Pinterest, the picture-sharing social media platform typically used to swap recipes and decorating ideas, is being used to share images of child pornography, claims the Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) task force. Pinterest, which has 48.7 million users in the U.S., is one of the most popular social media sites behind the likes of Facebook and Twitter. It has proven especially popular with women and its most popular categories are food & drink, DIY & crafts, women's apparel, home decor and travel. Until now, Pinterest's pinning etiquette, as its content policy is called, has asked users to report images that contain “nudity, partial nudity or pornography.” But this week it announced that it is to start allowing users to publish more nude images.
As someone who just started using Pinterest, I very quickly discovered that it is extremely loaded-down with all forms of pornographic material. I found this rather strange, as they did tout their no-nudity policy. But, as far as I could tell, it was a user-honor policy: relying solely on visitors to report infractions. This is sort-of like keeping the prisoners in charge of the prison, as those who are searching for porn are not very likely to ask that it be taken down once they find it. The result, a wild mix of cartoon characters, beauty products, and hard-core porn sharing the screen at the same time. It's a reflection of our times: Kim Kardashian-porn-star as fashion icon.
In a related story, a Connecticut man, was arrested for posing online as member of boy band One Direction Harry Styles in order to entice young girls to perform sex acts for him via webcam. The charges include first-degree possession of child pornography, employing a minor in an obscene performance, and using a computer to entice a minor. Thecomputer of the accused contained more than 500 images of child pornography, including some webcam images of children believed to be as young as 5, according to the arrest warrant.
This story only further proves my point that the Internet is a trap; especially for children. Adults, most often parents, are fooled into a false sense of Internet security because the computer sits in their home; and their child is using the computer in their home. The truth is: once the Internet is accessed, the imaginary suburban walls of protection disappear. For, the Net is a point of contact with the demonic. When I was involved with the New Age, this phenomena was often referred to as a harmonic convergence. A supposed locus for these sites is in Sedona, Arizona, where I foolishly traveled to and sat around a ring of stones while trying to conjure up some power from the Universe. Now, I realize that certain places have an overabundance of evil reverberations. You can feel it at the former location of a murder, or at the point of space were occult practices took place. The Internet, with its over-saturation of child-porn, bestiality, and sado-masochism: is another. Tread there, and beware.
And, lastly, the saddest event of all: according to a law-suit, a third grade boy at Harlem's P.S. 194 was set upon by a fifth grader and two third graders, who forced him to his knees and subjected him to shocking abuse during a lunch period in March 2012. In a statement the young boy explained that he had just finished eating lunch when the three culprits pushed him into a bathroom where they cornered him in a stall. While one boy held his hands behind his back, another forced him to his knees. Then they demanded he give them each oral sex.
Cases such as they reveal the true impact of the modern consumer porn culture which has reached into the minds of every child. Sadly, the secular media, and therefore the plugged-in public, does not get it. Interestingly, US Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel wants to remove all pornography from military workplaces. Why? Because 26,000 people in the armed forces were sexually assaulted last year; which is up from 19,000 in 2010. Hagel understands. He is dealing with an epidemic, that will eventually make the job of protecting the nation all the more difficult. Porn in the military, like in the general population, at first, lulls the consumer into a state of false tranquility. Later on, when fantasy and masturbation no longer satisfies, the rates of sexual violence start to increase. Eventually, although it is already starting, the same type of systemic violence and uncontrollable public dysfunction will cause the US to slide further into disunity and decadence.