ABC evening news tonight ran a story implying that some ultra-conservative Christian groups in the U.S. are targeting MySpace as a "pornographic" site contributing to the "moral downfall" of teens. Does anyone have any references on this? Specifics of what groups, what tactics are being employed against MySpace, etc.? Thanks. -- Mark D. Johns, Ph.D. Assistant Professor Dept. of Communication Studies Luther College, Decorah, Iowa http://academic.luther.edu/~johnsmar/ ----------------------------------------------- "Get the facts first. You can distort them later." ---Mark Twain
Here's Focus on the Family's press release on myspace http://www.family.org/welcome/press/a0039863.cfm as well as a parody James Dobson myspace page http://www.myspace.com/drjamesdobson A news story from the Christian Broadcast Network http://www.cbn.com/cbnnews/usnews/060220b_wire.asp and a Pat Robertson myspace parody http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=49... On Tue, 28 Mar 2006, Mark D. Johns wrote:
Date: Tue, 28 Mar 2006 18:35:57 -0600 From: Mark D. Johns <johnsmar@luther.edu> Reply-To: air-l@listserv.aoir.org To: air-l@listserv.aoir.org Subject: [Air-l] Christians against MySpace?
ABC evening news tonight ran a story implying that some ultra-conservative Christian groups in the U.S. are targeting MySpace as a "pornographic" site contributing to the "moral downfall" of teens. Does anyone have any references on this? Specifics of what groups, what tactics are being employed against MySpace, etc.? Thanks. -- Mark D. Johns, Ph.D. Assistant Professor Dept. of Communication Studies Luther College, Decorah, Iowa http://academic.luther.edu/~johnsmar/ ----------------------------------------------- "Get the facts first. You can distort them later." ---Mark Twain _______________________________________________ The air-l@listserv.aoir.org mailing list is provided by the Association of Internet Researchers http://aoir.org Subscribe, change options or unsubscribe at: http://listserv.aoir.org/listinfo.cgi/air-l-aoir.org
Join the Association of Internet Researchers: http://www.aoir.org/
Seems pretty typical. Conservative group dislikes something new, often an intersection of technology and society (or, "technology is sociology extended by other means" LaTour, Aramis, p. 210). Makes big kerfuffle over it to get media coverage. Media complies (while thinking it is independent and not manipulated). I thought we were living in the 21st century, but I am still awaiting my flying car (well 85mph on my hour commute is almost flying). There have been negative reactions to movie theaters and comic books, too. Not that fears aren't grounded at all, but, it's complex. And in homage to video games, the Internet, and violence, I'm off to play Halo 2. On Mar 28, 2006, at 7:35 PM, Mark D. Johns wrote:
ABC evening news tonight ran a story implying that some ultra-conservative Christian groups in the U.S. are targeting MySpace as a "pornographic" site contributing to the "moral downfall" of teens. Does anyone have any references on this? Specifics of what groups, what tactics are being employed against MySpace, etc.? Thanks. -- Mark D. Johns, Ph.D. Assistant Professor Dept. of Communication Studies Luther College, Decorah, Iowa http://academic.luther.edu/~johnsmar/ ----------------------------------------------- "Get the facts first. You can distort them later." ---Mark Twain _______________________________________________ The air-l@listserv.aoir.org mailing list is provided by the Association of Internet Researchers http://aoir.org Subscribe, change options or unsubscribe at: http:// listserv.aoir.org/listinfo.cgi/air-l-aoir.org
Join the Association of Internet Researchers: http://www.aoir.org/
--------------------------------------------- Nathaniel Poor, Ph.D. www.umich.edu/~natpoor Visiting Assistant Professor Communication Studies Dept. Albion College http://www.albion.edu/commstudies
Pastors are speaking out against MySpace during their services. (I've copied an article below to give the sentiments - it seems to have been taken offline.) That said, there are huge Christian contingents on MySpace, including many religious teens who share Christian rock music and discuss bible studies in their profiles. Other social networking sites are popping up and attracting religious teens, including YFly.com. Pastor airs problem with MySpace.com Valley Bible Fellowship leader warns parents against online forum popular with kids, teens By DAVID BURGER, Californian staff writer e-mail: dburger@bakersfield.com Posted: Sunday February 12th, 2006, 10:20 PM Last Updated: Monday February 13th, 2006, 9:19 AM Is MySpace.com just another front for, say, MySatan.com? That’s the view of Ron Vietti, senior