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I found this story via Fark and, to my complete lack of surprise, it has me digging my fingers into the furniture to keep from screaming in rage.
Seems about two weeks ago in California, in a pricey suburb neighborhood, the calm of the residents' peaceful lives was shattered by a horde of lewd, crude porn producers and performers who descended upon one of the houses in the neighborhood (which had been rented to them) to shoot a porn film called "The Alphabet". Innocent children and God-fearing families were subjected to horrible sights and sounds, filthy orgies in the streets, animal acts better left undescribed.
At least, that's what the residents would have you believe.
The FACT of the matter is that things are much closer to a phrase George Carlin coined (to the best of my knowledge -- at least, he was the first *I* ever heard use it): "Not in MY back yard!"
Here's the story link. I note with some amusement that the webmaster evidently shares my view, because although there's no mention of the "Not in my back yard!" phrase in the article itself, the URL itself has the word "NIMBY", Carlin's phrase, as part of the address.
Not in MY back yard!
A couple of absolute gem quotes from the article:
As far as John R. Johnson was concerned, "that was the end of Easter Sunday." Johnson, another neighbor, told his 9-year-old daughter to stay inside while what he described as a "prison-yard break" — a large film crew, many of its members covered in tattoos — entered the iron gates of the house in the 3600 block of Hayvenhurst.
OH NOES! They look strange and unusual! How horrible!
When the call sheet calls for neither witty patter nor rich Corinthian leather but instead for orgiastic sex, cachet isn't what the neighbors talk about. Morality, their children's physical safety, property values — those are the topics on many people's minds.
Granted. Adult entertainment is just that -- adult entertainment. Kids shouldn't be seeing that kind of stuff yet. I agree so far. The "morality" comment escapes me, however, considering that every bit of shooting took place inside the house, where no one could see it. That's right, isn't it? I mean, there wasn't actually anything inappropriate going on in public view, was there?
Sure, the neighbors concede, they didn't actually see any nudity or obscene activity, but the mere idea that it was going on next door bothered them.
Ah, now we come to it. "Somebody else is having SEX! How terrible! How obscene! Someone else is making money off the filthy porn business right here IN MY BACK YARD!"
"I was stunned that whoever issues permits for this would be that insensitive," Johnson said. "If they had been shooting a 'West Wing' episode that day, I wouldn't have had the same reaction."
I have four words for these people. "Grow the fuck up."
Quit shoving your damn values on other people. By your own admission (if the article is to be believed) there was no inappropriate behavior whatsoever in public. Any obscenity and filthy sex was taking place behind closed doors, so any depravity would have had to have taken place only inside your skull. You couldn't see or hear a damned thing. Therefore, WHAT IS YOUR GODDAMNED PROBLEM?
The residents sent round a petition that the porn shooting (which went on for more than two weeks, involving a couple of different companies) "introduced unsavory and undesirable elements" into their "otherwise peaceful neighborhood." Twenty-two residents evidently signed, simply proving my point that busybodies tend to congregate in groups instead of sticking to themselves.
Well, now. The co-founder of Vivid, who was the first company to "descend" (hah) upon this house to use it for their own purposes, says: "We are cognizant that the neighbors are around when we shoot ..... We are quiet, and we don't bring a lot of equipment. There aren't people running around naked, and you can't look through the fence in the backyard and see what we are doing."
I repeat: what is the damned problem, then? Once again, the residents admitted that they saw and heard nothing untoward. They just decided that "what was happening on their street at holiday time just didn't seem right." So they circulated petitions, and they called and emailed city officials trying to get the productions shut down. Quite properly, the city officials told them to piss off (although possibly not in those exact words); the producers and filmmakers had gotten all the proper permissions and permits and were being paid for the use of the house from its owner.
The only shady thing I can see about this situation was that the filmmakers didn't rent the house from its actual owner, but instead from the tenants who were renting the house themselves. That doesn't seem quite kosher, but if the city officials gave permissions, then they must have had all the legal issues sorted beforehand. No one can drown you in paperwork like city government officials.
As for the "morality" issues involved, I simply don't see what the residents have to complain about.
-- END OF LINE --
[[The Oracle would like to know if you've ever had busybody neighbors who insisted on sticking their nose in where it wasn't wanted.]]
