Porn is the symptom, but it is also a vector. Our culture has so degraded sex that it is now 'just' a commodity to be bought or sold. Prostitution is viewed by many to be a 'victimless' crime and so is porn (almost always the byproduct of sex for sale btw). That culture crafts a demand for sex and since sex outside of a loving married life is rapidly unsatisfying for many, the need more and more stimulus and that leads to the explosion of perversity going on around you.
Go to www.myspace.com and ogle your neighbors girl children. Or keep denying that there is a problem.
I'm with you on this. I've seen a little bit of porn, and a small sampling on the web; my cousin introduced it to me as a child. Being a female, I thought it was primarily a guy thing, but some females get off on it, I think. It is a big turnoff to me, what I have seen.
I think it is a very serious problem; it becomes like a gambling addiction for so many, and the stakes are so much higher.
It isn't going to be outlawed and will probably get worse, much worse. We all need to be concerned about our children and especially the adult males in our families who could fall victim to it.
People should not need porn to get turned on. It is sick and expoloits, some are all too willing to be exploited because of the money.
Furthermore, I think regular interest in porn does something damaging to the psyche that affects the person adversely in their relationships. You get hooked on it and need more and more and sicker and sicker in order to keep getting stimulated.
Historically there has always been porn, but not the wide access to it there is now. I'll be glad when this phase of "enlightenment" is over, but I won't live to see it if it ever comes.
Sex inside a loving married life is rapidly unsatisfying for many, too. That's why there's porn.
-ccm
(NB I do not include myself in this category.)