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Life & Times Transcript
12/22/05 Val Zavala>> Tonight on Life and Times -- Sex on the internet. It's a multi-billion dollar business and it's creating a new kind of addict. Robert Weiss>> Now we have people who have absolutely no history of any kind of addictive or compulsive sexual problems getting on line for a period of time and getting themselves into real trouble and not being able to get out. Val Zavala>> And then, what's new in theaters this weekend? Our critics review the latest from Spielberg and the final collaboration of Merchant Ivory. These stories and more next on tonight's Life and Times. Announcer>> Life and Times is made possible through the generous support of the L.K. Whittier Foundation dedicated to improving the quality of life by supporting innovative endeavors in the fields of medicine, health, science and education. And by a generous grant from Jim and Anne Rothenberg. Val Zavala>> They are calling it the crack cocaine of the internet. Men with no previous addictions are getting hooked on pornography and porn is more available than ever on the internet. Sam Louie met one man who went from porn to prostitutes, but finally got help from a church in Orange County. Sam Louie>> The numbers are numbing. Over four million pornographic websites, 2.5 billion daily pornographic emails, thirty-five percent of all downloaded material related to sex. The computer age has made sex the number one topic searched on the internet and it's ushered in a new kind of addict: porn addict. Robert Weiss>> People are also hooking up. They're chatting. They're engaging in interaction. They're buying prostitutes on line and instructing them what to do. You know, they're typing in the instructions while they view what the person is doing. There's all kinds of ways that the internet can be used and is used for sexual purposes. Sam Louie>> Robert Weiss is the Clinical Director of the Sexual Recovery Institute in Los Angeles. He specializes in treating sex addiction. Before, most of his clients had a history of sexual problems, but nowadays Weiss says he's seeing a different group coming in for help. Robert Weiss>> Now we have people who have absolutely no history of any kind of addictive or compulsive sexual problems getting on line for a period of time and getting themselves into real trouble and not being able to get out. Sam Louie>> Revenue from the porn industry is estimated at fifty-seven billion dollars annually worldwide. Here in the United States, it's at twelve billion dollars. That's more than the profits of the NFL, the NBA and Major League Baseball combined and, with such a growing influence, some churches now have programs in place to combat the addiction. [Film Clip] Sam Louie>> It's a Friday evening in Orange County. Wayne Davis and his wife, Robin, have come to Saddleback Church's Celebrate Recovery Program. The nondenominational Christian church offers a night of worship, teaching and encouragement for those working to conquer their various addictions. Wayne is a recovering sex addict. Wayne Davis>> I lived in these two worlds. They were two separate worlds, a double life. I mean, I kept them very separate. Sam Louie>> For thirty-six years of his marriage, Wayne lived that double life. It started with adult magazines and going to strip clubs, but with the internet, the intensity increased and so did his insatiable appetite for more. Eventually, he could not control his urges and started picking up prostitutes. Wayne Davis>> It's hard to put a number in any one set of times, but I would imagine over the years, hundreds. Sam Louie>> Hundreds of prostitutes? Wayne Davis>> I would just cruise streets looking and sometimes picking up and sometimes stopping at a strip club and cruising the streets some more and never finding satisfaction, that no one activity or escapade even in one evening would be satisfactory. It's like the drive would just get worse and I would move on to something more. Sam Louie>> Robert Weiss has investigated the impact of internet pornography and co-authored a book, "Cybersex Exposed". He found there are three reasons why internet porn is so popular. It's accessible, affordable and the consumer can remain anonymous. Robert Weiss>> Nobody really knows who I am. They don't know where I am. I can create all kinds of fantasies about myself on line for people to read about and respond to. I can change my sex, my height, my weight, my age. So anything that I might feel uncomfortable about in the real world doesn't exist when I'm having some interaction on line and that makes it very, very attractive for a lot of people. Sam Louie>> In its early years, pornography was relegated to adult bookstores and strip clubs in seedy neighborhoods, but over time, technology changed that. [Film Clip] Sam Louie>> The VCR was the first major breakthrough, making porn available in the privacy