•Porn is prostitution • GMOs enhance our lives • Mama tried, mama tried •Take care of the seals Porn is prostitution Prostitution is an interesting topic and I think that it brings up an interesting point. (“3 arrested in prostitution
•Porn is prostitution
• GMOs enhance our lives
• Mama tried, mama tried
•Take care of the seals
Porn is prostitution
Prostitution is an interesting topic and I think that it brings up an interesting point. (“3 arrested in prostitution sting,” The Garden Island, June 2)
I have always struggled with why many people oppose prostitution and agree that it should be illegal, and yet pornography is legal and therefore OK?
If you look at prostitution, it is a person paying another person to have sex or to engage in sexual activity, but hard to tax. Pornography is two or more people getting paid to have sex or to engage in sexual activity, but taxable.
Pornographic videos also continue to make those involved money many years after the video has been released.
Many have pointed out that porn is a regulated industry. Really? Is it? All pornography is regulated? Everyone uses protection? Every person in pornography is of legal age? I find it hard to believe.
Pornography is prostitution. You can sugarcoat pornography all you want, but the simple truth is the outcome is very similar.
Definition prostitution: the act or practice of engaging in sexual intercourse for money. The word “pornography” comes from the Greek for writing about prostitutes.
Anneke Mertens, Anahola
GMOs enhance our lives
A recent letter claiming that genetically engineered crops have sickened employees and children (“GMO crops are toxic,” Letters, May 19) is based on alarmist fiction. Here are the facts:
Genetically engineered crops are the most extensively tested of all agricultural crops. People have consumed more than a trillion servings of food containing some biotech ingredient over the past 12-plus years without a single documented case of illness caused by the technology.
Biotech research is conducted because it can help enhance our lives and the environment. It has led to insulin for people with diabetes; higher yields for millions of farmers worldwide; bioremediation, which removes contaminants from the environment; reduced pesticide use by more than 45 millions pounds a year; reduced unwanted run-off into our watersheds; and more.
A recent study from England shows that biotech crops have significantly lowered greenhouse gas emissions, the equivalent of taking one out of every five cars off the road. Biotech researchers, other scientists, nonprofit organizations, and policy makers are constantly trying to address real issues.
Can we produce more with less — and without cutting down rainforests or taking over environmentally sensitive lands? Can we keep our food affordable, healthy and accessible?
Biotech is just one of the tools to enable humanity to answer yes to those questions. Let’s not vilify or slander a new technology that offers many benefits. The climate of Kaua‘i affords us a unique opportunity to develop crops that farmers want, and that I as a parent want for my children.
Paul Olson, Kalaheo
Mama tried, mama tried
If you read The Garden Island last week, you saw the articles about the chicken fighting ring, the man who shoots monk seals for sport, and the large numbers of abused women needing treatment at the emergency room.
The perpetrators of these related crimes are almost exclusively male, so it would be easy to blame men, exclusively, for the problem.
But these men share another trait: a distorted worldview characterized by a hatred, in equal measure, of women and mother nature, values formed during childhood.
While thesemen were growing up, their mothers actively participated in that education. Either that or they allowed others to mold their boys’ minds while they watched from the sidelines with arms folded.
So is this an indictment of mothers, a little more fuel for the already roaring misogynist fire?
Not at all. It’s a celebration of every mother who took personal responsibility for raising their boys, who refused to teach them — or let anyone else teach them — that women and nature were created specifically for man’s benefit, both to be used and abused as men see fit.
Young boys instilled with peace and respect grow up to be men who live those values. And what happens to those boys exposed to the other set of “values” — the “do whatever you want because it’s all here for you” kind?
Just read the paper.
Akulina Kozlov, Lawa‘i
Take care of the seals
We are learning about monk seals. Two monk seals were killed and we don’t know how people did it. We are sad that some of the seals have died. We are trying to protect them.
People kill lots of them and now they are an endangered species. Please don’t feed them, they can feed themselves. Do not clap your hands when they are sleeping. They’re resting for the night to catch food.
Do not throw rocks at them. Please don’t bother them because they might be pregnant. Don’t let your kids and dogs cross the caution signs. They might get hurt.
Read the signs and go far from the monk seals or they might get wild and hurt you. Take care of the monk seals!
Ms. Rivera’s Class, Kekaha School, 1st Grade
