The Butterfly

Recently, re-reading RUMORS OF ANOTHER WORLD by Philip Yancey, I came across a story he shared from Annie Dillard. She tells of experiments conducted by entomologists’ (bug doctors) using butterflies.

The entomologists would take a male butterfly and place before him a painted cardboard imitation of a female butterfly. In repeated experiments, the male butterfly would, with great gusto, mount the cardboard replica. And he would not cease mounting it. In the meantime, a real-life female butterfly would be nearby, opening and closing her wings to gain the male’s attention. But he would not look.

I think pornography is doing something very similar to humans.

Freedom from Porn

Blogger Ryan Tate had a bone to pick with Apple CEO Steven Jobs. As WORLD MAGAZINE reported, Jobs had declared that he believed users of Apple products such as the iPhone and the iPad should be free from pornography.  Consequently, he pledged that Apple will diligently remove any app that contains explicit material.

This news irritated Tate, and he let Jobs know how he felt. Tate expressed belief that Jobs was anti-freedom and that Tate did not want “freedom from porn.”

Jobs responded in kind with a brief lecture. “You might care more about porn when you have kids.” Later, to another writer, Jobs wrote that his company carried a “moral responsibility to keep porn off the iPhone.”

There were more critics who refused to be enamored with Apple’s decision. THE NEW YORK TIMES claimed that this move would cost Apple business, reducing their market share. This may prove to be true; however, MICROSOFT notably has announced that their new WINDOWS 7 mobile software will not permit software that “a reasonable person would consider to be adult or borderline adult.”

I take heart that these companies are taking bold stands against morally dangerous material. While I understand that God wants to change the human heart, I do not take for granted the blessing of living in a place where people self-regulate against moral pollution.