A Free Market Decides ‘Standard’

* Regarding the hoopla over an NC-17 movie called “Showgirls”: Thousand Oaks Mayor Elois Zeanah, seems to be the self-appointed parental figure for us all here in the Conejo.

I would like to share with you what I find offensive: These scam artists on the so-called Christian television shows. For 10 bucks they’ll send you a plastic Jesus for the dashboard of your car and give you the promise of eternal life. Should we ban these from our cable service or should I just channel-surf quickly past them?

And what about parents who would write the superintendent of schools to protest a movie their children can’t get in to see anyway? These parents are nothing more than pathetic. Are these the same parents that demand our schools teach their children ethics, morality, the evils of drugs such as tobacco? What parent in their right mind would entrust these vital issues to a government employee?

Zeanah states, “The public is well aware that pornography can denigrate a community by promoting abuse and violent crime.”

Pardon me, Elois, but your ignorance is showing. You cannot produce one study to support your opinion. There are, however, a number of studies that show exactly the opposite to be true.

But this is not the issue here. The issue is the First Amendment. There is one arena and one arena only wherein any matter of censorship can be properly resolved. The free market. This will decide “community standard.”

H. BRUCE DRISCOLL

Thousand Oaks