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= v' i SRA PR ESE i, RE FRA oo» --- S EA PEN " BS ERR a ERAN a *, Sn ey ed, hy (ASR a a Rr A Phen ar 3 CLA lt NAA - a S ARN SV = SE ar, - et nl SN, A nh ar ar oe SE ol, Cll La APIA he : SNE Q arar 07 ~~ RTs No RX AS EES APA BL] FRAT a? aN > SAR 4 -- PORT PERRY STAR -- Tues. November 23, 1982 editorial comments "J can SEE 17 Now. .. THREES COMPANY Starring BARBARA FRUN), y Mary Lov FINLAY § KNowl ron Nast ! YOUR ALL-CANADIAN § CULTURE NETWORKS La chatterbox by John B. McClelland $ We are in the middle of the worst recession since the Dirty Thirties. Right? Hundreds of businesses and industries in Canada are going bankrupt every month. Right? Times are tough. There are more than one million out of work. Right? Hardworking Canadians can't afford the new mor- tgages on their homes. Right? Sure, we may be on the brink of economic disaster, but sex is selling very nicely these days, thank you. In fact, it seems to be one of the few industries expanding. ITEM: A shop in downtown Vancouver is doing a thriving business selling hard core video cassettes. The proprietor was interviewed on national TV news pro- gram last week and said the wallk-in business is fan- tastic. He is also pushing the cassettes by mail order to every part of Canada. There have been a few com- plaints, but the police and law enforcement agencies in B.C. have turned a blind eye. ITEM: In the classified section of Canada's '"'na- tional newspaper" the grey, staid and very small c-conservative Toronto Globe and Mail, there is a col- umn of "Introduction Services." Here are some samples: "Afternoon Delight." Reg'd hotel guests on- ly. Or how about "Leather and Lace." The gentleman's preference. Cheques accepted. 24 hours." The list goes on and on. And these are the ones that advertise openly in a daily paper. ITEM: Young Prince Andrew takes a lady friend on vacation a few weeks ago and the world goes along with them. Seems the lady made some soft porn movies a few years ago. Last week, a seedy movie theatre in Toronto dragged out one of those movies and used "Ran- dy Andy's Friend" in the ads. The major Toronto newspapers actually sent high powered entertainment critics to the run-down theatre to write a review of the film. They 'made very interesting reading. ITEMS: A tavern in downtown Oshawa decides to bring in strippers (sorry, exotic dancers) and the city is up in arms. Neighbours are complaining. Business people in the same plaza say their customers can't find parking spots. The city council is getting into the act. The story is getting a lot of front page publicity in the Oshawa papers. Meanwhile, inside, where the ladies are doing their thing, it's standing room only. The pro- prietors seem more than willing to shoulder the wrath of church leaders, city fathers, womens groups and the school board as they lug the dough to the bank every day. ITEM: A couple of years ago in Toronto, the City Fathers, in their infinite wisdom passed some kind of a by-law which deemed it illegal for strippers (sorry, exotic dancers) to remove ALL of their clothing. Hotel and tavern owners watched their business drop off. But out in the boonies of Missassauga and Brampton where no such by-law is on the books, taverns which feature "exotic entertainment" are virtually on every street corner. ITEM: When the Ontario Censor Board deems it necessary to totally ban a film in this province, that film becomes the one that a lot of people want to see most. (They will even drive to Buffalo or Montreal to find out what all the fuss is about). ITEM: The beer companies made a remarkable discovery a few years ago, and it is this. In TV adver- tising, there is a direct co-relation between bouncing bosoms and the sale of beer. ITEM: About ten years ago, Penthouse hit the news stands, and forced Playboy's Hugh Hefner to put his trusty air-brush in monthballs. Today, in 1982, the magazine rack of every variety store in the province is brimming with mags that make Penthouse look tame. And they sell. The point of all this is that sex sells. It is a very big business worth literally billions every year. Whether it is implied sex in beer and perfume commercials, or very explicit sex in magazines and video cassettes, the bottom line is dollars and cents. Politicians go hum and hah and make nice speeches about keeping sex off the streets. They have failed. The police press charges once in a while and then watch them get thrown out of court because the laws are mud- dy, and obscenity is defined in terms of "community standards' which nobody can define, least of all judges. Feminists talks about exploitation of women, and almost nobody listens, except other feminists. Church groups talk about the moral disintegration of society, and almost nobody listens, except other church groups, and maybe a politician or two with an eye on re-election. Sociologists have studied the issue and some have concluded that society underwent a "'sexual