of your own living room. Satellite TV followed, but it was the furious growth of the web that made sex bites proliferate and it was the web that took Wayne deeper into the world of pornography. Then five years ago, a turning point came, the birth of his first grandson. Wayne Davis>> I was going to lose my entire family, my wife, my children and my grandchildren, and was all of this worth it? That was rock bottom for me and led me to Celebrate Recovery ministry in the Saddleback Church. Sam Louie>> Shortly afterwards, he admitted everything to his wife. Robin was floored. Robin Davis>> And at that point in time, my life (laughter) I thought it was going to end. Sam Louie>> When your husband admitted that he had been with hundreds of prostitutes, what was racing through your mind? Robin Davis>> Well, the words that came out of my mouth were, "How could you do this to me? Am I not good enough for you? What caused you to have to go to other women to have these relationships when, for years, I have wanted you?" Sam Louie>> Despite the difficulties, the two both wanted to work it out. They went to Celebrate Recovery and discovered Wayne's addiction to sex stemmed from his deep-seated anger towards his late father who Wayne described as unloving and distant. Wayne Davis>> Whatever it was that was troubling me was gone for a few minutes. Even though I felt terrible afterwards, the remorse and guilt of it, those few minutes of excitement somehow relieved it. It was medication. Sam Louie>> At Celebrate Recovery, Robin also found a safe place to share her pain with other women. Robin Davis>> Some of us do make it. It's a hurting time, but we have each other to communicate with, to call, to talk to, to cry with, to pray with. Sam Louie>> Helping addicts and their families has been Pastor John Baker's passion. He founded Celebrate Recovery as he was battling his own alcoholism and these days he's noticed another addiction rampant within the church. Pastor John Baker>> The fastest growing group today is our sexual addiction groups, both men and women. I see sexual addiction as the addiction of the twenty-first century. Sam Louie>> Experts like Dr. Jeff Schwieger agree. He's a Clinical Psychologist who likens internet pornography to crack cocaine. Dr. Jeff Schwieger>> There's a neurochemistry part of it that goes along with it, with the sensation registering in the pleasure centers of the brain and that continued reinforcement of values in the behavior, the increase of it can cause somebody to become addicted to it over time. Sam Louie>> But there's another equally distressing trend. The largest consumers of internet porn are teenagers. Dr. Jeff Schwieger>> That age group, especially young boys, drink in pornography in huge amounts and that group is something that we're looking at. Sam Louie>> Dr. Schwieger also wants to correct misconceptions about sexual addiction. Dr. Jeff Schwieger>> They're not monsters and they're not people that are necessarily turning into a rapist or a pedophile. For that to happen, there's a lot more deeper darker stuff that needs to happen in somebody's past for that to happen. Sam Louie>> Wayne is just one of nearly nine thousand people who have been through the various Celebrate Recovery programs since it started fourteen years ago. He and his wife, Robin, will tell you that, although porn addiction is powerful, it can be defeated through faith, discipline and honesty. I'm Sam Louie for Life and Times. Announcer>> Kcet.org is the place to look for the very latest on Life and Times. You'll find previews of upcoming stories, transcripts and audio of past episodes and links to some of our most interesting features. Just go to kcet.org and click on "Life and Times". [Film Clip] Toni Guinyard>> This list is a five-point guide aimed at helping people who are sixty-five years old or older make a really tough decision. It has to do with the new Medicare Prescription Drug Plan. The problem is, in the state of California, there are more than forty plans to choose from. It's very confusing and people are looking for answers. So we went to the Foundation for Consumer and Taxpayer Rights and spoke with David Fink to get a little guidance on what to do first. David Fink>> For the first time, Medicare is offering prescription drug coverage which means that seniors sixty-five and over have an option to voluntarily join plans that would offer them drug coverage. Toni Guinyard>> You say voluntarily. This is not mandatory. David Fink>> That's correct. They have the option of buying into these plans. On average, states have forty or more plans that seniors can choose from. Each of them has a different list of drugs, a different monthly premium. Some have deductibles, some don't, and each of them has a different pharmacy network, so not all plans will be available at all pharmacies. Toni Guinyard>> The bottom line is, you need to check to see if your