A Utah Republican Lawmaker has proposed a bill which would classify the use of pornography a “public health crisis,” saying that the use of pornography is more addictive than even cocaine.
State Sen. Todd Weiler has proposed the bill which would re-label the use of pornography as a health crisis and an epidemic nationally. Weiler notes that his bill does not address or attempt to outlaw masturbation, but he has found that in his repressed religious state in particular, pornography has had a damaging effect on individuals and their relationships.
“I think porn is higher in Utah because of the culture here. On the internet, porn is anonymous and it’s accessible.”
The bill is unclear on what sort of action it would take against this “health crisis.” Would this result in the outlawing of the use of pornography? Or an embargo on the distribution of pornographic material? Any of these options seem far too invasive to actually be workable- This is America, not North Korea. It’s hard to imagine that the state could somehow censor a lion’s share of the internet.
“These are scientific facts, just like global warming,” Weiler has said in reference to his “facts” about pornography addiction.
There are certainly pornography addictions and too much of anything is concerning, but we are more interested in the fact that a Republican state senator referred to global warming as a scientific fact. How weird is that?!
Republicans like Weiler are clearly caught between their ideology and their religious morality in cases like this. While Republicans hate Big Government interfering with their lives, they also try to use government to regulate behavior in others that they find immoral.
