Yes Or No? - X-Rated Movies
Have a Good Side
By Scott McQuarrie
Libertarian arguments in favor of the free dissemination of sexually explicit materials - "adult entertainment" to fans, "pornography" to detractors - are usually constitutional, political or moral. In the realm of "rights," many would say there's a First Amendment right to gawk at centerfolds, first of all; secondly, legislatures have no right to pass laws invading one's privacy; and finally, no one is supposed to be imposing their moral values on anyone else in the land of the free and the home of the brave.
Supporters of adult entertainment are missing a very cogent and compelling argument, however. It's not a new idea, but its acceptance may have been delayed by the sheer audacity of it. But as the facts and figures have continued to accumulate over the years, the economic and practical argument in favor of porn is starting to find expression. Simply put, adult entertainment is a positive social good, this line of thinking goes.
How can that be? Who would possibly argue that except some depraved pervert?
Well, Peter Johnson, who graduated magna cum laude from Harvard and summa cum laude from New York Law School, for one:
"Throughout the history of new media, from vernacular speech to movable type, to photography, to paperback books, to videotape, to cable and pay-TV, to "900" phone lines, to the French Minitel, to the Internet, to CD-ROMs and laser discs, pornography has shown technology the way.
"Pornography, far from being an evil that the First Amendment must endure, is a positive good that encourages experimentation with new media. The First Amendment thus has not only intellectual, moral, political, and artistic value, but practical and economic value as well. It urges consenting adults, uninhibited by censorship, to look for novel ways to use the new media and novel ways to make money out of the new uses."
Johnson wrote that ten years ago, in the November 1996 issue of the "Federal Communications Law Journal." It has spread slowly but steadily through the nooks and crannies of the Internet to the point, now, that It is quoted and cited and referred to by reformers, enlightened politicians (there are a few), futurists, technology mavens, sociologists and even venture capitalists.
Porn is good for business, good for technology and good for national competitiveness in the "globalized" future. America, get this straight (or you can get it gay): sex doesn't only sell, it's good for you. If you don't agree, don't watch.
That's the argument, anyway. I'd love to hear what people think of it, as long as their knees are not jerking automatically and they really do put some thought into it.
Skip the clichés, forget the simple bumpersticker slogans and give it the thought it deserves. It really is a free speech issue, so the government's censorship actions, if you believe they are warranted, must still be narrowly focused and have compelling justification.
Porn is good for progress: Yes or no?
Have a Good Side
By Scott McQuarrie
Libertarian arguments in favor of the free dissemination of sexually explicit materials - "adult entertainment" to fans, "pornography" to detractors - are usually constitutional, political or moral. In the realm of "rights," many would say there's a First Amendment right to gawk at centerfolds, first of all; secondly, legislatures have no right to pass laws invading one's privacy; and finally, no one is supposed to be imposing their moral values on anyone else in the land of the free and the home of the brave.
Supporters of adult entertainment are missing a very cogent and compelling argument, however. It's not a new idea, but its acceptance may have been delayed by the sheer audacity of it. But as the facts and figures have continued to accumulate over the years, the economic and practical argument in favor of porn is starting to find expression. Simply put, adult entertainment is a positive social good, this line of thinking goes.
How can that be? Who would possibly argue that except some depraved pervert?
Well, Peter Johnson, who graduated magna cum laude from Harvard and summa cum laude from New York Law School, for one:
"Throughout the history of new media, from vernacular speech to movable type, to photography, to paperback books, to videotape, to cable and pay-TV, to "900" phone lines, to the French Minitel, to the Internet, to CD-ROMs and laser discs, pornography has shown technology the way.
"Pornography, far from being an evil that the First Amendment must endure, is a positive good that encourages experimentation with new media. The First Amendment thus has not only intellectual, moral, political, and artistic value, but practical and economic value as well. It urges consenting adults, uninhibited by censorship, to look for novel ways to use the new media and novel ways to make money out of the new uses."
Johnson wrote that ten years ago, in the November 1996 issue of the "Federal Communications Law Journal." It has spread slowly but steadily through the nooks and crannies of the Internet to the point, now, that It is quoted and cited and referred to by reformers, enlightened politicians (there are a few), futurists, technology mavens, sociologists and even venture capitalists.
Porn is good for business, good for technology and good for national competitiveness in the "globalized" future. America, get this straight (or you can get it gay): sex doesn't only sell, it's good for you. If you don't agree, don't watch.
That's the argument, anyway. I'd love to hear what people think of it, as long as their knees are not jerking automatically and they really do put some thought into it.
Skip the clichés, forget the simple bumpersticker slogans and give it the thought it deserves. It really is a free speech issue, so the government's censorship actions, if you believe they are warranted, must still be narrowly focused and have compelling justification.
Porn is good for progress: Yes or no?
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