Maybe it's because they really just want clean sheets
Thomas Keister
September 15, 2006
Thank goodness. Here I was, thinking maybe it just wasn't moral enough outside. The cartoon bluebirds hadn't been around in a couple of weeks. Luckily, Phil Burress and his Citizens for Community Values have arrived to rescue me from my own lack of sarcasm. Burress and his organization are part of a thirteen group coalition seeking to either pressure hotels and motels to cut adult movies from their establishments, or get the Justice Department and the Federal Bureau of Investigation to look into the movies.
While the intent, according to the coalition, is to examine whether some of the movies violate state and federal obscenity laws, the other goal appears to be promoting CleanHotels.com, a web directory of hotels and motels across the country agreeing to exclude adult movies from their in-room services. This has been accomplished, in part, by full page ads the coalition has taken out in USA Today.
Here's my thing about morality crusades. The math never seems to square up with the "know what's best for us" the crusaders have in mind for us. According to some estimates, adult movies are available in roughly 40% of hotels nationwide, or about 1.5 million rooms. Adult movies also account for 90% of pay-per-view revenue, approximately $190 million a year in sales. Suppose for a moment this coalition gets their way, which seems highly unlikely in the wake of $190 million a year in revenue, who would feel that loss harder, the families staying in the rooms or the hotels, who would like cut staff or wages to compensate? Think the families would care at that point they are being protected from something they can simply not freakin use?
Never minding all that, Tony Perkins, the president of the Family Research Council, had other thoughts, saying "these are places that you take your family - these are respectable institutions." Depends on just who is dishing out the respect, wouldn't you say? Don't forget "Anything that brings porn into the mainstream is a concern. It just desensitizes people." That word-a-day calendar is paying off in the long run, I would say.
Perkins is concerned about respectable institutions, where you can take you family, should the urge strike. Noble, but say for example a family is hunkering down at an Appleby's. If Dad should kick back with one of their huge draft beers, should we protest Appleby's liquor license because he is not only being desensitized to the horrors of alcohol, but in public to boot? Nope, that'd just be silly. These generically-named morality groups need to eye other problems, like maybe the parents themselves. Somebody taking their kid to a racetrack or a bar would seem more troubling to me than taking their kid to a hotel, where they stand a chance of being exposed to a pornographic movie only if quick (and brave) enough to sneak Dad's credit card. It's like going after the guy who planted the tree when the matches they made from it burns down the elementary school.
Burress, an admitted former "porn addict" said a national campaign would be difficult, as most every hotel chain has the same policy- porn is available at some, but not all of their outlets. Employing "cautious optimism," as Burress calls it, his hope is that the Justice Department considers looking into hotel-based pornography. My hope is this winds up on the way bottom of the DOJ's in pile, obscured by a coffee ring or some of the government issue white-out you can find on half of the documents released under FOIA requests.
Through all of this, the hotel chains are resolute in their shared inability to be impressed by the crusading. Both Hilton and Marriott's representatives said the majority of their hotels are operated by franchise holders who make their own decisions regarding in-room programming. Both companies followed common sense into the fray as well, noting the adult movies are acceptable, as they can either be ignored or blocked out. Hmmm, skipping past the punchlines involving common sense and a famous Hilton in the same room together, this all kind of sums it up, doesn't it? Ignore it or block it out at the touch of a button. Wondrous time to be alive. Now, if someone could find the button to face people like Burress and Perkins to real issues in need of coalitions.
While the intent, according to the coalition, is to examine whether some of the movies violate state and federal obscenity laws, the other goal appears to be promoting CleanHotels.com, a web directory of hotels and motels across the country agreeing to exclude adult movies from their in-room services. This has been accomplished, in part, by full page ads the coalition has taken out in USA Today.
Here's my thing about morality crusades. The math never seems to square up with the "know what's best for us" the crusaders have in mind for us. According to some estimates, adult movies are available in roughly 40% of hotels nationwide, or about 1.5 million rooms. Adult movies also account for 90% of pay-per-view revenue, approximately $190 million a year in sales. Suppose for a moment this coalition gets their way, which seems highly unlikely in the wake of $190 million a year in revenue, who would feel that loss harder, the families staying in the rooms or the hotels, who would like cut staff or wages to compensate? Think the families would care at that point they are being protected from something they can simply not freakin use?
Never minding all that, Tony Perkins, the president of the Family Research Council, had other thoughts, saying "these are places that you take your family - these are respectable institutions." Depends on just who is dishing out the respect, wouldn't you say? Don't forget "Anything that brings porn into the mainstream is a concern. It just desensitizes people." That word-a-day calendar is paying off in the long run, I would say.
Perkins is concerned about respectable institutions, where you can take you family, should the urge strike. Noble, but say for example a family is hunkering down at an Appleby's. If Dad should kick back with one of their huge draft beers, should we protest Appleby's liquor license because he is not only being desensitized to the horrors of alcohol, but in public to boot? Nope, that'd just be silly. These generically-named morality groups need to eye other problems, like maybe the parents themselves. Somebody taking their kid to a racetrack or a bar would seem more troubling to me than taking their kid to a hotel, where they stand a chance of being exposed to a pornographic movie only if quick (and brave) enough to sneak Dad's credit card. It's like going after the guy who planted the tree when the matches they made from it burns down the elementary school.
Burress, an admitted former "porn addict" said a national campaign would be difficult, as most every hotel chain has the same policy- porn is available at some, but not all of their outlets. Employing "cautious optimism," as Burress calls it, his hope is that the Justice Department considers looking into hotel-based pornography. My hope is this winds up on the way bottom of the DOJ's in pile, obscured by a coffee ring or some of the government issue white-out you can find on half of the documents released under FOIA requests.
Through all of this, the hotel chains are resolute in their shared inability to be impressed by the crusading. Both Hilton and Marriott's representatives said the majority of their hotels are operated by franchise holders who make their own decisions regarding in-room programming. Both companies followed common sense into the fray as well, noting the adult movies are acceptable, as they can either be ignored or blocked out. Hmmm, skipping past the punchlines involving common sense and a famous Hilton in the same room together, this all kind of sums it up, doesn't it? Ignore it or block it out at the touch of a button. Wondrous time to be alive. Now, if someone could find the button to face people like Burress and Perkins to real issues in need of coalitions.
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