The STOPLight

Will we survive the new Hitlers?

While pursuing his vision of conquering the world, Adolph Hitler not only devastated many countries and peoples, he also sacrificed many of his "own" people. When his dreams did not materialize as planned, he didn't surrender. Instead he let his own country and people be bombed and slaughtered for being so "weak." The lesson of Nazi Germany is this: if it could happen in a Christian country to intelligent people, couldn't it happen in our country? What if the undermining of the country is done in much more subtle, unnoticed ways by people few would suspect are wolves in sheep's clothing?

Every country has them: people who pursue their own dreams with no regard for humanity as a whole nor respect for the dignity of those around them. In America, having lots of money is the dream of many. Some very decent people think nothing of taking advantage of other people's bodies for profit. Will they destroy us in their consuming quest for money?

What are we talking about here? Eliance Corporation¹, a venture capital financing company, discovered there was money to be made helping people establish payment systems for their pornographic web sites. Eliance's vice president of marketing was quoted as saying, "Frankly, we are proud of what we've learned from these guys and we think we can apply many of those lessons to our other businesses."

Does he reveal any awareness of what supporting pornographic web sites is doing to people's lives? I can't see any. Here we have business people, oblivious to the minefields they've laid, bragging about all the clever new Hitlers and their pornographic web sites. To those of us who have had even a glimpse at the pain and chaos the sex industry is causing in this country, this is either staggering naivete or total denial of reality. Whichever it is, our youth will pay by being exploited, many adults will become sexually addicted, and some will become dangerous criminals. These new Hitlers are major destroyers of human beings; the tragedy is that they are unaware of it.

Mark Hardie, senior analyst for Forrester Research², estimates adult sites on the Internet gross from $700 million to $1 billion a year. He says there are 20,000-30,000 porn sites in the United States alone. Of the 56.8 million individuals on the web in December 1998, 32.3% visited adult-content sites according to Media Metrix, a company which measures consumer traffic on the Internet.

In over ten years of working against the sex industry, I am frequently astounded by how passive and resigned people are-and yes, how passive I become in the face of the sex industry's audacity, aggression, and total disregard for the lives of people. We in the mainstream are easily intimidated, embarrassed, bullied, charmed, or silent when topics like prostitution, strip clubs, or pornography come up.

In the last few years, thousands of Americans have decided to get involved in the sex business. Before they were bystanders-now they are promoters. They jumped in to make money fast, but will soon find themselves in over their heads. On the surface, the sex industry is about money; underneath, it is about abuse of power, about evil, about destruction of lives. One cannot live on God's earth and exploit God's creations as commodities without being pulled into an undertow much stronger than one could ever imagine.

Make no mistake about this. Every time a new pornographic web site is set up, every time a company designs one, every time somebody finances one, every time photos of real people are shown, the new Hitlers are trampling on human beings and their families. The same is true of those who operate strip clubs, escort services, saunas, or any other types of prostitution and pornography. This is not harmless fun. Workers get into drugs, their dignity is eroded, their relationships broken. Customers become secretive, compulsive, lose respect for themselves, lose the respect of others. Marriages break up, crimes are committed, lives are in agony. Decent people find the bottom falling out of their worlds.

Hitler used pornography to soften up Poland. Will Internet pornography take our country down too? People who formerly managed their lives well can easily become compulsive about watching pornography and progress to exploiting others. Instead of slowing the cycle of abuse, we are now accelerating at breakneck speed.

Most Germans kept silent while Hitler worked. Right now we Americans are silent; our churches are silent. Even with no Gestapo threatening us we look elsewhere. Meanwhile our youth find themselves in new kinds of concentration camps.

Do not look the other way. Speak out in your community. Call us for material. Have your congregation use our Wise as Serpents course. Ask your minister to speak out. Don't let anyone talk you out of it. We must not let myths, lies, threats, or the ignorance of others prevent us from doing what we can.

May God have mercy upon what is happening in our country right now and keep us from destroying the heritage we have been given.

by Al Erickson, A-STOP founder & director

Note 1) (Minneapolis) Star Tribune, March 20, 1999

Note 2) USA Today, January 29, 1999

In 2002 our organization changed its name to Adults Saving Kids. Prior to that we were called A-STOP (Alliance for Speaking Truths On Prostitution), STOP (Speaking Truths On Prostitution), or Grassroots Ministry Alliance.