pastor of Valley Bible Fellowship in east Bakersfield. Vietti used Sunday’s three services to deliver an hourlong attack against the evils of Internet social Web site MySpace.com and how it is “worse than crack, cocaine or meth.” The senior pastor said the popular Web site lures young boys into pornography and sets up young girls as victims of sexual predators. “You say I’m mad — you bet I’m mad!” he said to the capacity crowd during the 11:30 a.m. service, as congregants in the crowd hollered “Amens” and “Yeahs.” MySpace.com, according to The Associated Press, has two-and-a-half times the traffic of Google.com, with over 50 million users according to some estimates. The free site — which uses advertising to make money — allows people to create personal Web pages to talk to friends, write their own blogs or meet new friends. The “new friends” are what Vietti is worried about. With six large binders in his hand, full of salacious pictures he printed off of MySpace.com — pictures primarily of young girls — the pastor told parents to get more involved in overseeing what Junior is doing in his bedroom online. “Pornography is a growing problem that is sweeping our land,” Vietti said. “(The Internet) is one-stop shopping for sexual predators,” he later said. Vietti spent between 36 and 38 hours on MySpace.com this past week, after never hearing of the site until just a month ago. One night, he was up from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. documenting the evil he saw displayed. The Web site allows people to post pictures and messages of whatever they’d like, Vietti said. Many times this involves pornographic material, the pastor claimed. Vietti’s remarks contrast with the written MySpace.com photo submission policy. According to rules posted on the Web site, MySpace users must be at least 14 years old, and submitted photos must not contain any sexually explicit imagery, including nudity or pornography. The policy also tells members that offensive photos can be flagged and removed by site administrators. Vietti told his congregation of his own history: when he was 13, he became addicted to pornography and wasn’t unleashed until he entered his 20s and “gave my life to God.” At the beginning of the service, the congregants — there are 8,000 members of the church, Vietti said — received a card titled “Commitment to Higher Values.” The card implored parents to commit to four things: putting a filter on the Internet; putting the family computer in an open area; locking out the computer when parents aren’t home; and spending more time with their children. Vietti didn’t stop there. At 6 p.m. on Feb. 20, he wants people concerned about stamping out Internet pornography to join a group he calls “Special Ops Ministry” at the church building. The group will go to places, like bars, where young people hang out to convince them to delete MySpace.com from their computers and lives. Congregants and fellow ministers were motivated by the pastor’s impassioned testimony, they said. Youth pastor Vince Sierra, 24, said that although MySpace.com does some good by helping people meet one another, the cons outweigh the pros. “I call it ‘My Waste of Space.com,’” said the pastor, who ministers to 200 students in high school and 350 students in junior high. “I think it’s a place where kids waste their time and lose that social touch.” “I don’t (use the Internet) at home, because I don’t trust myself,” said Vietti’s 25-year-old son Josh. The temptation to look at indecent pictures would be too strong if he used the computer at home, he said. Teenagers who are members of both the church and MySpace.com said they’ve now given up the latter after hearing their pastor. Richard Fuentez, 16, a junior at Golden Valley High School, said that although all of his friends are on MySpace, he is going to stop using it. “I’d be a hypocrite if I kept it,” he said. He said, until Sunday, he didn’t know that young girls who posted pictures and personal information of themselves on the site were unwillingly luring criminal minds. David Casillas, 13, also a member of MySpace.com and the church, said he’d tell his friends Tuesday — Monday is a holiday for him — that they should stop using MySpace. But he admitted that they’d “probably say no, because it’s like an addiction.” One parent of two teenagers, Lori Crabb, said parents should take advantage of the free filter software the church was handing out Sunday. “Until today, it was questionably safe,” she said. “But I now know fully the danger.” In contrast to the children who agreed with their pastor’s denunciation of MySpace, other young people in Bakersfield supported the popular Web site. MySpace.com users found on Chester Avenue