[PLUG-TALK] Porn on the Net...

David Mandel dmandel at davidmandel.com
Fri Oct 30 05:12:33 UTC 2009


I have read this thread and would like to add my comments.

(1)  The problem Michael brings up is much more general than just pornography.
        The internet is quickly becoming a necessity as governments
and corporations
         disseminate information via the internet and require us to
use it to interact with
         them via the internet.    It is much easier to unplug the TV
and radio than the internet.
         The internet is just too important to unplug, but it could
become too ugly to let into
         our homes.
         Unfortunately, much of the material on the internet may not
fit one's cultural values
         and the values you want to give to your family.  And I don't
mean just pornography.
         Some people find the internet too "American"  or crude or too
western or too whatever -
         and I see their point.  I suppose, those who fear American
cultural imperialism
         see the internet as a key weapon in "the Americanization of the World"

(2)  The internet is international.
       Bits travel over international boundaries quickly and easily.
       The social mores of one country or culture don't mean much on
the internet.
       You can find the complete text of the Bible on the internet
even though the Bible
        is a banned book in a number of countries.
        You can find the swastika on the internet being used in ways the seem
        to violate the laws of several countries such as Germany.
        You can certainly find information about people that violate
the libel laws
        in UK.
        You can find the web sites for banned political parties on the internet.
        Some of the "bad" things you can find are very good and some
are very bad,
        and I don't know who can fairly judge the difference - and not
being willing
        to judge the difference is itself a very AMERICAN attitude and somewhat
        unfair to the world.

(3)  The internet is international.
        Any one country's (or state's) laws are useless in controlling
the content
        of the internet since the banned content will simple be hosted
in another
        country.

(4)  Women view pornography differently than men.
        Everyone writing on this thread are male, and this biases the
discussion.
         Many women are very uncomfortable around pornography and sometimes
         have a more inclusive definition of pornography than your average man.
         Many women feel as if they are being harassed when pornography is
         too close and when they might accidentally run into it.  It
is really quite
         a different view than most men have.

(5)  Porn and prostitution can be abusive.
       I don't think prostitution or pornography are always abusive, but I think
       they can be very abusive.  Although I don't have much personal experience
       with prostitution, I have seen a few very abusive situations in Asia and
       I know they happen elsewhere as well.

(6)  Legalize prostitution
       I think communities have the right to make their own laws
regarding pornography
       and prostitution and a lot of other things. And I don't really
care what other
       communities do, but in my community I recommend legalizing pornography
       and prostitution and alcohol and marijuana and a lot of other
stuff as well;
       and I don't see any conflict between these views and my Catholic faith.
       At the same time, I think we do need to do whatever we can to stop
       abuse in pornography and prostitution and to keep it behind closed doors.

(7) Islam
      There are Sunni Muslims and there are Shiite Muslims; but that doesn't
       begin to describe the complexity and variation within Islam.
It is a little
       trying to describe Christianity by looking at "the Catholics"
and "the Protestants"
       and nothing more.

(8)  History as taught in school is full of errors.
       History is a weird field subject to lots of interpretation and
subjective judgment.
       It is amazing how history exaggerates the goodness of it's
heroes and the evilness
       of it's villains when the truth is probably more complex.
       Today we are taught how evil the crusades were, and indeed Europeans did
        a lot of terrible things during the crusades.  However, we
don't seem to be
        taught that Christian Europe had good reason to feel
threatened.  I'm not
        trying to justify the evils of the crusades, but I am saying
that there is
        usually some logic and reason on both sides of most conflicts
- even when
        the resulting war is totally immoral and implemented in the
most unreasonable
        manner.

(9)  I was orginally addressing the problem of having an internet
filled with so much
       truly objectional material.  Although I find many things on the
internet objectionable,
       I have absolutely no workable solution to the problem.
Certainly, government
       regulation wouldn't help the situation.  Sometimes we must
learn to live with
       evil.

David Mandel



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