pharmacy actually will accept the plan that you choose? David Fink>> Right. So even if you can find a plan that has most or all of the drugs you need, you need to make sure that your local pharmacy is going to have that plan available. Toni Guinyard>> Now you've developed a list of five things that consumers need to pay attention to when they're making this decision. Let's start with number one. David Fink>> Number one is, make sure the plan you choose has most or all of the drugs you need, particularly the most expensive ones. All the plans have a different list of drugs that are available. Now the plan has the choice of taking those drugs off the list at any time, but they'll give you sixty days notice. That's something that seniors need to be aware of, that the plan they join now that has the drugs they need may not have it somewhere down the line. Medicare has given these plans the option of changing the drug lists, which are called formularies, at any time. Seniors have the choice of changing plans once a year, but they can only change it at the end of the year during the open enrollment period from November 15 to December 31. So if a plan pulls your most important drugs in March, you're stuck with that plan until the end of the year when you get to change plans. Toni Guinyard>> Okay, number two. David Fink>> Number two is, make sure that the plan you choose is available at a local pharmacy. They have different pharmacy networks for all the plans and, in metropolitan cities, it probably won't be too hard to find a pharmacy that carries a plan you need. But in more rural areas, you need to really be aware of that. You know, a lot of seniors aren't going to drive ten, fifteen or fifty miles to get to a pharmacy that has the drugs they need. Toni Guinyard>> Okay. Let's go to the next thing on your list. David Fink>> The next thing on our list is what's called the donut hole. That's where drug coverage stops. So after you pay your deductible -- and not all plans have a deductible -- coverage starts until you reach $2,250 in drug spending. Once you reach that point, drug coverage stops and you're on your own. You're paying a hundred percent out of pocket until you reach $3,600. Toni Guinyard>> And that's no matter what plan you choose? David Fink>> No matter what plan you choose. Now some plans that don't have a deductible increase the size of the donut hole. So instead of paying that $250 at the beginning, they're going to tack that on at the end and the donut hole, instead of starting at $2,250, starts now at $2000. So you have to be aware. Just because a plan doesn't have a deductible doesn't mean they're not going to charge it to you somewhere later on. Toni Guinyard>> How does this impact seniors who are still working and covered under their employer's plan? David Fink>> Well, seniors who are either still working or have retirement coverage from their former employer need to be aware that, if they sign up for one of these new prescription drug plans, they may be dropped from their health insurance coverage that they're getting through their employer. Now this won't happen in every case, but oftentimes health insurers won't allow you to get any kind of insurance from another company and, since these prescription drug plans are covered by private companies, they'll conflict and they'll drop you from the coverage you have, so seniors need to be very aware that, if they sign up for one of these new prescription drug plans, they might be dropped from their employer coverage. Toni Guinyard>> How can they find out if that's going to happen or not? David Fink>> The best thing to do is go to your employer and your employer should have that information. If your employer doesn't, then obviously the next step would be to go to whoever your insurer is and find out from them. Toni Guinyard>> And when you have low-income seniors, seniors who might be able to be subsidized, what is their situation? David Fink>> Well, for seniors who make below fifteen thousand dollars a year or nineteen thousand for a couple, this is going to be a great benefit to them. They'll see huge savings, generally eighty to ninety percent off what they formerly saw. Now the folks who are low-income who come in right above those levels, those are going to be the people who are hardest impacted. Basically those low-income seniors aren't going to be able to afford the higher premium plans which generally have larger drug lists. So they're going to be very limited on the plans that they can choose from and they may not be able to get a plan that has most, any or all of their drugs, so they're going to be really limited. Toni Guinyard>> May 15, 2006 essentially is the deadline of sorts. Explain why that date is so important. David Fink>> Enrollment begins on November 15. That's the first day seniors can sign up. But that enrollment ends, or what's called open enrollment, ends on May 15, 2006. If