(This is a series of posts giving arguments against anti-porn groups)
I will argue with one anti-porn activist who unfortunately isn’t among us anymore. I will not name her. My argument is against her concept, without intention to insult her family.
She has many followers even today, so this argument is directed at them instead. Let’s see some quotes:
1. “Concerned parents all over the country are sounding the alarm that they can no longer protect their children, in this high-tech era, from the pornography industry.”
There it is! Right to the point, abolition for lazy parents and creating a need for anti-porn groups. While it’s clear we need to protect our children from porn, it’s also clear that parents need to do that. No government agency or civic group will do that instead. They’ll just take your money and do nothing for children. Except maybe theirs.
2. “Pornographic material that is “obscene” (sometimes called “hardcore”) is illegal on the federal level and in over forty states. The U.S. Supreme Court has said that to be “obscene,” a video, magazine, performance or other “work” must meet the following three criteria: 1) the average person, applying contemporary community standards, must find that the work, taken as a whole, appeals to the prurient interest; 2) the work must depict or describe sexual conduct in a patently offensive way; and 3) the work, taken as a whole, must lack serious literary, artistic, political and scientific value.”
This is the single most Stalinist law I’ve seen in my life. This law is dangerous. Main question is - who determines what is “patently offensive”? Don’t worry, anti-porn group explains it all:
3. “That is why it is essential for you, and for any church, synagogue or civic group to which you belong, to register complaints with your district attorney (called county prosecutors or state’s attorneys in some states) and ask him or her to investigate any hardcore pornographic outlets for possible violation of the state obscenity law.”
What frightens me the most is that this law only counts if someone complains. If you write a favourable letter about porn to your district attorney he will not care less. If you and hundreds of others write that the Bible describes sexual conduct in a patently offensive way, he will hot care less.
The same problem occurs whenever someone tries to make a law out of morality code.
4. “The enforcement of the obscenity laws, however, is not censorship since the government is not exercising any prior restraint. Obscenity laws are enforced after publication, not before.”
From the same people who try to “make things right” you get this legal disclaimer. It doesn’t matter when you force people to shut up because you don’t like what they’re saying.
5. “Concerned citizens who are insisting that the constitutional obscenity laws be enforced… are not engaging in censorship. They are exercising their precious First Amendment rights to free speech, their rights to ward off assaults on their families,…”
This is borderline ridiculous and typical rhetorical trap. To make their weak point stronger they make it look like “right to ward off assaults on their families” is included in First Amendment. Coincidentally, the First Amendment is something all porn peddlers depend on. By taking porn industry life-line for themselves, this group tries to give a final blow. They fail miserably.
And then, a tirade of false arguments follow:
6. “Our phones ring daily with stories of pornography’s victims… It is not uncommon to receive a distressed phone call… We get letters from prisoners, pouring out their hearts about how pornography triggered their sexual crimes and actually served as a blueprint for brutality…”
This is really good stuff. After creating a theoretical base, they are proving their point in practice. The only problem is that all this is based on their word. They received phone calls… big deal. Porn peddlers get more feedback from their customers asking for more then they ever will. Does that make porn more acceptable? Of course it is not!
And finally, some honest stuff:
7. “We also get many calls from people coast to coast who seek advice on how to cope with the emerging, so-called “adult” video stores and bookstores, destroying the quality of life in their communities, spitting in the face of family values and attempting to make a mockery of the Judeo-Christian code which has served as a cornerstone of Western civilization.”
Ok, we finally get to the point here. This group is Christian fundamentalist mob. They make me sick. All this universal values crap and then – they dismiss five billion people in one sentence. Imagine what they would do to those Danish cartoon makers?
Way to go. Who needs friends with this kind of opponents?
Read more of “Anti-Anti-Pornography” series:
Part I
Part II
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