TRUTH VERSUS REALITY

There's something seriously wrong with TruthForYouth.com.

For those unfamiliar, The Truth For Youth is a program run by Tim Todd Ministries which specializes in youth evangelism, specifically high-school students. Their modus operandi involves distribution of booklets, aptly named "The Truth for Youth, which, as the site endorses, is "the entire new testament along with powerful, full-color comics...packed with the absolute truth regarding moral issues young people are faced with every day." The centerpiece of its aforementioned website is a collection of comics, the artistic style of which could be considered looking kind of like Japanese anime/manga. They tell the story of some good Christian high-school students in what some might consider compromising situations, and how they overcome these situations with their unwavering faith in Jesus. I assume that these comics are just a sampling of what appears in the booklet.

While reading, the only thought I had about the content of these comics was "This is pure bullshit. No one's going to believe this." and I'd like to spend this post explaining exactly what I found fault with.

Before I begin, It would probably be a good idea to explain my religious background. My mother was raised Catholic and sent to a Catholic school, largely because her mother was Catholic. I can't remember my grandfather ever going to church with my mother, so I can only assume he wasn't. My father's parents, to the best of my knowledge, never went to church, and so neither did he. I have never attended religious service. I attempted to read the Bible for literary purposes, but lost interest after Exodus; parts of it seem to be based solely around genealogy, which just bored the hell out of me.

My current position on religion is as follows: I am atheist-agnostic. I respect your right to have your religion; it's part of the First Amendment. But don't bother trying to get me to join yours. I'm not interested. I've looked over all the Big Three of western civilization, and I can't say I could possibly believe in any of them. Blame it on my math teachers. They were the ones who taught me that in order for anything to count, you have to show how you reached your conclusion. Religion can't tell me why I should believe that god exists, other than the infantile argument "He just DOES!" Science, on the other hand, can tell me why I should believe gravity exists: It has been studied, documented, experimented with, etc. for centuries. Religion has tried for MILLENIA to prove that God exists and has still come up with nothing.

Keeping all that in mind, let's begin our analysis of these comics, beginning with the one on:

COMIC TITLE: "Parental Controls"
ISSUE: Pornography
SUMMARY OF THE COMIC:
Jesse is over at Marty's house. Marty is showing Jesse some porno pages he found on the internet. Jesse tells Marty he doesn't want to look. When Marty's dad, Hugh, enters the room, Jesse expects him to be mad, but to his surprise, he encourages Marty to browse as much porn as he wants. "It's good education for a young man!" Hugh explains, before letting the boys know he's leaving for a hot date. Marty sends him off with a "Just try to stay out of jail!" and then explains that his father hsan't had much luck with women, including being accused of date-rape. Trying to change the subject, Marty shifts Jesse's attention back to the porn sites. Jesse refuses to look, explaining the parallel between Eve and the fruit of Eden. He compares Lust to drug addiction: "Just a little bit to start, then--wham!--you're needing more and more." Then he recants the tale of David lusting after Bathsheba and how David's lust "messed up his family for years." Jesse and Marty start fighting verbally, which ends with Marty demanding that Jesse leave. Just then Hugh returns, with a black eye. "That lousy little bimbo said I was too rough! called me a sleazeball! The stupid cow!" Jesse returns home to his parents, informs them of what's transpired, and then they pray for their son's soul. Jesse feels relieved.

ANALYSIS:
First off, this comic made me question whether my assessment of the target of this comic was accurate. Jesse and Marty appear to be just slightly too young for high school. My guess is eighth grade. For the moment, I'll dispel my misgivings and move on.

The title is "Parental Controls." Just what every high-school student wants more of. High school is time when a person casts off parental control and learns to make his own decisions.

Unrelated note: Marty appears to be looking at porn, not watching porn. For those who don't understand the distinction, I'm talking about still images rather than video clips.

The ultimate message that the comic seems to convey is: Pornography will alter your perception of how women are to be treated which can have very negative consequences.

And I thought...doesn't the Bible condone--no, encourage!--beating women who refuses to do what their husbands say? Maybe it wasn't beating, maybe it was stoning. I'm too lazy to look this up; can someone tell me which passage this is?

Regarding Jesse's refusal to look, this seems completely unrealistic. Comedian Lewis Black, when he talked about the Janet Jackson controversy, had this to say:
"There is no child who, when a breast is exposed to them accidentally, has suffered a moral epileptic seizure: OH NO! THE TIT! AAAAAAGH! MOMMY MOMMY!" and detailed the youth of America's most likely response to seeing Janet's breast: "'Son of a bitch, I can't wait to see the other one.'"

