Why Penn & Teller's Show Bullsh*t - Really Is Bullsh*t

Penn Jillette called me an "A-hole" on national TV, and I am not ashamed to admit it! What some of you may have seen on Thursday night, July 1, 2010 was a Showtime Program "BullSh*t" about teen sex, and the digital trend sexting. I agreed to be part of this documentary because I believe in the message of the Institute for Responsible Online and Cell-phone Communication. I believe in the message espoused and proved across the country that what you do with digital technology can quickly become Public and Permanent, and the misuse (or abuse) of technology (like fire, your car, or anything else) can lead to tragic and unintended consequences.

Poking fun at the acronym IROC2 was all in good fun, and making fun of something credible would have been fine with me as well, after all the show is called Bullsh*t. However, the producers knew what the real message was; the director knew what the real message was, the camera men knew what the real message was (in fact, they asked how, when and where their daughters could see the program); and the audience at Burlington Community College in NJ knew what the message was, but the entire segment of the program that aired was built on editing and sound bytes taken from over 3 hours of footage for the sake of controversy and "entertainment," and sadly Showtime's audience will not know the real message of the Institute.

The word sexting is used all of about 3 times in the program as it does not focus only on this trend, and not one clip the used from the program had anything to do with sexting. We help to educate kids about how they can protect themselves from their own irresponsibility with any digital device - we do NOT deter anyone from using technology, only from abusing it.

Take a look at the victims of these stories. This is what we work so hard to prevent, and their show managed to take clips about criminal activity that had nothing to do with sexting, and diminish our efforts. Nice job Showtime!

"Hacker blackmailed women into making porn"

"Student gets 15-year sentence for Facebook scheme"

Here are the facts, and what our program and message is all about communicating;

"The very powerful digital tools of convenience we have at our disposal are awesome. They should be used as much as possible to benefit your life because that is what they are designed for. You cannot hide from technology, and we cannot hide our youth from technology. We must embrace it because digital tools and technologies are only going to continue to evolve. They are not going to disappear, and why should they? I could not make it through a day without digital technology, nor would I want to.

You are only limited by your own imagination and creativity thanks to the power of digital technology. You can live on an island in the middle of the ocean and be the most amazing person on the planet thanks to digital technology. Today we are each in control of very powerful tools of communication, and we are each writing our own history, creating our own legacy. What you leave behind for your future generations to know about you is entirely up to you. If you want to use a power tool of communication, a window to the world, then you must be prepared to take accountability for your actions. So I implore you, understand this knowledge to be true; when you use digital technology, you must maintain a mindset that your actions are public and permanent."

If you saw the show, you'd see how the message of digital responsibility, safety, and awareness was edited and misrepresented as a fear of technology. Perhaps if they showed the entire Live Event and interviews unedited, you would see the variety of instances whereby I specifically state that technology is NOT scary, but the consequences that come from the abuse of technology can be scary. There is a big difference there right?

I say kudos to Penn and Teller and their editors who have millions of dollars and a global platform to spend time and resources on completely skewing and falsifying the message of a nationally acclaimed nonprofit, and their community volunteers, designed to encourage the responsible and safe use of amazing technology.

You don't get selected to speak at national safety conferences and sit in on closed congressional sessions about national cyber security without knowing a "few things" about criminal activity. Here's a thought_ perhaps all of the individuals that work on this show, including the hosts, would like to see all of their digital activity, or the activity of their children exposed for all to see, or exploit?

Or maybe they would like to see themselves or their children at the epicenter of a real controversy (like the 12 year old in this episode who was almost forced to register as a sex offender) due to misuse (or abuse) of their digital technology?

The answer is most likely no, and ironically, these are the mistakes and tragedies that IROC2 is trying to prevent. Of all the depraved people and situations I see every day that I try and prevent kids from becoming victims of; pedophiles, predators and thieves, the folks at Showtime just made it to the top of the list. Making fun of me is just fine, but editing a nationally acclaimed safety program to look like we are creating fear will not be ignored.

So, regardless of how disappointed I am at how shamelessly low Showtime and Penn and Teller would go for the sake of "entertainment", I am not going to apologize or hide my head in the sand. I am going to proudly repeat, "Penn Jillette thinks I am an a-hole," and if I was discouraging the use of technology, he would be right. However, know that he is commenting on edited sound bytes having nothing to do with our true message, only to fit his agenda (for the sake of his show and his wallet through crafty editing), and by doing so, he is encouraging ignorance which is by far more scary than anything I could ever say!

For more information on our nationally acclaimed and award winning Programs, visit www.iroc2.org.