Should graphic pornography be banned?

[Charlemagne_III]

From the* Oxford Companion to the Supreme Court*:

“In the seminal 1942 case of Chaplinsky v. New Hampshire, the Supreme Court established the rationale that distinguishes protected and unprotected speech. Obscenity and lewdness, libel, and fighting words are not protected speech by the First Amendment because ‘such expressions are no essential part of any expression of ideas, and are of such slight social value as a step to truth that any benefit that may be derived from them is clearly outweighed by the social interest in order and morality.’”

Now that Supreme Court had it right!

 

[edwest2]

Pornography is art… Dosnt make it morally okay. What defines all art at morally permissible?

Pornography is the degradation of an intimate act which should always remain private.

Peace,
Ed

 

[edwest2]

Ed, I respectfully disagree though I encourage your resistance. Art that cannot be deciphered often radically polarizes people (and puts the artist is a bona fide “jam”). But that truism is with reference to art. Porn is neither art nor indecipherable. It meets none of the criteria of art. It is plainly done for money and is more akin to a documentary on the corruption of souls. Watching porn is no different in that regard than stealing a loaf of bread.

With all due respect, stealing food does not equal watching porn.

Peace,
Ed

 

[Aloysium]

How about likening porn to smoking cigarettes.
I am sure people who look at porn think they could not do without it.
I quit smoking 35 years ago because I could not deny it was bad for the health.
I told my son that when I was in grade school, we made asbestos ashtrays for arts and crafts.
“That defines the fifties”, was his reply.
Hopefully we will see the day when porn is controlled in the same way as those physically toxic substances.

 

[Aloysium]

Sorry, an aside:
speaking about asbestos,
I remember playing with a large bag of it that I had bought to make little sculptures, vases and, of course, ashtrays for my dad. (The joys of second hand smoke on long drives in the country.)
Anyway, I remember it being so fluffy; it would float, feathery like.
So, I tossed a bunch of it up in the air. As it went flying all over, thought, “Shut your mouth! Don’t breathe!” I think it was my guardian angel, not knowing better myself.
I haven’t contracted a mesothelioma, so I think I survived that.
Thought I’d share.

Back on topic: people are unaware of the danger some things pose, in this case, porn.

 

[Michael19682]

With all due respect, stealing food does not equal watching porn.

Peace,
Ed

Would you accept then as equivalent the teaching of children to steal bread? A real like Oliver Twist scenario?

 

[ThinkingSapien]

How about likening porn to smoking cigarettes.I am sure people who look at porn think they could not do without it.

I had actually been thinking of certain foods that can raise some ones chance of developing certain conditions or diseases. Ex:the artificial sweetener that was shown to cause cancer in lab mice, certain fatty foods which raise some ones chances of cancer and so on. As attributed to some long dead philosipher, “the heart wants what it wants, even that which is worst for it.”

I get the feeling that people find probabilistic arguments on the aggregate impact of actions to be less tangible or see themselves as having little impact on the issue.