in downtown Bakersfield Sunday afternoon had definite opinions about the Web site. “Where are the parents?” asked Alejandro Nuñez, 24, a local musician who has a 2-year-old son. He spends five hours a day on MySpace.com, he said, promoting his business and his band, using the site to build buzz and revenue. “Bad” is a subjective term, said Jonathan Pineda, 18, a MySpace.com user. Blaming MySpace.com for making pornography more available is senseless, he said — it’s everywhere. “People will find sin as easily as air,” he said. Valerie Ramirez, 27, has three kids and said she wouldn’t let her children use the site until they were 15 or 16. Until then, she said, her daughters “should be reading a book.” MySpace.com is so prevalent in the two years of its existence that Bakersfield College has outlawed the usage of MySpace.com on the college computers, according to a Feb. 1 story in The Renegade Rip, the college newspaper. But the dangers are becoming increasingly well-documented. As recently as Jan. 26, KHOU-TV in Houston, Texas, recounted the case of a 15-year-old girl who had sex with a 26-year-old man she’d met on MySpace.com. The last example proves that devious use of MySpace.com can have serious consequences. The pastor also blamed MySpace.com for fostering bisexuality and called the Internet “the devil’s biggest scheme he has ever inserted into our lives.” But part of Vietti’s message was intended to be shocking, he admitted. He expects to get phone calls and e-mails this week from some congregants regarding his sermon. “I think it’s worth saving one kid for all the e-mails and calls I’ll get,” Vietti said. “I want to make you moms and dads hopping mad,” he added. - - - - - - - - - - d a n a h ( d o t ) o r g - - - - - - - - - - "taken out of context i must seem so strange" musings :: http://www.zephoria.org/thoughts
First Sponge Bob, and now MySpace... Interesting how this converges with the introduction of a new bill - Cyber Safety For Kids Act of 2006 - in the U.S. Congress last week that revives the specter of the mandatory relocation of all sexually "explicit" content on the web to a .XXX domain name, regulated by ICANN -- As usual in these scenarios, the definitions of what might be "harmful" and to whom, and what is not harmful, provide a useful addition to the genealogy of censorship and the history of moral panic and attempted containment of sex(uality). The Cyber Safety For Kids Act of 2006 Bill: http://www.boingboing.net/images/CyberSafetyforKids.pdf " Senators Mark Pryor (D-AR), and Max Baucus, (D-MT) have proposed a bill that would require all commercial websites with material "harmful to minors" (in other words, sexually explicit content) to move to a .xxx domain within 6 months of this bill becoming law -- or face civil penalties. Under the terms of the proposed law, the US Commerce Department secretary would be required to develop a domain name for adult sites (presumably .xxx) with ICANN." http://www.boingboing.net/2006/03/17/new_bill_cyber_safet.html Mary On 3/29/06 12:51 PM, "danah boyd" <aoir.z3z@danah.org> wrote:
Pastors are speaking out against MySpace during their services. (I've copied an article below to give the sentiments - it seems to have been taken offline.) That said, there are huge Christian contingents on MySpace, including many religious teens who share Christian rock music and discuss bible studies in their profiles. Other social networking sites are popping up and attracting religious teens, including YFly.com.
Pastor airs problem with MySpace.com
Valley Bible Fellowship leader warns parents against online forum popular with kids, teens
By DAVID BURGER, Californian staff writer e-mail: dburger@bakersfield.com
Posted: Sunday February 12th, 2006, 10:20 PM Last Updated: Monday February 13th, 2006, 9:19 AM
Is MySpace.com just another front for, say, MySatan.com?
That¹s the view of Ron Vietti, senior pastor of Valley Bible Fellowship in east Bakersfield. Vietti used Sunday¹s three services to deliver an hourlong attack against the evils of Internet social Web site MySpace.com and how it is ³worse than crack, cocaine or meth.² The senior pastor said the popular Web site lures young boys into pornography and sets up young girls as victims of sexual predators.
³You say I¹m mad you bet I¹m mad!² he said to the capacity crowd during the 11:30 a.m. service, as congregants in the crowd hollered ³Amens² and ³Yeahs.²
MySpace.com, according to The Associated Press, has two-and-a-half times the traffic of Google.com, with over 50 million users according to some estimates. The free site which uses advertising to make money allows people to create personal Web pages to talk to friends, write their own blogs or meet new friends.