seniors don't sign up by May 15, they're going to be penalized one percent of their premium every month thereafter, which means if you wait until May of 2007 to sign up, you're going to be charged an extra twelve percent on your plan. Now essentially what Medicare is asking seniors to do is gamble on whether or not you're going to stay healthy. Unfortunately, even if you don't have any prescription drugs now, seniors should think about signing up for one of the low premium plans just so they won't be penalized later. Toni Guinyard>> This plan was supposed to help people in the sense that there would be a lot more competition and lower-cost drugs, but what's really happening here? David Fink>> Advocates of this will tell you, well, this is great. There are so many options. You know, seniors have all these options. But options are a problem in this sense. There are so many plans and they're so hard to figure out which plan is best for each senior that options have become a problem. Part of that is that, you know, this all goes back to the fact that we shouldn't even have this system. This is what we have and this can help some seniors save greatly, but Medicare banned itself from negotiating bulk discounts. Had it done that, all seniors could have gotten, on average, sixty percent savings off what they see now. Instead, they have to choose from one of these plans which may or may not help them. In fact, a recent survey said that twenty-five percent of seniors who do sign up for one of these plans are actually going to end up paying considerably more than what they had in the past. It's going to be really tough for seniors and those who are helping seniors, those who are helping their parents. This is an extremely complex system. There are over forty plans in most states and people really need to get educated. They need to go to Medicare's website which is medicare.gov. They need to check with state insurance assistance programs here in California. There is HICAP. Ask for their assistance. Get counseling. Go onto the internet. If you're internet savvy, go to different websites and see what kind of information you can get. Toni Guinyard>> Confusing situation, a lot of information. Hopefully, you're helping some of our viewers. Thanks so much for spending a little time with Life and Times. David Fink>> Thank you. Announcer>> To send a comment or a question to our program, you can reach us by mail at this address: Life and Times 4401 Sunset Blvd. Los Angeles, California 90027 You can also call our viewer comment line (323) 953-5555) or contact us the fast way by e-mail at kcet.org. Larry Mantle>> Welcome to FilmWeek on Life and Times. I'm Larry Mantle of 89.3 KPCC. Our first film this week is the much-awaited drama from director, Steven Spielberg. It takes a look at the tragedy surrounding the 1972 Summer Olympic games in Munich. It's titled simply "Munich". [Film Clip] Larry Mantle>> I'm joined this week by critics Jean Oppenheimer of New Times and Henry Sheehan of henrysheehan.com. Henry, what did you think of Spielberg's "Munich"? Henry Sheehan>> Well, it's a movie set largely in prints. I'll say it's come see, come saw. It's a story of a group of Israeli secret service assassins who, in the wake of the 1972 Olympics where the Black September terrorist organization made its first appearance and killed eleven Israeli athletes. These assassins are sent out throughout Europe to kill the Palestinian terrorists, or organizers of the terrorists, who are responsible for the crime. I thought, as a thriller, this movie worked okay. Eric Bana plays the young man without much espionage experience who's called on to do it and that part is okay. Politically, I thought it was okay, but there's no real sophistication on either end, either the spy thriller or the political examination, so I just thought this was a film that kind of went halfway in both aspects and didn't really get there. Larry Mantle>> Jean, what did you think? Jean Oppenheimer>> Well, I was even less enthusiastic actually than Henry. I mean, I think it raises some important and interesting moral issues, but overall I just never got emotionally engaged in this film. I mean, through the entire thing, either with Bana's character or any of the others. But one thing I did like is that, even the films of Spielberg's that I love like "Saving Private Ryan" tend to have those schmaltzy bookends before and after, and he didn't do that here, so I think it's a more mature Spielberg. But it didn't mean anything to me. Larry Mantle>> Our second film is a remake of a 1970's era comedy, "Fun with Dick & Jane". The stars are Jim Carrey and Tea Leoni. [Film Clip] Larry Mantle>> Well, Henry, did you have "Fun with Dick and Jane"? Henry Sheehan>> Sometimes, not a lot. Not as often as I would have liked to. A remake of a 1970's film with George Segal and Jane Fonda, this time out with Jim Carrey and Tea Leoni. A little