22 Jul 05 We’ll Exorcise Exercise the Devil Outta Ya …

Guess the neocons have invaded the NYPD now …

New York City police forced around 200 people caught watching pornography to do sit-ups in public to shame them and keep them away from theaters that illegally screen smutty movies.

The New York Post reported Monday that police stopped the screening of a pornographic movie at a theater and made audience members — some as young as 17 — do 10 sit-ups each at a public square, watched by onlookers.

The police made the all-male group vow not to watch pornography again. To make matters worse for the embarrassed teenagers who were caught, police called their parents to watch them doing sit-ups.

Sgt. John Franklin said authorities carried out the public shaming after attempts to get theaters in the city not to show pornography had failed.

“So we decided to crack down on the audience,” Franklin was quoted in the newspaper, which also reported that police in New York planned to integrate such public punishments into their general campaign against pornography.

Exhibiting pornography is illegal in America, but it is screened at many theater chains. The latest craze is pornographic Multi-Media Messaging (MMS) clips, some of which allegedly show Hollywood actresses engaged in sexual acts.

Now, until the end of the paragraph, how many of you thought this was a real news article? Kind of goes to show that we’re getting really damn near that slippery slope, aren’t we …

I actually only changed a few words. The article’s text is here.