Past Reflections

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October 11, 2009 - Where Are The Parents?

by Father Edward L. Beck, C.P.

On the heels of the Roman Polanski furor comes another less reported story involving another celebrity. The actress Brooke Shields, now 44, posed for a nude photo when she was 10 years old. Richard Prince, the photographer of a copy of that photo, entitled it SPIRITUAL AMERICA. Don’t ask me what that means. Well recently London police removed the photo from an exhibition at the Tate Modern Museum after child exploitation groups protested, saying it could be a “magnet for pedophiles.” Well who knows if that’s true or not. But what’s disturbing to me is that the photograph was taken with the permission of Shields mother, who then signed away the rights to the original photo, which was then featured in a Playboy publication. Now this is a little different from that couple we heard about who were reported by Wal-Mart for developing bath time nude photos of their own children for private use. The Shields photo was commercial property used to make money. What’s in a parent’s head to allow that? And one of the most disturbing aspects to me about the Polanski case was that the mother of the then 13 year old girl let her daughter go to the photo shoot unsupervised where the girl posed topless for Polanski. And then let her go back a second day unsupervised to the house of Jack Nicholson, where she was then photographed again by Polanski, but also molested in a hot tub and raped in Jack Nicholson’s bedroom. Did this mother not see the dangers inherent in her bad choices? Parental vigilance is the only protection children have against forces that can harm them. Wake up parents. We live in dangerous times. Don’t make them any more dangerous for your children by reneging on your responsibility to be the primary protectors of your children. Their lives and future depend on it.

To watch Father Beck give the above Reflection, click here.