The ³new friends² are what Vietti is worried about. With six large binders in his hand, full of salacious pictures he printed off of MySpace.com pictures primarily of young girls the pastor told parents to get more involved in overseeing what Junior is doing in his bedroom online.
³Pornography is a growing problem that is sweeping our land,² Vietti said.
³(The Internet) is one-stop shopping for sexual predators,² he later said.
Vietti spent between 36 and 38 hours on MySpace.com this past week, after never hearing of the site until just a month ago. One night, he was up from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. documenting the evil he saw displayed.
The Web site allows people to post pictures and messages of whatever they¹d like, Vietti said. Many times this involves pornographic material, the pastor claimed.
Vietti¹s remarks contrast with the written MySpace.com photo submission policy. According to rules posted on the Web site, MySpace users must be at least 14 years old, and submitted photos must not contain any sexually explicit imagery, including nudity or pornography.
The policy also tells members that offensive photos can be flagged and removed by site administrators.
Vietti told his congregation of his own history: when he was 13, he became addicted to pornography and wasn¹t unleashed until he entered his 20s and ³gave my life to God.²
At the beginning of the service, the congregants there are 8,000 members of the church, Vietti said received a card titled ³Commitment to Higher Values.²
The card implored parents to commit to four things: putting a filter on the Internet; putting the family computer in an open area; locking out the computer when parents aren¹t home; and spending more time with their children.
Vietti didn¹t stop there. At 6 p.m. on Feb. 20, he wants people concerned about stamping out Internet pornography to join a group he calls ³Special Ops Ministry² at the church building. The group will go to places, like bars, where young people hang out to convince them to delete MySpace.com from their computers and lives.
Congregants and fellow ministers were motivated by the pastor¹s impassioned testimony, they said.
Youth pastor Vince Sierra, 24, said that although MySpace.com does some good by helping people meet one another, the cons outweigh the pros.
³I call it My Waste of Space.com,¹² said the pastor, who ministers to 200 students in high school and 350 students in junior high. ³I think it¹s a place where kids waste their time and lose that social touch.²
³I don¹t (use the Internet) at home, because I don¹t trust myself,² said Vietti¹s 25-year-old son Josh. The temptation to look at indecent pictures would be too strong if he used the computer at home, he said.
Teenagers who are members of both the church and MySpace.com said they¹ve now given up the latter after hearing their pastor.
Richard Fuentez, 16, a junior at Golden Valley High School, said that although all of his friends are on MySpace, he is going to stop using it.
³I¹d be a hypocrite if I kept it,² he said. He said, until Sunday, he didn¹t know that young girls who posted pictures and personal information of themselves on the site were unwillingly luring criminal minds.
David Casillas, 13, also a member of MySpace.com and the church, said he¹d tell his friends Tuesday Monday is a holiday for him that they should stop using MySpace. But he admitted that they¹d ³probably say no, because it¹s like an addiction.²
One parent of two teenagers, Lori Crabb, said parents should take advantage of the free filter software the church was handing out Sunday.
³Until today, it was questionably safe,² she said. ³But I now know fully the danger.²
In contrast to the children who agreed with their pastor¹s denunciation of MySpace, other young people in Bakersfield supported the popular Web site.
MySpace.com users found on Chester Avenue in downtown Bakersfield Sunday afternoon had definite opinions about the Web site.
³Where are the parents?² asked Alejandro Nuñez, 24, a local musician who has a 2-year-old son. He spends five hours a day on MySpace.com, he said, promoting his business and his band, using the site to build buzz and revenue.
³Bad² is a subjective term, said Jonathan Pineda, 18, a MySpace.com user. Blaming MySpace.com for making pornography more available is senseless, he said it¹s everywhere.
³People will find sin as easily as air,² he said.
Valerie Ramirez, 27, has three kids and said she wouldn¹t let her children use the site until they were 15 or 16. Until then, she said, her daughters ³should be reading a book.²
MySpace.com is so prevalent in the two years of its existence that Bakersfield College has outlawed the usage of MySpace.com on the college computers, according to a Feb. 1 story in The Renegade Rip, the college newspaper.
