DAILY DOSE OF HOPE – BLOG – NAIMA LETT
Only in LaLa Land – Voting
© NaimaLett.com/blog



© Los Angeles Times, source

I’m thinking of creating a monthly segment called “Only in LaLa Land”…
to report the things I find fascinating that could only take place here.

For example:
WHERE did you vote this week?

I bet it wasn’t in a laundromat, a neighbor’s house or a swimming pool (as pictured above)!

Is that not hilarious?
One Long Beach patron is retrieving pants from the Super Suds dryer, while another is marking her ballot for President of the United States.

And what about voting in a private home in the Pasadena hills? Is that even legal? Can you turn your house into a polling station? And how confident are you that your vote will make it in? Anybody know the rules out here? Anything goes?

Genetically-modified food and Syphilis

But wait, what was even more fascinating was some of the initiatives on our State and LA County ballots. On the one hand, we the citizens of California voted to raise our sales tax, keep the death penalty, and create stiffer penalties for trafficking women.

On the other hand, we voted to NOT require labeling for genetically-modified food, but to require producers of adult films to make performers wear condoms. Yep. Only in LaLa Land.

In August, the adult industry in L.A.’s San Fernando Valley shut down for 2 weeks when a performer misrepresented his monthly test results and caused a syphilis outbreak. I started to blog about it then and thought, “Nobody else would believe this… It’s just LA.” But then the story picked up traction and folks got to fighting and spending money on PR campaigns for and against this Measure B. Folks were picketing with signs carrying the actor’s face who spread the disease. Straight circus.

Apparently, before this outbreak, several performers had passed along HIV. Who would be so reckless?

I got the arguments FOR requiring the use of protection, but I couldn’t believe the arguments AGAINST. Basically, the producers waged a campaign saying that if they had to shell out the money to provide protection on the set, it would shut the industry down as well as their viewership would drastically decrease and end. I, along with 1,171,287 other LA County voters said, “So be it.”

MAJOR PROBLEM

Producers say they’ll take their business elsewhere, like Vegas, and destroy the lives of 5,000 LA performers and 10,000 crew who “depend” on the industry. I don’t think they realize that their work is already destroying millions of lives. Folks are completely disconnecting and losing marriages, relationships and even jobs over porn addictions.

A recent article on porn addiction quoted the National Council on Sexual Addiction (now The Society for the Advancement of Sexual Health) as estimating “that 6 to 8 percent of Americans – or 18 million to 24 million people – are s.e.x addicts, with 70 percent of those reporting having a problem with online addiction.” One company that measures Internet usage, reported that “more than 70 percent of men age 18 to 34 visit an adult site in a typical month.” And a poll conducted by ChristiaNet reported that 50% of Christian men are addicted, while 20 % of Christian women are affected. What got me were the statistics on about 50% of pastors being caught out there. Email me for the sources. If I put the links in this email, it will be flagged and sent to your junk boxes.

Either way, this is a major problem.
And the first step is admitting it’s a major problem.
The next step is getting help, which could involve getting pro help.

Believers can find confidence that freedom is possible. The author of Hebrews 12:1-3 encouraged, “… let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.”

Thank goodness we don’t have to try to rely on our own will power to sustain us. As we run our race, throwing off everything that hinders, we can fix our eyes our the One who endured the cross for us and rely on His enabling. And every single one of us needs His enabling.

NO BIG DEAL?

Some may argue this is all no big deal. I disagree. I care for the souls of artists and professionals here in LaLa Land, and I’d like those souls not to be shackled to watching and/or participating in making adult films.

And if this measure is a baby step towards bringing more awareness to the craziness that goes down when folks don’t care about the lives of others, then I will keep praying that baby steps today turn into giant leaps tomorrow.

And if we can stop one more person from spreading HIV and Syphilis along the way, so be it,
Naima

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