HAROLD KELLER

Shameful sex video case hurts morality It’s been said that what one generation allows in moderation, the next will abuse in excess. Today, we are reaping the fruit of the bad seeds that were sown in the 1960s. It’s hard for me to realize how in just 40 years our country’s morals have deteriorated to such a state as we see today. Last week, the big news story from Jefferson Parish was the sex video case against Major Video, accused of selling three obscene films to undercover vice squad officers. According to the law, such films are illegal. After a week of sex talk and viewing erotic films, the jury could not reach a decision. The hung jury was a victory for Major Video and its defense attorney, Franz Zibilich. The prosecuting team took their defeat in stride. A sign of the times. To them – no big deal – it was just a pornography case. Some of the jury evidently enjoyed the filth to which they were exposed. Mr. Zibilich seemed to enjoy his position of representing his client. He did a good job of convincing the jury that what his client was selling was OK in today’s society. He said that we aren’t living with the 1950s moral standards, nor the 1960s, 1970s, 1980s or 1990s. He stressed that this is 2001 and society is different! He is so right. What we allowed in moderation then, today’s society abuses in excess. According to news reports, Zibilich displayed two home-made videos: one of an adult movie copied from a pay-per-view channel available through Cox Cable’s digital service, the other a compilation of clips from “Sex in the City,” an HBO series about the sex lives of four single women. The pay-per-view movie depicted graphic oral sex and intercourse between two women and a man. The clips from “Sex in the City” were less graphic, but were based on bedroom-only subject matter, including lesbian sex and male and female masturbation and vibrators. Zibilich also had three married men parade before the court and testify that they regularly rent adult videos to spice up their sex lives. (Sounds like a bunch of losers that need help with more than their sex lives.) The case in Jefferson Parish was not just about Major Video and its pornography. It was a case against our society. It was an indictment on a community and a nation that is said to be one nation, under God. To the hung jury: You should hang your heads in shame. To Major Video and Mr. Zibilich: Congratulations on your victory for evil! To the passive public: The only thing that will allow evil to exist is for good people to do nothing. HAROLD KELLER writes this column as part of his affiliation with the Get High on Life religious motivational group. Call him at (985) 652-8477.