But the dangers are becoming increasingly well-documented.
As recently as Jan. 26, KHOU-TV in Houston, Texas, recounted the case of a 15-year-old girl who had sex with a 26-year-old man she¹d met on MySpace.com.
The last example proves that devious use of MySpace.com can have serious consequences.
The pastor also blamed MySpace.com for fostering bisexuality and called the Internet ³the devil¹s biggest scheme he has ever inserted into our lives.²
But part of Vietti¹s message was intended to be shocking, he admitted. He expects to get phone calls and e-mails this week from some congregants regarding his sermon.
³I think it¹s worth saving one kid for all the e-mails and calls I¹ll get,² Vietti said. ³I want to make you moms and dads hopping mad,² he added.
- - - - - - - - - - d a n a h ( d o t ) o r g - - - - - - - - - - "taken out of context i must seem so strange"
musings :: http://www.zephoria.org/thoughts
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The ludicrousness is multi-dimensional. MySpace is non-unique, immediately replaceable, and part of a much larger (and uncontrollable) medium. If Vietti wants separation from communication used by others in ways that may tempt still others towards potential damnation, maybe Osama's got space in his cave. For that matter (and speaking of Osama), I'll wager that religion (even Christianity) has been associated with more murders than MySpace has been associated with sexual predation - in which case Vietti should urge teens to swear off church. Preaching to the choir, Ellis
-----Original Message----- From: air-l-bounces@listserv.aoir.org [mailto:air-l-bounces@listserv.aoir.org] On Behalf Of danah boyd Sent: Wednesday, March 29, 2006 12:51 PM To: air-l@listserv.aoir.org Subject: Re: [Air-l] Christians against MySpace?
Pastors are speaking out against MySpace during their services. (I've copied an article below to give the sentiments - it seems to have been taken offline.) That said, there are huge Christian contingents on MySpace, including many religious teens who share Christian rock music and discuss bible studies in their profiles. Other social networking sites are popping up and attracting religious teens, including YFly.com.
Pastor airs problem with MySpace.com
Valley Bible Fellowship leader warns parents against online forum popular with kids, teens
By DAVID BURGER, Californian staff writer e-mail: dburger@bakersfield.com
Posted: Sunday February 12th, 2006, 10:20 PM Last Updated: Monday February 13th, 2006, 9:19 AM
Is MySpace.com just another front for, say, MySatan.com?
Thats the view of Ron Vietti, senior pastor of Valley Bible Fellowship in east Bakersfield. Vietti used Sundays three services to deliver an hourlong attack against the evils of Internet social Web site MySpace.com and how it is worse than crack, cocaine or meth. The senior pastor said the popular Web site lures young boys into pornography and sets up young girls as victims of sexual predators.
You say Im mad you bet Im mad! he said to the capacity crowd during the 11:30 a.m. service, as congregants in the crowd hollered Amens and Yeahs.
MySpace.com, according to The Associated Press, has two-and-a-half times the traffic of Google.com, with over 50 million users according to some estimates. The free site which uses advertising to make money allows people to create personal Web pages to talk to friends, write their own blogs or meet new friends.
The new friends are what Vietti is worried about. With six large binders in his hand, full of salacious pictures he printed off of MySpace.com pictures primarily of young girls the pastor told parents to get more involved in overseeing what Junior is doing in his bedroom online.
Pornography is a growing problem that is sweeping our land, Vietti said.
(The Internet) is one-stop shopping for sexual predators, he later said.
Vietti spent between 36 and 38 hours on MySpace.com this past week, after never hearing of the site until just a month ago. One night, he was up from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. documenting the evil he saw displayed.
The Web site allows people to post pictures and messages of whatever theyd like, Vietti said. Many times this involves pornographic material, the pastor claimed.
Viettis remarks contrast with the written MySpace.com photo submission policy. According to rules posted on the Web site, MySpace users must be at least 14 years old, and submitted photos must not contain any sexually explicit imagery, including nudity or pornography.
The policy also tells members that offensive photos can be flagged and removed by site administrators.
Vietti told his congregation of his own history: when he was 13, he became addicted to pornography and wasnt unleashed until he entered his 20s and gave my life to God.