I can probably guess your reaction or your son's likely reaction to seeing your first picture of a woman naked: Wide-eyed ogling. 99% of you probably said yes. Jesse's reaction seems completely out of touch with common consensus. Which means that Jesse has already seen a pair of tits, and had it drilled into him that it was wrong by the priest that feeds him his weekly sermon. If this were the case, his reaction seems a bit more logical. It saddens me to see the level of brainwashing he's gone through, but there's nothing I can do. I'm just a college student, after all.

COMIC TITLE: "Passes and Plays"
ISSUE: Safe Sex
SUMMARY OF THE COMIC:
The setting is a football game in progress. Marcy, one of the cheerleaders, asks the scorekeeper, nicknamed Stats, about her chances of getting lucky with the quarterback, Skip. Skip, having overheard the question, says yes, he wants to have sex with her that night. Reggie, the wide reciever, warns Marcy about what she's getting into, but Skip cuts him off, accusing him of ruining his fun. Reggie warns, "If unplanned pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases are your idea of fun, yes I am!" They verbally spar for a moment before the coach tells them they need to get back on the field. Marcy isn't worried, since "everybody uses condoms now! nobody gets diseases any more!" Stats starts rattling off statistics about the true efficiency of condoms, and the number of new cases per year of various STDs. Reggie then states that the real reason to avoid casual sex is because "God wants you to abstain from marriage until you're married and then to be totally committed to that marriage! That's the real 'safe sex' plan--the onlyone that works!" At this point, Marcy laments the fact that she's already been sleeping around, but Reggie comforts her by saying that accepting Jesus, she can be forgiven. Reggie gives her a Truth for Youth bible. They all pray.

ANALYSIS:
This comic is not nearly as outrageous as "Parental Controls," partially because 1) the characters involved at least appear to be high-school age this time and 2) they use real-world statistics rather than just biblical quotes to back up their arguments. Their argument is easier to grasp than in Parental Controls as well: Abstinence until marriage because God said so.

Side note: You never see anyone named "Skip" any more. I live on a campus of thousands of students and not ONE, to my knowledge, is named Skip. Which is why I think this comic was written by someone who grew up in the 1950s, which is where I think the name was last seen. Someone who wants to retrogress this country culturally to that time.

Where did Stats' stats come from? All he mentions sourcewise is that "The major government agencies report there is no clinical proof of condom effectiveness for any of these STDs!" referring specifically to gonorrhea, herpes, and HPV, also known as genital warts.

So I collected some statistics of my own. According to World Health Organization(http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs243/en/):

"Laboratory studies have found that viruses (including HIV) do not pass through intact latex condoms even when devices are stretched or stressed."

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said(http://www.cdc.gov/std/):
"Latex condoms, when used consistently and correctly, can reduce the risk of transmission of gonorrhea."
"Correct and consistent use of latex condoms can reduce the risk of genital herpes only when the infected area or site of potential exposure is protected."
"HPV infection can occur in both male and female genital areas that are covered or protected by a latex condom, as well as in areas that are not covered. While the effect of condoms in preventing HPV infection is unknown, condom use has been associated with a lower rate of cervical cancer, an HPV-associated disease."

And the National Institute of Health:
"Using barriers such as condoms during sexual activity may decrease transmission [of genital herpes], but transmission can occur even if condoms are used correctly."
"By using latex condoms correctly and consistently during vaginal or rectal sexual activity, you can reduce your risk of getting gonorrhea and its complications."
"Research studies have not confirmed that male latex condoms prevent transmission of HPV, but studies do suggest that using condoms may reduce your risk of developing diseases linked to HPV, such as genital warts and cervical cancer."

So there you have it: Stats said that government agencies said there's no proof that condoms are effective, but here we have statements from two US government agencies and one agency funded by the UN, saying that condoms can help to prevent these diseases. Stats is full of shit.

Now, as for pregnancy, Stats mentioned that the pregnancy rate after a year of intercourse was 13% among people who used condoms. WHO had this to say:

"Estimated pregnancy rates during perfect use of condoms, that is for those who report using the method exactly as it should be used (correctly) and at every act of intercourse (consistently), is 3 percent at 12 months."

Three percent? That's a hell of a lot better than TFY's figure! Oh wait, WHO also said:

"The most frequently cited condom effectiveness rate is for typical use, which includes perfect and imperfect use (i.e. not used at every act of intercourse, or used incorrectly). The pregnancy rate during typical use can be much higher (10-14%) than for perfect use, but this is due primarily to inconsistent and incorrect use, not to condom failure."

Ah. So their estimate is accurate assuming the man doesn't always use a condom, or uses it wrong. And why would they not use a condom every time or not use it correctly? Because the church doesn't support access to birth control. They don't support access to comprehensive sex education, so people don't know how to use a condom correctly.

