Argus Peddles More Smut!

The leading Sioux Falls newspaper (which would remain nameless if I weren't trying to reach the search engines) must be seeking synergy with one of its major online sponsors, Annabelle's Adult Superstore (i.e., the porn shop). While my wife was scrolling through an Argus Leader online forum on a letter to the editor about transportation for drunk bar patrons, she found an offensive avatar next to one of the posts. (See the forum thread here, but click at your own peril.) The avatar consists of a bare-breasted Betty Boop. We thought maybe some wise-acre hacker had found a way to sneak some porn onto South Dakota's flagship newspaper. But as we read through the post (from an individual of apparently good sense maintaining that people should be responsible enough to get themselves home from the bar in one piece without getting drunk and expecting our tax dollars to provide them with a way home), we found the following postscript:

Do you like my avatar, kids? I found it in the Argus Leader forum gallery. Don't you think my bare breasts are sexy and appropriate for the readers of these forums?? Way to go, Argus!!

Sure enough, when readers register to participate in the forum, the Argus offers a gallery of avatar images, including the Betty Boop and a few other cartoon images of women ill-dressed for South Dakota's winter.

Now I thought my earlier post on the Argus peddling smut might be considered a bit of an exaggeration. The Argus was advertising a porn shop, but at least doing so semi-discreetly. But now here's the Argus posting pornographic images on its own website and encouraging its forum members to use them next to their discussions of the great issues of the day. Now I'm really ready for a boycott. Nobody offers as much South Dakota news as the Argus, but I just don't want pornography coming uninvited into my house (and I won't be issuing any invitations). I don't dare recommend that my fellow teachers or students in my classroom look up articles online in the Argus. I go the Argus for education, not titillation. If the Argus is going to push the latter, I'll have to seek the former somewhere else.