| Telus Mobility, the second largest cellphone service provider in Canada, was offering pornography to subscribers with web-surfing capabilities on their phones. This had a lot of customers upset. Vancouver’s Catholic Archbishop Raymond Roussin was even among those speaking out against the furthering of pornographic accessibility. Roussin urged Catholics who were using Telus to take their business elsewhere – and to let the company know why they were leaving.
Happily, these and other actions appear to have borne the desired fruit. Just as this issue of The Interim went to press, it was announced that Telus, in response to what it says were hundreds of complaints, was relenting and would not offer the pornography after all. With the general moral decline of Canada over the past four decades, we must say that we will take victories like this where we can get them. It is unfortunate, however, that it was an economic motive that prompted Telus to make an about-face, rather than a desire to simply do the right thing. This episode is perhaps a microcosm of why we’ve fallen deeper and deeper into a moral abyss from which it is questionable whether we will ever emerge. Too many corporations, politicians, power brokers and individual citizens have only considered the bottom line of “what’s in it for me” when deciding their courses of action on morally questionable issues. What is desperately needed is more people and organizations of virtue, that will take a stand and forego monetary gain, social standing or prestige in return for ensuring a healthier society. In the meantime, it is vital that concerned citizens initiate and take part in actions such as protests and boycotts when issues such as cellphone pornography rear their ugly heads. Silence implies consent, it is said, and in the Telus case, many Canadians made it clear they would not consent. May their actions be an example for the rest of us to emulate when other, similar situations inevitably arise in the future. |
