In response to two recent BBC World Have Your Say programs on banning pornography:
Iceland's pornography ban audio file:
https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B0ZmSLnUooZuXzhUNTJqTEJFSEU/edit?usp=sharing
Is pornography ever acceptable? audio file:
https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B0ZmSLnUooZuUXpKOWNCZzYybGM/edit?usp=sharing
The first program about Iceland was more thoughtful. The second program though contained highly frantic and angry arguments on the anti-porn side. It's also true that the pay-for-porn industry has a corrosive aspect to it.
Speaking as an atheist, exmormon, & naturalist, there's actually several aspects at play here. But one thing I am reminded of is what people did in Pompeii. Has Iceland already banned films such as Caligula, Intimacy, or Destricted?
See what libraries have Destricted for example:
http://www.worldcat.org/title/destricted/oclc/692391670&referer=brief_results
And Destricted played during the Sundance Film Festival.
And check out what most everyone saw at they went around Pompeii:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erotic_art_in_Pompeii_and_Herculaneum
http://corvus.freeshell.org/corvus_corax/two/art1.htm
The frantic fear of human sexuality is sadly rampant, and as per today's program it's clear that such fear is not only present in the religious right, it's also present in "progressives" who appear just as eager to micro-manage what people do on the Internet as abusive fools like former Mormon prophet Spencer Kimball tried to do.
Here's relevant reviews of his hate filled book on sexuality:
http://www.amazon.com/The-Miracle-Forgiveness-Spencer-Kimball/product-reviews/0884944441/ref=cm_cr_pr_hist_1?ie=UTF8&filterBy=addOneStar&showViewpoints=0
and the content of his evil hate filled book:
http://www.lds.org/braille/The%20Miracle%20of%20Forgiveness.txt
and the consequences:
http://www.affirmation.org/suicide_info/sin_and_death_in_mormon_country.shtml
Online dating sites can waste a great deal of time. Online porn sites can indeed waste time also, and skew a person's view of normal natural human sexuality. On the other hand there is a need to have sites similar to youtube which do allow for free and open sharing of sexual content between adults.
So, how can such sites be paid for if not by advertising? How about these "progressives" who want to micro-manage what people see online pay to start a non-profit advertisement free versions of sites like xtube or youporn? That sounds like a good alternative. Don't like what Manwin does online? Then by F start your own advertisement-free web 2.0 adult video sharing site, rather than trying to shut down what you will not be able to shut down.
What is porn? Uncensored viewing of all aspects of human sexuality? Or is it just the commercialization of such? Mormons would view any viewing of sex in video or picture form as porn. Maybe in Iceland their definition is more limited. But the bottom line is that no amount of censorship will keep adults from seeing what they want to see.
No amount of frantic hand wringing, either from the frantic Christian/Islamic religious right, or from the frantic feminist controlling & micromanaging left, is going to stop that. But parents can and should take steps to protect their children from the highly commercialized, inaccurate, and violent content.
Further info:
Iceland's porn ban 'conflicts with the idea of a free society', say critics
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/feb/28/iceland-porn-ban-free-society
Iceland's Plan To Ban Online Porn Spurs Outrage
http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2013/02/28/173187642/icelands-plan-to-ban-online-porn-spurs-outrage
Iceland’s proposed porn ban ‘like repression in Iran, N. Korea’ – activists
http://rt.com/news/iceland-porn-ban-censorship-665/
No comments:
Post a Comment