At the beginning of the service, the congregants there are 8,000 members of the church, Vietti said received a card titled Commitment to Higher Values.
The card implored parents to commit to four things: putting a filter on the Internet; putting the family computer in an open area; locking out the computer when parents arent home; and spending more time with their children.
Vietti didnt stop there. At 6 p.m. on Feb. 20, he wants people concerned about stamping out Internet pornography to join a group he calls Special Ops Ministry at the church building. The group will go to places, like bars, where young people hang out to convince them to delete MySpace.com from their computers and lives.
Congregants and fellow ministers were motivated by the pastors impassioned testimony, they said.
Youth pastor Vince Sierra, 24, said that although MySpace.com does some good by helping people meet one another, the cons outweigh the pros.
I call it My Waste of Space.com, said the pastor, who ministers to 200 students in high school and 350 students in junior high. I think its a place where kids waste their time and lose that social touch.
I dont (use the Internet) at home, because I dont trust myself, said Viettis 25-year-old son Josh. The temptation to look at indecent pictures would be too strong if he used the computer at home, he said.
Teenagers who are members of both the church and MySpace.com said theyve now given up the latter after hearing their pastor.
Richard Fuentez, 16, a junior at Golden Valley High School, said that although all of his friends are on MySpace, he is going to stop using it.
Id be a hypocrite if I kept it, he said. He said, until Sunday, he didnt know that young girls who posted pictures and personal information of themselves on the site were unwillingly luring criminal minds.
David Casillas, 13, also a member of MySpace.com and the church, said hed tell his friends Tuesday Monday is a holiday for him that they should stop using MySpace. But he admitted that theyd probably say no, because its like an addiction.
One parent of two teenagers, Lori Crabb, said parents should take advantage of the free filter software the church was handing out Sunday.
Until today, it was questionably safe, she said. But I now know fully the danger.
In contrast to the children who agreed with their pastors denunciation of MySpace, other young people in Bakersfield supported the popular Web site.
MySpace.com users found on Chester Avenue in downtown Bakersfield Sunday afternoon had definite opinions about the Web site.
Where are the parents? asked Alejandro Nuñez, 24, a local musician who has a 2-year-old son. He spends five hours a day on MySpace.com, he said, promoting his business and his band, using the site to build buzz and revenue.
Bad is a subjective term, said Jonathan Pineda, 18, a MySpace.com user. Blaming MySpace.com for making pornography more available is senseless, he said its everywhere.
People will find sin as easily as air, he said.
Valerie Ramirez, 27, has three kids and said she wouldnt let her children use the site until they were 15 or 16. Until then, she said, her daughters should be reading a book.
MySpace.com is so prevalent in the two years of its existence that Bakersfield College has outlawed the usage of MySpace.com on the college computers, according to a Feb. 1 story in The Renegade Rip, the college newspaper.
But the dangers are becoming increasingly well-documented.
As recently as Jan. 26, KHOU-TV in Houston, Texas, recounted the case of a 15-year-old girl who had sex with a 26-year-old man shed met on MySpace.com.
The last example proves that devious use of MySpace.com can have serious consequences.
The pastor also blamed MySpace.com for fostering bisexuality and called the Internet the devils biggest scheme he has ever inserted into our lives.
But part of Viettis message was intended to be shocking, he admitted. He expects to get phone calls and e-mails this week from some congregants regarding his sermon.
I think its worth saving one kid for all the e-mails and calls Ill get, Vietti said. I want to make you moms and dads hopping mad, he added.
- - - - - - - - - - d a n a h ( d o t ) o r g - - - - - - - - - - "taken out of context i must seem so strange"
musings :: http://www.zephoria.org/thoughts
_______________________________________________ The air-l@listserv.aoir.org mailing list is provided by the Association of Internet Researchers http://aoir.org Subscribe, change options or unsubscribe at: http://listserv.aoir.org/listinfo.cgi/air-l-aoir.org
Join the Association of Internet Researchers: http://www.aoir.org/
participants (6)
-
chodge5＠utk.edu -
danah boyd -
Ellis Godard -
Mark D. Johns -
Mary K. Bryson -
Nathaniel Poor