkier than just watching porn. If I was a porn-watcher (PC: "porn-intaker" LOL) I dang sure wouldn't want it emailed to my kid. Sounds more like an incest fetish than anything else to me.
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Rev Frankie PG
In many facets of today's society we have created a "buddy system." Whether it be an alcoholic, or another area of life, we have learned to be able to trust someone else with interfering if we are going down a path we know isn't healthy for us. Porn like gambling can become addictive and if that person doesn't seek help, it can lead to a life of chaffing and worse. I use porn for the educational portions, ie- different positions, different approaches, etc. If a person is still living in their parent's or guardian's home due to their age, then the personal liberties are rightfully granted by that guardian or parent. If a person is a criminal, then they actually have surrendered their rights to not be policed, by making another a victim.
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Michael Sciulli
From minster mike this problem in world take beautiful sacrament Make a mockery out of it .
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Lionheart
I see the word “Sacrament” in your post, Sir Michael. Perhaps you could explain a little more as to what you are referring to.
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Richard Voogd
It seems to me that different people are reading different things into the report. Some are seeing the possibility of people holding people accountable for the stupid stuff they do, while others are seeing something that's a bit "off" .......
Excuse me while I go facepalm.
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Richard Voogd
It seems to me that different people are reading different things into the report. Some are seeing the possibility of people holding people accountable for the stupid stuff they do, while others are seeing something that's a bit "off" .......
Excuse me while I go facepalm.
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Carol E Dewey-Iudice
REQUEST. Will the admin, please monitor this thread. It has become totally out of hand, and needs to return to the original request for thoughtful input. Thank you.
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Brien
Nobody forces you to participate. Everyone is entitled to their say, no matter how worthless the topic is. ✌️
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His Holiness Doctor C.
Amen to that, brother!
To continue on a slightly different track in this stimulating and thought provoking intellectual conflab, I have a query that perhaps one of my fellow Ministers out there would be kind enough to address.
Way back in the day (even before cave people/man-apes...sorry person-apes and thunder lizards) didn't God, on the assumption that the big-man still gives a crap, give humanity free-will? I guess that would explain why all the bad sh*t that goes on, really can go on and god-bothering zealots can upload and download 'apps' like 'covenant eyes'?
On a personal note, my favourite apps are 'porn-hunter' and 'all the porn you can take...and more'. Look out for them in the Google app store!
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Brien
Wow. I guess we can just push the ridiculous button on the keyboard but I'm afraid the ULC blog would pop up. 🤣🤣🤣🤣
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Robert Daniel Taylor
Porn wouldn’t exist had Eve not eaten from the forbidden tree. Adam and Eve then covered their private parts because they felt guilt, according to scripture. See Genesis 3:7. Is porn evil and sinful? I suppose it depends on the mind of the beholder. Kudos to the developer of the app who found a way to make money off porn.
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XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
America is about the only country that freaks out over a boobee or a butt. That's why America has a higher per capita percentage of sex offenders, pedophiles, and perverts than any other country.
I was raised like that until I lived in Europe for 5 years. It took some adjusting to get use to seeing TV commercials with nude men and women and watching soccer players strip down naked on the field to change their clothes for the weekend games in town.
I'll always remember the first German TV commercial I saw with a woman in the shower washing her long hair and promoting some kind of shampoo, and she had boobees! And they were on TV! How dare they! Pornography! LOL
Not to mention the German nude beaches. You could tell who all the GI's were as they were the only ones walking around googoo eyed slobbering all over themselves and taking sneak pics of the nude girls on the beach.
None of the Germans cared about the butts and boobees. It was just the human body. They'd all been seeing boobees and butts since they were babies so it didn't matter to them. They didn't care. It was a normal thing.
The average American kid is "sheltered" and never has seen a boobee or butt until he's 18. I'm sure no German kid ever turned into a sex offender because he saw that shampoo commercial on TV in the late 80's.
The best thing America could do for it's youth is stop pretending like people don't have sex and don't have bodies. Stop lying and deceiving your kids and they'll grow up healthier.
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Catherine
@Anthony Jones Boyett
When we were stationed in England, a neighbor sunbathed nude in her garden. My husband was okay with that until she became pregnant, at which point he became indignant : = ) My sister and I used to sunbathe nude in the backyard on our farm when we were the only ones home, and we used to skinny dip after riding horses to a pond.
I think there is enough real shame in the workd without adding unnecessary shames.
That said, there are more modest cultures, and they have their reasons. Most Americans, however, are hypocrits. Anyone here remember Minnie Pearl? She was a master of double entendre and could make the most risque insinuations without being explicit. Somehow most of America seems stuck in a place where only that is broadly acceptable.
I think in certain cultures, covering up might be more necessary where men call rape something else while the women they abuse suffer the responsibility. And covering up doesn't help women much in those areas, so again there is more pretense than not.
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James Miller
- MiLLer -
It's hard to believe how many of you totally missed the point of a religious Father & Son agreeing to each others' sponsor.
THe app or software is obviously used as a "deterrent" to abstain from watching porn! Fools! Do you really think they're sitting there masturbating and sharing it with one another after?
For those saying that Johnson's son should in no way be viewing porn!>? He's 17 years old .. THat's grade 11 for most, I don't know what kind of fantasy world you people are pretending to belong to but it sounds like the majority are from the U.S.
Why sugar-coat it, the U.S. is the modern day Babylon ..
Anyway I think it's a mature and responsible Christian thing to take part in as a young adult. It shows the boy has a head on his shoulders', sadly unlike most of the peanut gallery.
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Allan Lloyd Badgett
Pornography was invented by the 5% for enlightenment.. just as in some denomination. People have their own secret practice. What would you say if the user is not Christian and don't follow the Bible but as a reverend you follow all faith
The Purity Culture of religion is one if the leading causes of Religious Trauma Syndrome.
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