Porn

The University of Maryland College Park (UMD) recently had the entirety of its $424 million state funding held ransom against the showing of Pirates II: Stagnetti's Revenge.

Congressman Andy Harris, Maryland, decried the plan to show the flick at midnight last Friday and threatened to withhold the university's funding unless the event was canceled.

"Pornography and addiction to pornography is a danger, it's a public health hazard and it has to be treated that way by the university. It is not fun and entertainment," Harris is quoted as saying.

Meanwhile Harris's colleagues in the National Science Foundation (NSF) are allegedly going porn-wild at work, according to a letter released Monday by Sen. Charles E. Grassley and Sen. Barbara A. Mikulski. Grassley and Mikulski insist that the NSF did not thoroughly investigate the allegations when they were privately reported over the past 10 years.

Watching these issues unfold, many of us are forced to ask why any of this matters. This is not to claim that the people who view porn as harmful are off base, but rather that for every person who feels that way there is at least one person who feels otherwise. If porn is such a polarizing issue, then what right does anyone really have to say it's right or wrong?

To be fair, the NSF employees were viewing pornographic materials at work, which remains inexcusable, but for different reasons. Looking at porn at work is no different than checking Facebook at work: you're at work; you're supposed to be working, not spanking it (Facebook is still spanking it, according to this metaphor).

As long as it's viewed in a private setting, though, who are we to judge consenting adults who like to watch other consenting adults have sex on film?

Harris is extending his congressional powers to include himself on the Party-Planning Committee, striking down entertainment that offends his faint heart. It would not be constitutional for our representatives to take UB's funding hostage now that politically-extreme Rise Against is performing at Spring Fest, so how is halting a silly porno any different?