Princeton Professor Calls On Five Largest Hotel Chains To Block Access To Pornography To “Re-Stigmatize” Porn

Princeton University jurisprudence professor Robert P. George has launched a campaign to pressure the five top hotel chains to block access to pornography to “re-stigmatize” the industry. George is the McCormick Professor of Jurisprudence and Director of the James Madison Program in American Ideals and Institutions at Princeton University. His view of a free and pluralistic society is strikingly different from my own. While George discusses his deep Catholic faith and fears for the morality of his neighbors, he believes that the solution is deny millions of travelers the right to choose their entertainment each year at these hotels.

George insists that pornography is harmful on multiple levels from destroying the lives of participants to destroying the American marriage. He insists that “Pornography is part of a larger phenomenon that’s rooted in the fundamental misunderstanding of sexuality.” Of course, that “misunderstanding” is based on his understanding of sexuality and morality. He has found an ally in Islamic scholar Shaykh Hamza Yusuf who also wants hotels to dictate what travelers will watch — or at least not watch — to satisfy his own religious and social views.

Their letter is being presented not as a boycott but a “moral appeal.” This moral appeal, however, seeks to get hotels to force their moral views on millions of others. The appeal asks the CEOs of the hotel to think of the participants in these films as their own daughters and wives.

George notes that “We are old-fashioned enough to believe that an appeal to conscience will sometimes do the job, that everything’s not money.” “Old fashioned” is one way to put it. Most of us view it as good old time morality codes which we have struggled to leave behind in favor of individual choice. We live in a pluralistic society where individuals are allowed to make their own decisions — whether it is to participate or watch such forms of entertainment. What do you think?

Source: Catholic Newsas first seen on ABA Journal