Posted on 04/01/2006 5:37:42 PM PST by Panerai
The industry's VIPs mingle at political galas and Super Bowl parties. Their product is available on cell phones, podcasts, and particularly the Internet _ there it's an attraction like no other, patronized by tens of millions of Americans.
It's pornography. And if you're a consumer, John Harmer thinks you're damaging your brain.
Harmer is part of a cadre of anti-porn activists seeking new tactics to fight an unprecedented deluge of porn which they see as wrecking countless marriages and warping human sexuality. They are urging federal prosecutors to pursue more obscenity cases and raising funds for high-tech brain research that they hope will fuel lawsuits against porn magnates.
"We don't think it's a lost cause," said Harmer, a Utah-based auto executive and former politician who's been fighting porn for 40 years.
"It's the most profitable industry in the world," he said. "But I'm convinced we'll demonstrate in the not-too-distant future the actual physical harm that pornography causes and hold them financially accountable. That could be the straw that breaks their back."
The activists' adversary is a sprawling industry that, by some counts, offers more than 4 million porn sites on the Internet, that in the United States alone is estimated to be worth $12 billion a year. A tracking firm, comScore Media Metrix, says about 40 percent of Internet users in the United States visit adult sites each month.
Porn products are featured at popular sex expositions and retail chains such as Hustler Hollywood. Major hotels provide in-room porn, and adult film stars are now mainstream celebrities. Mary Carey attended a VIP Republican fundraiser in Washington in mid-March; Jenna Jameson's "How to Make Love Like a Porn Star" hit the best-seller lists and she hosted a racy pre-Super Bowl party in Detroit in February.
(Excerpt) Read more at breitbart.com ...
"I was thinking among my acquaintances and thought of at least a couple more men whose lives are messed up due to porn. So I know at least 5, and I am a veritable hermit."
It is probably very difficult, also, to determine the affects it has on marriages.
We know one couple who try to "spice up" their marriage by viewing porn.
Only -their marriage has only gotten worse.
Normal sex is no longer stimulating. They both are obsessed with how they look.
And they forget that the images they view are not real.
The people they are viewing don't look like that in real life - nor do they act like that in real life.
I remember reading an article where the journalist interviewed about 10 different porn stars about their lives.
Questions you would expect about their "career" and their normal sex lives.
Every single one of them was in the business because they were desparate for money.
Every single one of them was planning on getting out of the business.
And not a single one of them allowed their boyfriends to perform anal sex - they all hated it.
"For what it's worth - I also think it should be illegal to sell products like Grand Theft Auto to children and teens." - Why don't you check - there is an age restriction on GTA.
There's a really good free silent prayer on fhu.com that has helped free alot of people. It might help him. It's non-denominational in case he is turned off from religion.
Mark Laaser...[who] frequently sought out pornography and engaged in extramarital sex for more than 20 years...now runs workshops, and consults with church congregations on the issue.
Another self-described former addict is Phil Burress, head of a Cincinnati-based conservative group called Citizens for Community Values.
Figures. Typical busybodies--projecting their own weaknesses onto the rest of society, as if everybody's as incompetent and undisciplined as they were.
Since porn is not shameful, should continue to be legal and easily accessible, and defensible in every way, why don't all the porn supporters tell us whether they "consume" porn? After all, they shouldn't be ashamed of using a product which has so much to commend it.
See my post above.
See my post above.
I thought or 2 or 3 more. Many of these are grown sons of friends. Many were "introduced" by other teenagers.
The facile lie that inanimate objects have no power is easily defeated by this argument:
If advertising had no effect, why would the advertising industry spend billions of dollars changing peoples' opinions and affecting their choices? People aren't dull stones. Everyone is affected by what they see, hear, and read. That's why education is hotly debated - skulls full of mush are influenced by what is fed to them. And adults are not immune from being affected either. The argument that porn doesn't affect people is a blatant lie.
Which one?
The one where he offered to describe the sexual practices he and his wife engage in, in graphic detail, in order to prove how unashamed of legal activities people here should be. Then he'll undoubtedly post his current bank balance, along with the amounts and payees of all the checks he's written and credit card transactions he's made in the last few months or so - you know, since it's all legal and defensible, I'm sure he's not ashamed of it or anything.
I guess after the blow-by-blow of his life, he wants to know about whether you've ever viewed pornography. I think he figures that since he's so footloose and fancy free about his personal life, you should be too. Or something.
No one can leave their house without being confronted by it anymore. Whether on billboards or in a shopping mall.
Since the pro-porn crowd state how harmless the porn industry is, why aren't people saying whether they "use" it or not?
One idiot compared porn to guns, and I announced to the world that I own guns and have a concealed carry permit. I'm not ashamed or afraid to state that, and it is consistent with the right to bear arms which is stated in the Constitution.
Now, since you fine fellows think that the Constitution also supports the right of porn freaks to "consume" porn, why are you afraid to say wether you use it or not? I'm not afraid to say that not only do I not "use" porn, I've never seen any. See how bold I am?
Personally, I have less than no interest in anyone else's sex life or lack thereof. I just like to see people being honest and standing up for their beliefs.
Personally, I have less than no interest in anyone else's sex life or lack thereof.
LOL. All evidence to the contrary, of course.
I believe that Robert Bork refers to this as "Slouching Toward Gomorrah." Believe it or not some people WANT our culture to be evil and destructive. Too bad Conservative religious folks can't secede from these enlightened rogues.
Actually, it would be more acurate to say that child porn is still a crime, used to be that other types of porn were criminal as well. Fair to say that criminalizing kiddie porn is also a form of censorship and all we really disagree on is where to draw the line.
As I said, I have no interest in anyone's sex life. I was making the point that the pro-porn crowd is saying that porn is harmless, benign, legal, even beneficial, and no one should have any shame about it. So if it's so harmless and benign, why not say whether one uses it or not? And since one fool compared pornography to guns, I stated my position on personal firearms, and my gun ownership.
I guess you have a thick skull.
What I object to is the porn culture which pervades the atmosphere and infects in particular children and young people. It is not harmless and not benign and some of the reasons are state above by myself and others.
So are your relations with your wife. Although you're being awfully evasive, I guess I'll give you the benefit of the doubt for now. So out with it. Let's hear all the gory details - no one should have any shame about it, right?
Good point. That was a good book. Interesting article and discussion about good and evil here:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1607812/posts?page=1
The fight against evil (PROFOUND & POWERFUL - MUST READ!)
RenewAmerica.us ^ | 4/2/2006 | Fred Hutchison
You can't see the difference between personal marital relations and the promotion of pornography?
Or are you just playing games?
Hmm.
Can't debate any longer at the moment, gotta run. CAtch any replies later.
Well, I know that your personal marital relations are "harmless, benign, legal, even beneficial" and so therefore "no one should have any shame about it."
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