Posted on 09/16/2004 1:08:49 PM PDT by Tailgunner Joe
"If we accept ... the well nigh universal belief that good books, plays and art lift the spirit, improve the mind, enrich the human personality, and develop character, can we then say that a state legislature may not act on the corollary assumption that commerce in obscene books, or public exhibitions focused on obscene conduct, have a tendency to exert a corrupting and debasing impact leading to anti-social behavior? 'Many of these effects may be intangible and indistinct, but they are nonetheless real.'"
Well stated. The effect of pornography on the will cannot be measured scientifically since the human will cannot be measured. The idea that the effect of pornography on the will can be measured is a category error since the will is an aspect of the soul, which is a spiritual substance.
Its corrosive effects on marriage, at least, are well known. Ask your priest or minister.
The last study I read noted that some people with this porn addiction want the government to step in and control it because of their inability to control their own obsession. It went on to conclude that they occasionally even pen long diatribes to convince others to get behind their holy crusade.
If Hillary were stacked like that, America may never have heard the name Lewinski.
I wasn't arguing it was a good thing or that it didn't have negative influences. I just don't think the connection between crime and pornography has been established.
Good point, I agree, as do both doctors in my family.
"Contraband" is illegal by definition. You can be arrested for possessing obscene materials.
Dr. Pepper... it's the "too much sugar" defense.
So why don't the police post themselves outside of adult bookstores? Nay, why don't the police shut down said bookstores?
Because it's legal. You may not like it, my FRiend, and you may wish and pray that it were otherwise, but the fact remains that possession of most forms of pornography is completely and perfectly legal in this country, assuming no other crime has been committed.
The bottom line is that most "soft porn" is not considered obscene because it is thought to have some aesthetic value. In the early days of the pornographic film industry they had to have storylines along with sex because if the films had no "aesthetic value" then the participants could be arrested for prostitution. These days they don't even bother with having plots anymore because the populace has been so desensitized that they now accept hardcore pornography as "mainstream" and "normal."
The truth is that anyone making an adult movie deemed to be obscene can be arrested for prostitution. Those who consume the pornographic product are not only accessories to the crime, but are the very beneficiary for which the crime was committed.
"Obscene materials are not constitutionally protected "speech." If the police have reason to suspect you possess such contraband, then they can bust your door down"
The outright glee with which TJ and people who think like him advocate "busting down doors"...over something as silly as "dirty pictures"...is, to say the least, troubling given that we are supposed to be a FREE society. The rhetorical and intellectual gymnastics they must perform to claim that private activities harm other people to the extent that the law must proscribe them is, however, funny.
I pay an inordinate amount of attention to the underwear ads in the Sunday paper. Does this mean I'm going to hell?
Makes you wonder just why some people find the idea of erotic images of attractive people havbing sex so loathesome, so as to require a government-sponsored fist to strike it down.
I have a simple solution that does not require government intervention and will cost the taxpayers nothing: If you don't like porn, don't buy it. If you think what is on television these days is garbage, don't watch it. If you think current movies are dreck, don't go to the cinema.
Problem solved.
Champions of Conservatism don't agree with their anarchist definition of freedom and are acting to protect their families and neighborhoods from the Perversion Profiteers and their anti-Christian Democrat allies.
I can take care of myself and my family quite well, thank you very much. I don't need you or the government to serve as a babysitter.
Generally speaking, yes.
Isn't that how we got abortion?
No, abortion is not victimless, as you very well know. If you can't see the difference between seomebody watching a porn video in their home and somebody aborting a child, you really are not capable of having a reasoned discussion.
I'm making it my business.
Sort of like how liberals want government to be involved in everyone's business as much as possible?
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