This is absolutely infuriating!

The movie "Hounddog" premiered at the Sundance Movie Festival this week - a tale about a 12-year old girl (Dakota Fanning) who is neglected and abused. One of the scenes depicts the girl being raped – note there is no nudity, the scene is very darkly lit, and all you can see of the girl is her hand and face. Now, here's what pissed me off:

Even before the first screening of "Hounddog" at the Sundance Film Festival this week, a Christian film critic, citing Fanning's age, decried the movie as child abuse, and Roman Catholic activist Bill Donohue called for a boycott.

If that wasn't bad enough --

Ted Baehr, chairman of the Christian Film and Television Commission and publisher of the Web site movieguide.org, claims "Hounddog" breaks federal child-pornography law. He said the law covers material that "appears" to show minors engaging in sexually explicit conduct.

"Even if they're not actually performing the explicit act, we are dealing with a legal issue here," he said.

Baehr said Fanning is being exploited in the film, and that it should be considered an outrage.

"Children at 12 do not have the ability to make the types of decisions that we're talking about here," he said. "If we're offended by some comedian's racial slur, why aren't we offended by somebody taking advantage of a 12-year-old child?"

It is very apparent Mr. Baehr knows absolutely nothing about Dakota Fanning, and shows a complete disregard for the competence of the movie's director, Deborah Kampmeier. Anyone who has ever seen an interview with Ms. Fanning knows she is a very intelligent girl. On this issue she said of the scene "It's not really happening. It's a movie, and it's called acting. I'm not going through anything. Cody and Isabelle (two other young actors in the film) aren't going through anything, their characters are. And for me, when it's done it's done. I don't even think about it anymore."

I applaud Ms. Kampmeier, who defends her position by stating she not only talked to Fanning about the story, but further states "This issue (child rape) is so silenced in our society. There are a lot of women who are alone with this story."

I also applaud Sundance Director Geoffrey Gilmore for standing behind the film and not bowing to the protests.

People like Mr. Baehr piss me off as they believe their moral compass is so absolutely correct that anyone who disagrees with them is 100% wrong. Their kneejerk reactions lead to censorship and other acts of ignorace such as book burnings and in our not-too-distant past, lynchings.

Anyone who knows me knows I am a "gamer" and have played role playing games such as Dungeons and Dragons for a long while. I was raised in a Christian household, and when my extended family discovered what I was doing, I was berated for playing a "Satanic" game. Interestingly, when I asked them to simply watch one session, ask questions and make an INFORMED opinion, they almost ran in fear – as if being in the same room was going to instantly corrupt their eternal souls. They had never even seen the game played and couldn't tell me anything about it other than the name.

These people, those with the morality stick shoved firmly up their ass, would have gladly participated in the Salem witch trials. If you don't believe this, then consider the ever increasing number of fines and penalties levied against radio and television networks. This is the financial equivalent of lighting a torch.

It must be said yet again that if you do not like what you are looking at, look the hell away and leave everyone else alone!