Barbarians in the Quad

Just what today's kids need. More porn.

AND IT'S THEIR colleges and universities giving it to them. Like the University of Maryland, for just one, as reported by the Baltimore Sun:

The student union at the University of Maryland, College Park, will be showing a hard-core pornographic film this weekend, causing some to worry that the university is promoting the degradation of women.

Pirates II: Stagnetti's Revenge will be shown at midnight Saturday in a campus theater usually home to tamer fare such as independent and foreign films. The distributor of the film, Digital Playground, offered it to the student union for free, so student activities fees are not being used to finance it. A student programming committee voted to screen the film, billed as a "XXX blockbuster."

But the chaplain of the Catholic Student Center at Maryland, the Rev. Kyle Ingels, said screening pornographic films does not lead to a positive atmosphere on campus. "We're trying to promote greater respect on campus of all people and something like a pornographic film is not contributing to the buildup of the human person," Ingels said. "It's degrading to the human person. It really runs counter to our efforts to try to form people to be men and women who will go out and contribute to society."

University officials acknowledge that the film is "not for everyone" but say the idea was to provide students with an alternative to late-night drinking and other dangerous activities. The student union screens a wide variety of films for a wide variety of audiences, they said.

"We thought this would be something fun for the students to do, especially since we're getting close to the end of the semester," said Lisa Cunningham, program coordinator for the Hoff Theater, which is showing the film. "We're a college movie theater and we thought it would bring out the students."

A university spokesman, Lee Tune, said the administration was aware that the film had been scheduled and would not block its screening.

The admission cost of $4 will cover the expense of staffing the film. About 60 advance tickets had been sold as of Wednesday. The 138-minute film, released last fall, was the most expensive hard-core porn film ever made, at $10 million, according to Digital Playground. The story centers on a group of pirates seeking revenge on another pirate.

An R-rated version of the film is also available, but Maryland chose to screen the XXX version because it would generate greater student interest, Cunningham said.

IN A SOCIETY SATURATED in every conceivable manner with the premise that human beings are mere pieces of meat, the University of Maryland proposes to reinforce the idea with porno screenings in the name of good, not-so-clean fun. Oh joy.

Out of one side of their mouths, members of this country's educational establishment decry "sexting," sexual assault and sexual harassment, but from the other spews pornographic films that contribute to the degradation of sex -- and of the humans who have it.

Educators, make up your minds. Can what's really, really, really bad for the 17-year-old really be all that good for the 18- and 19-year-old?

When we actively -- or passively, out of moral and educational cowardice -- tell young people they are objects, mere humanoid sex toys to use and be used for giggles and orgasms, we ought not be surprised with what we ultimately get. Dysfunctional relationships, for one thing. Illegitimacy, for another.

Abortion, sexually transmitted diseases, sexual abuse, sexual harassment and divorce, just to name a few more.

Ultimately, as this cultural toxic waste filters down to the hoi polloi, we end up with stuff like this. Gee, I wonder where that idea came from?