Church to Harass Strip Club Patrons
Saturday December 27, 2003
Unable to get laws passed that officially ban businesses they don't like, some church groups change tactics: they harass the customers in the hopes of running the places out of business. Intimidation like this has been employed by anti-abortion groups who film women going into clinics, now it is being used by the Oakcrest Family Church in Texas upset over a adult businesses.
WFAA reports:
The church is taking pictures of customers' license plates, looking up the addresses registered with the plates, and sending post cards to the homes of sex business customers. ... Norwood said he's concerned that customers are sex addicts who need counseling. He said his aim is to help -- not embarrass. ... Norwood enlisted members from five churches to patrol night and day, snapping photos for the postcards. "We realize they have a right to exist. We also have a right to offer them help and assistance in the problems they're having," he said.
I sincerely doubt that embarrassment wasn't one of the reasons for launching this campaign. I suppose that what Norwood is doing may be legal, but is it right? What if everyone started an similarly organized campaign against groups and businesses they didn't much care for - liquor stores, Planned Parenthood, NRA, and so on? Would you really feel comfortable doing anything remotely controversial if you were always wondering who might be taking your picture and indexing your activities?
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Comments
As a matter of fact, I have seen this
in Seattle. My problem with the whole
thing is that I believe that I have
yet to find a woman who says I treated
her poorly inside or outside any club.
I believe Norwood may have some “evil”
thoughts when seeing naked women, but
it seems as though any normal man would
see nudity as beauty and vice-versa. I
know I have no desire to abuse or harass
any woman just because I see her
naked.
I actually went to the club in Seattle to see if there really is a prostitution ring before the vote in Seattle on the 4-ft rule.
That said, I obviously went to clubs
several times before and after Seattle.
I only was harassed after going to the
club in Seattle though and not San
Diego AFAIK. Claiming Seattle was
the only club where I went would be
inaccurate.
I do have to admit that I quit going to
clubs once I found my wife was pregnant
because I do not believe kids have the
maturity to deal with those nuances of
the debate. However, after being harassed, I wanted to keep going
just to piss them off. It seemed less appropriate and somewhat immature
though than caring for my wife and
future child unfortunately.
I hope my child will make their own
decision once they are able to hear
my point of view (and others) and
appreciate human beings as beautiful.
It will be interesting to see if I
view everything the same if we have a
girl.
If I had a problem when going to
a club, it was being drunk which
reduced my boundaries. It was not
really seeing naked women. I see
this as a problem outside of strip
clubs and drinking too much when doing
business travel.
I have quit drinking excessively as
well now, but that is for the family,
and I view that as the real problem
I had and not the strip clubs. Even
without strip clubs, I did very stupid
things when drinking too much.