LETTERS: 'LOLITA' UNDERMINES OUR STANDARDS

To the editor:

Not only has TCI, the cable-TV company, given us pornography on pay-per-view, now it has decided to expose our communities to child pornography on Showtime II.

TCI has recently expanded the number of channels provided. Among them is a pay-per-view channel called Spice, which is X-rated pornography. Now one of the new channels, Showtime II, is airing the recently produced version of "Lolita." This film is a remake of a book which at one time was banned in the United States. The basic premise of the story is the sexual activity between an adult and a child and their thoughts and feelings about it.

This is not a documentary on pedophilia, nor is it a moralistic portrayal of the crime of a pedophile. It is a prurient exploitation of the sexual desires of an adult pervert and his pubescent child victim.

In other words, it is another immoral attack aimed at our communities to break down the moral fiber that binds us together.

What makes this unforgivable is that the target of the sexual abuse is a little girl. What makes it child pornography is that the young actress was very much underaged at the time of filming. Her mother consented to this crime.

With all the sexual abuse of children we are hearing about today and the tragedies these children have to endure, it seems criminal that a movie glorifying the act of child molestation by an adult would be made, much less shown on a channel anyone could turn to and watch.

I publicly ask TCI to pre-empt this movie at all showing times, and I challenge the cable company to put in its place something that will positively influence those who turn to that channel.

This is both your and our community. What it will be like in the future is influenced by what we allow in it today.

Should TCI decided not to act responsibly, I ask that our City Council take steps to uphold community standards against negative and criminal programs from TCI.

If we do not draw the line now on immorality aimed at our children and our community, then we will be deserving of the consequences of our inaction.

BRUCE COLLIER

Cape Girardeau