Posted on 04/26/2011 1:16:40 PM PDT by pinochet
I recently had a conversation with a missionary who has worked in the Middle East and South Asia. He told me that most Middle Easterners who get internet access, usually get to learn about America's huge internet pornography industry.
He says that the porn industry causes many foreigners to have contempt for America, as a nation of moral degenerates. This greatly harms attempts by American missionaries to get converts. It also harms US foreign policy, because their image of American culture, is that of gay sex pictures, bestiality pictures, and other peversions.
I do not favor completely outlawing pornography. But I believe that all internet websites should be blocked off, with access being made possible only to adults who have credit cards. What do you think of the idea?
“I do not favor completely outlawing pornography.”
Why?
“I think we should get naked and screw.”
Ding ding ding! We have a winner! Quote of the day!
I say keep the porn and get rid of reality TV.
And if prostitution is illegal, as I think it should be, than how can filming people being paid for sex acts be legal, rather than evidence of crime?
You have a well-reasoned argument there.
The sex industry debases both the workers and the users.
Thanks. The old argument was that it didn't just debase those directly involved, but indirectly affected society. And I think there could be studies done to demonstrate this, if they haven't already been. Some of a libertarian bent, or libertine in this case, would I think argue against this or ignore the findings. Others on this thread and elsewhere say that children and adults being exposed to it desensitizes, but I think they're saying that as a good thing, rather than the bad thing I think it is, and which I think led to the proliferation of more and more extreme pornography.
What was that Cole Porter song's lyrics, Anything Goes? When seeing someone's stockings was shocking, anything beyond that risked a heart attack and was consequently extremely arousing. How is it today when far more is available to be seen before even reaching the outrageous or shocking? I think America as a nation would be wise to have a mature conversation about this.
I tend to think that most places where Porn doesn’t have the taste of “forbidden fruit”, the vast majority of people, like me, just find porn, frankly, boring.
I hate porn, too.
Al-Qaeda has used porn sites to send messages to one another. All in the course of doing Allah’s work, doncha know.
TV and movies are almost all trash — the products of the venial minds that create it. A good place to direct our prayers.
I think it would cost a huge amount of money to develop and and deploy technology to do this. It would ultimately fail to accomplish the objective, but would give the government the same kind of control and monitoring capability over the average citizen as that enjoyed by the Chinese government, and the likelihood of it being abused is about 100%.
Pornography is a deviation from normal, healthy, human sexuality. Men and women were made for each other. Porn isolates people and twists their minds. Nothing good comes of it.
“Pornography is a deviation from normal, healthy, human sexuality. Men and women were made for each other. Porn isolates people and twists their minds. Nothing good comes of it.”
I basically agree with every word you wrote. Panda pornography is produced - I mean, of pandas, for pandas, because of isolation, difficulty relating to other pandas, difficulty accepting the artificial environments of the zoos they find themselves in. It has worked. More important though is the question why it’s needed, as you’ve pointed out.
The "industry" is largely on the wane. It's been overtaken by do-it-yourself sites, the YouTubes of that genre.
More likely, the export of mainstream entertainment has harmed America's image in the world.
Your point about sellers of porn magazines already applies to the US-based commercial sites on the internet.
It's evident what you really want is to regulate free speech on the Internet. Parents have tools to regulate what their children have access to online. It doesn't mean their children won't be exposed to things when outside of their direct supervision but that's always been so.
Choking the chicken versus cutting peoples heads off. It’s enough to drive a muzzie crazy. Oh wait...
Wow, you figured out a 91 year old woman isn’t a babe. Aren’t you clever.
>>> Does America’s Internet Pornography Industry Hurt America’s Image in Foreign Countries?
Misguided question. America’s porn industry to a substantial degree has moved to Mexico. Ross Perot foresaw this threat to the US economy, when he warned that NAFTA will cause a giant sucking sound as jobs go south.
“Nobody can define what porn is,” nobody except Hugh Hefner, Larry Flynt, Bob Guccione, Max Hardcore, Al Goldstein, Steven Hirsch, Jenna Jameson, Tera Patrick, adult bookstore owners, adult internet providers, and all of the above’s respective audiences. Most sensible people can define porn, except for the nine individuals on the Supreme Court.
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