more on one side, a little less on the other maybe. They play an upper middle class couple who lose their income. Jim Carrey's character is a fall guy for a corporate scandal like Enron and Tea Leoni has quit her job for various reasons. So they decide to make their way back into the upper middle class by robbing people. Now this is not satire. This is broad comedy that's kind of integrated some of the scandals of the past. When they're actually working out the plot, it's not so great, but whenever they let Jim Carrey just get silly, then the movie works. Like this one point in which he's about to be indicted and Carrey just says "indicted" over and over and over again, and that's hysterical for some reason. I can't explain why it's funny, but the bigger gags tend not to be so great. The film does feature a great character actor, Richard Jenkins, who's always funny. Larry Mantle>> Our third film this week comes from France. Its title is "Cache" or "Hidden". [Film Clip] Larry Mantle>> Jean, what did you think of "Cache", aka "Hidden"? Jean Oppenheimer>> I think this is a terrific film. It's a political allegory sort of wrapped around this tense mystery thriller. It's by a very provocative director, Michael Haneke, who is Austrian, but the film is in French. On one level, "Hidden" is an unsettling whodunit. Like nearly all of Haneke's films, however, it's also really very much a critique of western society. Another theme that he has in a lot of his films is about how the media manipulates and that people don't realize that they see things through video and through TV and this all comes out. I just thought it was a terrific movie. It doesn't have the vocabulary of the typical thriller, but it does have a lot of the things that Haneke does a lot with these long steady shots when maybe nothing goes on inside the shots. But it's incredible how much tension that creates. Larry Mantle>> Henry, what did you think? Henry Sheehan>> Well, Haneke certainly works so hard at being controversial that I think sometimes he fails to put a possibly plausible film together. I think, at this level on this film "Cache", he actually goes to the point of abdicating his responsibility to make a work that's coherent. I mean, this is about a middle class French couple that starts receiving videos of the Front Street, their home, and this Front Street that had been surveyed for four hours, watching everything that goes back and forth, which of course mimics Haneke's own visual style, as Jean mentioned. So, I mean, is it plausible that someone's watching your house? The film explores guilt from that, but it goes deep into such a personalized and eccentric notion of guilt that I don't see how you can generalize from it. I can only see a director who's flailing about and trying to strike some big issues and missing all the necessary minor ones. Larry Mantle>> And our last film this week is the final collaboration between the Merchant Ivory producing and directing team. "The White Countess" stars Ray Fiennes and Natasha Richardson. [Film Clip] Larry Mantle>> Well, Jean, what did you think of "The White Countess"? Jean Oppenheimer>> I regret to say that this is one of the most boring, dullest films that the Merchant Ivory team has ever done. It's really sad because Merchant Ivory -- I'm sorry -- Ismail Merchant, the producer, died during post-production, so this is the last film that he did. The thought crossed my mind while watching this film that it was actually intended as a parody of Chekhov. As a parody of Chekhov, I think it worked quite well. The problem is, it's really not intended as that at all. It's very melodramatic. It's very, you know, romance and mystery and political tension and all of this. Ray Fiennes, who was so wonderful in "The Constant Gardener", is just dreadful, I think. I mean, he's playing this character who's supposed to be repressed and instead he just seems manic. So overall, I really didn't like anything about it. Larry Mantle>> Well, thanks for joining us for another FilmWeek on Life and Times. I'm Larry Mantle for our critics, Jean Oppenheimer of New Times, and Henry Sheehan of henrysheehan.com. We not only wish you a very happy holiday, but we invite you to join us again in the new year two weeks from today for our next FilmWeek on Life and Times. Val Zavala>> And remember, you can hear a full hour of FilmWeek Friday mornings at eleven a.m. on KPCC public radio. And that's our program. I'm Val Zavala. For everyone at Life and Times, thanks for watching. We'll see you next time. Announcer>> Life and Times was made possible through the generous support of the L.K. Whittier Foundation dedicated to improving the quality of life by supporting innovative endeavors in the fields of medicine, health, science and education. And by a generous grant from Jim and Anne Rothenberg. Sponsored in part by:  | |
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