Seems about two weeks ago in California, in a pricey suburb neighborhood, the calm of the residents' peaceful lives was shattered by a horde of lewd, crude porn producers and performers who descended upon one of the houses in the neighborhood (which had been rented to them) to shoot a porn film called "The Alphabet". Innocent children and God-fearing families were subjected to horrible sights and sounds, filthy orgies in the streets, animal acts better left undescribed.
At least, that's what the residents would have you believe.
The FACT of the matter is that things are much closer to a phrase George Carlin coined (to the best of my knowledge -- at least, he was the first *I* ever heard use it): "Not in MY back yard!"
Here's the story link. I note with some amusement that the webmaster evidently shares my view, because although there's no mention of the "Not in my back yard!" phrase in the article itself, the URL itself has the word "NIMBY", Carlin's phrase, as part of the address.
Not in MY back yard!
A couple of absolute gem quotes from the article:
As far as John R. Johnson was concerned, "that was the end of Easter Sunday." Johnson, another neighbor, told his 9-year-old daughter to stay inside while what he described as a "prison-yard break" — a large film crew, many of its members covered in tattoos — entered the iron gates of the house in the 3600 block of Hayvenhurst.
OH NOES! They look strange and unusual! How horrible!
When the call sheet calls for neither witty patter nor rich Corinthian leather but instead for orgiastic sex, cachet isn't what the neighbors talk about. Morality, their children's physical safety, property values — those are the topics on many people's minds.
Granted. Adult entertainment is just that -- adult entertainment. Kids shouldn't be seeing that kind of stuff yet. I agree so far. The "morality" comment escapes me, however, considering that every bit of shooting took place inside the house, where no one could see it. That's right, isn't it? I mean, there wasn't actually anything inappropriate going on in public view, was there?
Sure, the neighbors concede, they didn't actually see any nudity or obscene activity, but the mere idea that it was going on next door bothered them.
Ah, now we come to it. "Somebody else is having SEX! How terrible! How obscene! Someone else is making money off the filthy porn business right here IN MY BACK YARD!"
"I was stunned that whoever issues permits for this would be that insensitive," Johnson said. "If they had been shooting a 'West Wing' episode that day, I wouldn't have had the same reaction."
I have four words for these people. "Grow the fuck up."
Quit shoving your damn values on other people. By your own admission (if the article is to be believed) there was no inappropriate behavior whatsoever in public. Any obscenity and filthy sex was taking place behind closed doors, so any depravity would have had to have taken place only inside your skull. You couldn't see or hear a damned thing. Therefore, WHAT IS YOUR GODDAMNED PROBLEM?
The residents sent round a petition that the porn shooting (which went on for more than two weeks, involving a couple of different companies) "introduced unsavory and undesirable elements" into their "otherwise peaceful neighborhood." Twenty-two residents evidently signed, simply proving my point that busybodies tend to congregate in groups instead of sticking to themselves.
Well, now. The co-founder of Vivid, who was the first company to "descend" (hah) upon this house to use it for their own purposes, says: "We are cognizant that the neighbors are around when we shoot ..... We are quiet, and we don't bring a lot of equipment. There aren't people running around naked, and you can't look through the fence in the backyard and see what we are doing."
I repeat: what is the damned problem, then? Once again, the residents admitted that they saw and heard nothing untoward. They just decided that "what was happening on their street at holiday time just didn't seem right." So they circulated petitions, and they called and emailed city officials trying to get the productions shut down. Quite properly, the city officials told them to piss off (although possibly not in those exact words); the producers and filmmakers had gotten all the proper permissions and permits and were being paid for the use of the house from its owner.
The only shady thing I can see about this situation was that the filmmakers didn't rent the house from its actual owner, but instead from the tenants who were renting the house themselves. That doesn't seem quite kosher, but if the city officials gave permissions, then they must have had all the legal issues sorted beforehand. No one can drown you in paperwork like city government officials.
As for the "morality" issues involved, I simply don't see what the residents have to complain about.
-- END OF LINE --
[[The Oracle would like to know if you've ever had busybody neighbors who insisted on sticking their nose in where it wasn't wanted.]]