The Lighted Candle Society

818 CONNECTICUT AVENUE, N.W. SUITE 1100

WASHINGTON, D.C. 20006

APRIL 2004 NEWSLETTER John L. Harmer

Chairman of the Board of Trustees

LIGHT A CANDLE ON WEDNESDAY 12 MAY

In the year 1973 the United States Supreme Court included a statement in the case of

Paris Adult Theater vs. SLAYTON (413 U.S. 49) as follows:

“…there is no conclusive proof of a connection between antisocial behavior and obscene material…”

The ultimate conclusion of that rationale is that television advertising sells products but

jthat had been made by the defenders of pornography for many years prior to 1973, and continues to be made today even in the face of an overwhelming volume of clinical data that is absolutely opposite to the assertion by the Supreme Court. Ten years later, in 1982, the National Institute of Mental Health, after extensively reviewing all of the scientific evidence regarding television’s effects upon the viewer, issued a report in which the NIMH made this concluding statement:

“…there is overwhelming evidence of a causal relationship between violence on television and later aggressive behavior.”

Just as the tobacco industry told the same big lie for years in denying that there was any evidence of a causal relationship between smoking tobacco and lung cancer, so the defenders of pornography, including the Motion Picture Producer’s Association and the American Civil Liberties Union have continued to repeat the big lie contained in the Paris Adult Theater case.

On the evening of 12 May, 2004, The Lighted Candle Society, will sponsor a meeting at the Hilton Hotel in Salt Lake City in which the preliminary results of scientific experiments that actually look inside the human brain will be presented. At that event presentations will be made by two internationally recognized experts regarding the addictive nature of pornography, Dr. Victor Cline, Ph.D, of Salt Lake City, and Dr. Judith Reisman, Ph.D, of Granite Bay, California. When the evening is over those in attendance will have seen graphic proof of the fact that there is now “overwhelming evidence of a causal relationship between (viewing pornography) and later aggressive (violent and sexual) behavior.”

We anticipate that the presentations by these two world-class experts regarding the addictive nature of pornography will create an entirely new paradigm for the individuals and organizations opposing the production and distribution of pornography. Dr. Cline and Dr. Reisman represent a combined total of more than sixty years of clinical experience and neurological research into the addictive nature of pornography.

In addition to the presentations by Dr. Cline and Dr. Reisman the Lighed Candle Society

will present its annual award for outstanding service in protecting our society from the

corruption of pornography. This year’s recipient of the award is The Most Reverend

George Neiderauer, Roman Catholic Bishop of the Diocese of Salt Lake City. Bishop

Neideraur is the Chairman of the Utah Coalition Against Pornography. Under his

leadership the coalition has assumed a vital role in the efforts to eliminate the distribution

of pornography in our communities.

The work that Dr. Cline and Dr. Reisman have accomplished up to this time confirms that it is now possible to scientifically document the literal destruction of critical brain functions because of the impact of pornographic images upon the brain. The presentations that will be made by Dr. Cline and Dr. Reisman on the evening of May 12th will provide those who are engaged in seeking to eliminate the production and distribution of pornography with entirely new clinically verifiable data confirming the damaging impact of pornography upon the entire neurological system.

We appeal to every concerned member of our community to participate with us on the evening of 12 May. The Hilton Hotel is located at 250 South on West Temple Street, in Salt Lake City. The event will begin at 6:00 p.m. The enclosed information provides the details on how to order tickets. Proceeds from the sale of dinner tickets will be used for one of the Lighted Candle Society’s action programs and to further the research by Dr. Judith Reisman into the neurological damage to the body/brain of the individual who reads and views pornography.

“PAST ALL FEELING”

An ancient historian recorded the moral decline of his own society by noting that their lustfulness and cruelty had degenerated to such a degree that “…they were past all feeling.” In this newsletter we report on the latest source of pornography in America, the Videogame. As we have reviewed the content of violent sexual perversion in these “games” we can only comment that those who indulge themselves in them must have become, or soon will become, like the ancient society noted above, individuals who have lost all sense of conscience and compassion. They are literally “…past all feeling.”

A complete report regarding pornography in the videogames that are so popular among the youth has been prepared by our research associate, James Smith. That report constitutes the last half of this newsletter. Pornography addicts from 13 to 35 years in age are using the latest “interactive” videogames to have what is called a “virtual reality” experience. This allows the player of the game to deal with the animated young women portrayed by the software in whatever way he desires. The player can choose to engage in any variety of sexual perversions with the fantasy girls and in an almost endless variety of various type of physical abuse. Many of these games include cannibalistic rituals involving the dead body of the victim.

