(LifeSiteNews) — Does the ubiquity of online pornography contribute to the spread of harmful woke ideas like transgenderism? My guest on today’s episode of The John-Henry Westen Show believes it does.
Today I’m joined by Jonathon Van Maren. You may be very familiar with him. He writes regular columns and hosts The Van Maren Show here on LifeSite. He is also a committed pro-life and pro-family activist.
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We discuss a whole host of related issues, such as the destructive nature of online pornography, why Americans are more effective in fighting transgenderism than Canadians, whether or not the political process can save the West, and advice for Christian parents on raising children in this topsy-turvy world.
Van Maren explains that the current “scale” and “accessibility” of evil is “unprecedented in human history” thanks to online pornography. Not just because of the pornography itself, but also its role in Western cultural and social degradation.
“While it’s true that pornography has always existed, the things that kids are getting hooked on now between the ages of 5 and 10 are not the sorts of things that were scratched on the wall at Pompeii,” he says. “I don’t think you can understand the LGBT movement, you can’t understand the sexual revolution, you can’t understand the degradation of entertainment without understanding the extent to which porn has conquered our culture. Pornography may not be the worst problem, but it makes every other problem worse.”
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So can Western culture be saved from this woke scourge? Van Maren is inclined to agree with me that it may take nothing short of divine intervention at this point, but nevertheless there are practical steps we can take as Christians, especially those of us raising children, to mitigate the damage and teach them to grow in virtue and wisdom.
First, he says, “we have to create very robust subcultures” where we can safely educate the next generation in our own communities without relying on state-funded public schools and woke teachers.
Second, “we have to be very careful which storytellers are telling their stories to our kids,” because the stories told by the current entertainment industry have “new heroes and villains” shaped by the influence of the sexual revolution.
“We’re not called to save the world. We’re called to deal with what’s directly in front of us,” Van Maren says. “It is still possible to give your children [a good] upbringing if you orient your life towards doing so. If you make conscious decisions about cutting out the storytellers that want to poison your mind and the minds of your children, by refusing to give them technological devices that are pipelines for the porn industry, by instead giving them the Western inheritance that’s been completely abandoned by our mainstream culture.”
For much more with Jonathon Van Maren, tune in to today’s episode of The John-Henry Westen Show.
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