revolution' in the late 60's and 1970's. They say our society is now in a post-revolutionary sexual era (whatever that means). Talk about balderdash. The sex for sale revolution is going stronger than ever. Just wait till Pay-TV hits the Canadian airwaves in February. You may be very surprised at what will bounce off those satelites into . your living room. Sex sells. It makes a lot of money for a lot of peo- ple. Depending on your point of view, it may be crude, demeaning, exploitive, cheap and tawdry. But history tells us it can't be legislated under the carpet by politicians or guys like Jerry Falwell and his Moral Majority. But they can sure get some votes and make a lot of money just by trying. The Arms Race You can believe whatever you want about the nuclear arms race. But here are some facts. There are more than 60,000 nuclear weapons in the world today. The global overkill factor is 60. If just 10 per cent of the weapons were used, enough of the ozone layer would be destroyed to blind every eye on the planet not protected by something like a welder's shield. The largest hydrogen bomb is equal to 4,000 Hiroshimas. If the two superpowers decided today to a balanc- ed reduction of their nuclear arsenal by ten weapons per year, it would take 2850 years, or 114 consecutive generations to reach the point where each superpower could only destroy the world once . . . each. There is no defense against nuclear weapons. Retaliation, yes, but no defense. History has recorded that every time man develops a new weapon, he eventually uses it. The single atomic bomb at Hiroshima killed over 100,000 people. The nuclear arsenal in the world to- day is equal to 1.25 million Hiroshimas. These facts and others that are being collected almost daily come not from wild speculation, but rather from respected researchers, scientists, medical doc- tors, former government employees. And they are all trying to do one thing: wake the 'world up to the fact that the nuclear arms race must stop or sooner or later all life on the planet will stop. All across Canada, the United States, Europe and yes, even behind the Iron Curtain, individuals and small groups of people are taking their heads out of the sand to tell the leaders of this world that they have done a rotten job in arms control negotiations for the past 35 years. People are holding quiet meetings in community halls, church basements, living rooms and so on. They are starting to get angry at the governments of the world. They are calling for first a freeze on nuclear weapons productions and next a balanced reduction. These people are not wild-eyed radicals who take up any cause that comes along. They don't stage pro- test marches just for the hell of it. They don't carry placards just to see themselves on the six o'clock news. They simply do not believe Ronald Reagan any more when he says the only way to have peace is to build bigger bombs. They are average people from all walks of life. Some live in the heart of large cities, others on farms, still others in small rural towns like Port Perry. In fact, right here in Port Perry, a small group of people has formed together and is working towards the goal of balanced reduction. Last week, they held a meeting and heard guest speakers from Operation Dismantle, a Canada-wide organization that is working to educate the public about the peril of the arms race and would eventually like to see the United Nations sponsor a global referendum on disarmament. When asked if that's not a bit naive, they say maybe it is, but if somebody does not start now to pressure governments to reduce nuclear weapons, the alternative is the mass destruction of the planet and everything on it. The Port Perry group may join Operation Disman- ) tle, but whatever the members decide, they do plan to be active in the community. The whole question of nuclear arms is an im- mensely complicated one with hundreds of different variables entering the issue. Yet, when all the rhetoric, all the government mumbo-jumbo is stripped away, the issue is very sim- ple and straight-forward. +. The average man or woman living in Port Perry, Toronto, Washington, or Gorki do not want to see the planet go up in smoke. : If human beings are intelligant enough to build these weapons of total destruction, they are intelligent enough to negotiate their way out of the dilemma of the nuclear arms race. At the meeting last week in Port Perry, there were about 20 people in attendance. They listened to the guest speakers, they discussed the issue, they asked questions, they expressed their concerns. And they watched a slide presentation set to music with voice over and called quite appropriately "The Last gfide Show." But it ended not with a scene of Armageddon, as one might expect, but rather on a positive note prais- ing the intelligence and ingenuity of the human race. The message was clear enouhg: there is a way out of (Turn to page 6) I AN Lt a Eg a A i -- Ee aD -- NRE SRE