Homeland Security spokesman loves him some porn.

A Department of Homeland Security spokesman charged with soliciting a minor over the Internet was disciplined in a previous job after an incident in which pornographic images were seen on an office computer, his friends and former co-workers said.

I almost did not post this story because I do not think it has anything to do with the crime that Brian Doyle is alleged to have committed.

Watching internet porn does not make anybody more likely to be a pedophile, anymore then being a Catholic priest makes you anymore likely to molest young boys. I would be willing to bet that many of the people who are reading this article right now have viewed porn. I would be just as willing to bet that almost all of them would never even consider doing anything harmful to a child or anybody else for that matter.

Now where Mr. Doyle should be judged is in his choice to view these images while at work. That just shows terrible judgment in my opinion. But I would reserve that same negative opinion of anybody who used his work computer for online gambling or downloading pirated movies onto their hard drive. These are all ethically questionable activities that should be considered verbotten while at work at the very least.

Porn gets blamed for all kinds of things which are patently ridiculous. Just like video games or violent movies often get blamed for the incidents that are carried out by kids or young people who use them, it becomes a scapegoat and all other possible reasons get ignored.

If Brian Doyle is guilty of what he is accused of doing then he is indeed a danger to society. But his viewing of pornography at work just makes him an impulsive individual lacking in self-control. We will probably also soon find that he listened to Heavy Metal and has his nipples pierced, then we can justify hanging his ass in the public square.