h/t to Ace
Wow. Could anyone, anywhere, have predicted that unfiltered internet access in public libraries could possibly expose children to things they shouldn’t see? It seems to me that a few people did express concern about that very thing. And, shockingly enough, it turns out they were right. Go figure.
In May, Cleveland reporter Carl Monday reported on pornography and sexual activity in Cleveland area libraries. Using undercover cameras, Mike Cooper, 23, was caught viewing pornography and masturbating in an open area in a public library, near the children’s section. In the video, a woman walks right behind him while this is going on. When questioned, he first denied it, then said, “I did what I… wasn’t thinking. I just made a mistake.”
Monday asked him if he thought, “based on the fact that there are guys like you out there doing this kind of thing, do you think parents ought to be a little more careful about letting their kids be at a library alone?”
Cooper answered, “Yeah.” Cooper was later charged with public indecency. However, this was not the first time he exposed himself in a public library.
Berea Library Manager Cindy Bereznay said she saw Cooper masturbating the last time he was in her library.
Bereznay said they caught Cooper in the act a few years ago.
“I told him I would have to call the police if it continued,” she said.
I’m astounded that one occasion like this was not enough to call the police. But the librarian is not alone. On Monday’s blog, most commenters attacked the reporter, changed the subject, minimized the problem, and defended the status quo. Was Monday wrong to approach Cooper’s parents for an interview, leading to an altercation at their home? Perhaps. It certainly distracted from the main problem, which was Cooper’s behavior. But I think there is also a case to be made for shame. If nothing else, it is a cautionary tale for anyone else who thinks they might get away with this kind of behavior. There are consequences for bad behavior. Not only you, but your family, will be publicly embarrassed.
Cooper’s attorney told the judge before sentencing, “He’s gotten the message. He understands the gravity of this offense. He has take substantial steps to ensure that incidents like this never happen again.” I wonder what steps he’s taken… perhaps buying his own computer and paying for an internet connection to his room in his parents home, so he can avail himself of his Constitutional right to porn in privacy. But he was only sentenced to a year’s probation, during which he may not enter a public library or anywhere where children might congregate. He was also sentenced to 30 days in jail, but apparently will not have to serve that if he complies with his probation restrictions. I hope he does understand the gravity of what he did the second time he got caught, but his behavior after sentencing makes me wonder if he’s sorry he did it or sorry he got caught. He seemed belligerent, not regretful or ashamed.
This is not an isolated incident. Monday’s further reporting revealed that Carl Geddas, a convicted child predator, was caught viewing child porn at a Cleveland library. Another man was convicted of showing porn to a 14 year old boy and then luring him to the men’s room for sex. A teenage girl was caught – for the third time – having sex in the library bathroom when she finally broke the sink. Monday continued to cite incident after incident of pornography and sexual activity in public libraries, before interviewing a librarian who said, “We believe in the free access to information, and the viewing of pornography is Constitutionally protected.”
Monday reports that the ACLU says “generally libraries are not required to filter out pornography, and an overly sensitive filter could block out vital information, like the stories on breast cancer detection.” A good common sense defense to that argument is to protect the children first with a filter, and someone who is trying to access a site that is legitimately blocked can simply request that it be white-listed so it is no longer blocked. Problem solved. There may be a slight delay in getting to your breast cancer article, but isn’t that a reasonable price to pay for knowing the children are not subjected to pornography? However, the American Library Association disagrees in spite of documentation that this is a real problem. As so often happens in modern American society, the wishes of adults supersede the needs of the children our society used to protect as a matter of course. Cleveland is, of course, not the only city where this kind of thing is occurring.
A 2000 report by the Family Research Council details how its researchers sent out surveys to every librarian in America asking questions about access to pornography. Despite efforts by the ALA to stop its members from responding, 462 librarians did respond. Their replies revealed 472 instances of children accessing pornography, 962 instances of adults accessing pornography, 106 instances of adults exposing children to pornography, five attempted child molestations, 144 instances of child porn being accessed and 25 instances of library staff being harassed by those viewing pornography. Over 2,062 total porn-related incidents were reported by a mere 4.6% of our nation’s librarians so one can assume the number of incidents is probably twenty times higher.
The real problem is that America’s adults have abdicated their responsibilities to children. We fail to protect them by not accompanying them to the library ourselves. We fail as a society to demand high standards and enforce them, because we love ourselves, our self-gratification, and frankly, our sin, more than we love our children. But we can’t say we weren’t warned.
Sources -
http://www.supremecourtus.gov/opinions/02pdf/02-361.pdf
http://www.safelibraries.org/
http://www.wkyc.com/news/news_article.aspx?storyid=52623
Video 1 – http://www.wkyc.com/video/player.aspx?aid=23446&sid=52623&bw=hi&cat=2
Video 2 – http://www.wkyc.com/video/player.aspx?aid=23476&bw=hi
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn?pagename=article&node=&contentId=A44925-2003Mar5
http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2000/112/23.0.html
http://www.ockhamist.com/archives/2005/09/banned_books_we.html