During the past year the Lighted Candle Society has informed the readers of this newsletter of the seven most prominent sources of pornography in America. We have presented this material in the hope that it would help our readers to understand the enormous danger that pornography represents. This danger lurks in all aspects of our society. It puts at risk individuals, families, neighborhoods, and entire communities. If we do not respond with the commitment of all of the necessary resources to defeat this “…Goliath of hedonism” it will destroy the Republic.

A SUMMARY ANALYSIS OF THE CONTENT OF THE

TWENTY MOST POPULAR VIDEOGAMES SOLD IN AMERICA

By James Smith

The writer has reviewed the content of the twenty most popular videogames sold in America. Without exception these games are filled with soft core pornography (meaing that actual close up images of penetration do not appear). However, the overtly sexual content of the games must be regarded as invariably leading the player to seek out the more graphic hard core versions of pornography that are so readily available.

In many ways the sexual perversion and the violence contained in the videogames is more conducive to the player ultimately “acting out” the scenes portrayed in the games than might be expected from standard hard core pornography found on the Internet and contained in videocassette motion pictures. The reason for this is the “interactive virtual reality” that is programmed into the standard videogame. In these versions of the most popular videogame the player is able to personally engage in the conduct shown in the game. The player inflicts the physical violence and the sexual behavior upon the victims (both men and women) shown in the game.

In the popular fighting games like “Mortal Combat” and “Tekken,” the female characters receive a tremendous beating at the hands of the male characters and other females depicted in the game. These beatings are complete with blood spurting from wounds, screams and groans of pain, and the ultimate usually very gruesome death of the victim. All of this is controlled by the player of the game who in terms of “virtual reality” is actually inflicting the physical violence upon the victims.

Other games like “Tomb Raider” and “Perfect Dark” feature a female power role that regularly attacks and kills anything or anyone that may get in her way. These killings are complete with blood, screams of pain, and dismemberment of the victims, all delivered by the powerful highly sexualized female character.

Many of these games are designed by software engineers in Asia. The typical female depicted in the games can be described as having exaggerated female legs, abdomen and breasts, with an adolescent face similar to most Asian women. The women at one time or another will almost invariable end up nude, sometimes as part of the design of the game, and sometimes undressed at the will of the player. The games present an unattainable female stereotype in sexuality, as well as females who are physically aggressive and as strong as men. These women give and take the same constant physical abuse as their male counterparts.

The “interactive virtual reality” has the inevitable effect of leaving the player with a calloused attitude toward women in general, and with no hesitancy to inflict sexual and physical violence upon any particular individual female. There have been a series of reputable studies carried out by university level academicians demonstrating that when younger males (ages 10 to 17) regularly play these games they become so calloused in their attitude toward females that they show no remorse or sense of compassion toward victims of such sexual and physical brutality.

The new addition of the Playboy video games and others like it all reward the game player with pornographic content. Many of the games reward correct answers to trivia questions with a video of spring break co-eds undressing and flashing their breasts while promoting drunken sexual activity. These games facilitate computer generated sexual relations with both males and females, heterosexual or homosexual, according to the wishes of the game player.

Many of these games portray graphic violence of the most sadistic nature. It is common to see the bludgeoning of opponents to death with tire irons accompanied by the sound of shattering bones, or the chainsaw dismemberment of a victim. Gang beating, disembowelment and shooting are actions that are carried out in the game. In many of these games the female stereotypes are often abused. Prostitutes are commonly used in the games for sexual purposes and then for whatever reason are subjected to physical violence and ultimate death according to the wishes of the game player. There are no plain or average women in the games, just the voluptuous women with highly exaggerated bosoms.

Clinical psychologists have repeatedly warned that young men attracted to the sleek sexy creations of the videogame will inevitably become addicted to the real flesh versions that are available in cable television and Internet pornography. As the videogame rewards the player with pornographic “virtual reality” experiences it becomes a primer for the more graphic hard core pornography of the cable and Internet variety. In addition to the sexual perversions, these young minds have been filled with grizzly acts of savagery and physical brutality that they will always associate with any type of sexual experience. The inevitable result will be the brutal acting out of the fantasy of the videogame.

Whatever else may be the result of playing the videogames, the absolutely unavoidable result will be the desensitization of the player to almost any form of physical suffering that can be inflicted upon another human being. Several well document studies have confirmed that the average videogame player will spend five to six hours per week immersed in violent and misogynistic “virtual reality” where the mind and thoughts determine the fate of opponents, intake the most savage depictions of blood and gore, and are often rewarded with depictions of women and sexual content that can only be found in one other place, the world of hard core pornography.