Don’t drive over viewing rights
by Rawly Bransom
editor-in-chief

   A mother and her young child are driving home on Highway 635 at night. Either traffic or an accident slows them down to a crawl.
   Looking for a spot to change lanes, the mother doesn’t notice the car in front of them, but the child does. The child is watching the movie screen that can easily be seen through the back window of the car in front of them.
   She glances to see what the child is looking at to find Debbie Does Dallas being played for the world to see.
   As reported by the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, this situation is one of the newest controversies to hit the streets.
   A few complaints against drivers watching porn in their cars have been filed across the country, and one driver in Schenectady, N.Y., was arrested when he drove past a police station while watching a film called Chocolate Foam.
   The car projection devices have been marketed to parents as a way to pawn off their children on the electric box, the true parent of many youth.
   Yet, I cannot say that watching some of my favorite movies during a long road trip would not make the ride a little more pleasant.
   People who watch porn in their cars would argue it is their right to do what they wish in their own cars.
   Simply put—they are wrong.
   I agree a person has a right to do whatever he wishes in the privacy of his home, but a car is not a private home.
   Cars are small with lots of windows, so everyone can see inside.
   We’ve all seen people on the roads acting as if no one around them can see them.    We see guys picking their noses and people playing their music so loud everyone within a two-block radius can hear them.
   Such actions come either from the self-deluded assumption that an automobile is a protective bubble no one can see into or from a complete lack of respect for others.
   The same thing is true of people watching questionable films on their car DVD players.
   Either way, it is a sure bet that when the Texas Legislature meets again next year, a bill prohibiting the viewing of pornography in a car will be on the agenda.
   My hope is that the legislature does not ban other types of films in their haste to protect us, allowing a small minority to ruin a diversion for many.