So, as a public service, I'm gonna tell all of you male TFY readers the right way. Step one: wait until you're good and hard. Step two: open the condom package and unroll over your dick. Don't slip it on as if it were a sock. Step three: when you're done getting your rocks off, pull out immediately to avoid the possibility of it slipping off inside your lady. Get rid of it. Simple, right? Why does this need to be explained to people? Hell, I'm a VIRGIN and I know this shit. And if you can follow this every time you get laid, you also have a lesser chance of burning while you piss, and your chance of avoiding pregnancy rises to 97%. Which keeps you from needing to get an abortion, which leads me to our next comic...

COMIC TITLE: "Castaways"
ISSUE: Abortion
SUMMARY OF THE COMIC:
"It was the perfect romantic evening! Jackson Dawes III himself had escorted me to our junior prom cruise...we had shared an intimate encounter below deck -- he had told me he loved me -- and then --" The ship encounters a storm, capsizes, and Jack and Rosa believe themselves and Rosa's father to be the only survivors, having washed up on a desert island. As they tend to Rosa's father, who has either become fatally injured or terminally ill, Rosa reveals that she is pregnant. Jack is stunned, and, on the grounds that he has "hopes, dreams, political ambitions" and "need[s] a wife with better family connections," refuses to allow Rosa to continue having the child. He suggests that Rosa's father, a doctor who ran an abortion clinic, perform the abortion. When Rosa refuses, Jack storms off. Rosa's father regains consciousness, and wondering why he "didn't see or value the importance of life...until now...when I'm losing my own," begins to repent for all the abortions he's performed. He considers himself a murderer, doomed for hell, but Rosa assures him that Jesus can still save him. Rosa's father begs for forgiveness, then dies shortly after. Later, Jack returns, having signaled a passing ship. Jack offers to pay for Rosa's abortion, but Rosa insists that she's going to have the child. "The baby's life isn't mine to take, but it is my responsibility to raise him up and nurture him, and with the Lord's help, I'll do just that!"

ANALYSIS:
This one is reeeeallly stretching it. JUNIOR PROM CRUISE? You know what my junior prom involved? It was basically another school dance, where we cleared out our L-shaped cafeteria, set up a DJ booth, and sold bottled water to anyone who came. The only real difference was that we had to dress in formalwear. This particular comic seems oriented towards students who go to a private school for the upper class, who could afford to hold a junior prom cruise. But if that were the case, chances are, they're not going to attract any new born-again Christians, because everyone's already decided where they stand religion-wise.

Jack further loses credibility as a believable character when he says "The Dawes family is about Ship Building and Real Estate and Oil! Your father made that money running that--that abortion mill downtown!" and claims that he has "political ambitions". At that age? Who the hell do Truth for Youth think they're trying to reach? Again, my guess would be schools on par with Phillips Andover, where both of our major 2004 presidential candidates went to high school. There, Jack might be considered a character the students can identify with. Elsewhere, this comic may reach ONE student at any given public school in America. I can't believe I'm trying to help these bible-thumpers, but I just can't believe how BAD this comic is.

An interesting lack of continuity between this one and "Passes and Plays": they completely ignore the fact that Jack and Rosa shouldn't have been having sex in the first place. Perhaps, if you've sinned once, why not just keep going?

And by the way, Rosa's father, when told that Rosa's pregnant, says, quote: "That's wonderful, sweetheart." I mean, I can understand if the man's not paying attention, after all, he IS dying. But who, in their right mind, would think it's wonderful that their daughter, a junior in high school, is pregnant? If your daughter told you that she was pregnant, you'd be either extremely pissed or extremely terrified.

So let's go over the situation again: Father's money comes from abortion practice, which may or may not pay well, we know nothing about Rosa's mother, Rosa is pregnant, has no high school diploma, which means she can't get a GOOD job, the kind that would pay enough to raise a child on her own, she likely would HAVE to raise the child on her own because her father is dying. If you let the child into this world, the child will grow up poor, and poverty leads to crime. I wouldn't want to raise a child in those circumstances. If it were me, I'd go for the abortion.

I think this comic was intended for the purpose of beginning, as early as possible, the litany that abortion is wrong. I'm not going to say it's wrong or right. Why? Because my opinion doesn't count. And neither does theirs. Here's how I see it: If you have never taken a pregnancy test, your opinion on whether women should have access to abortions doesn't count. This covers not only all men, but also women who have deliberately decided to remain celibate for life. If you don't have a womb, or if you do but you're not going to use yours, you don't get to say what others should do with theirs. Jack can demand, "You can not bear my child!" but what he has to say matters not. So ultimately it's only Rosa's decision. PERIOD.

There's a handful more comics on the site, but those will be discussed in my next post.