"Well, maybe the fact that even though, your example, porn is illegal (now and has been for a very long time) in some places it is still available there now. Simply making something illegal doesn't make it disapear."
Of course it doesn't. I never implied that it would. Nothing disappears if you make it illegal, it merely criminalizes the act and forces it underground. However, if you had paid attention to what I said, I neither condoned or condemned laws against pornography.
"So yes I'm suprised. Laws against porn are IMHO just as idiotic as laws against (the practicing of) homosexuality."
I understand that you feel the stated laws are "idiodic", but generally laws in most countries are enacted based on either an established set of morals reflected by the majority of the population, or in interest of public safety. The greater influence a particular industry has on a society, you can expect regulation to ensue. Here in the states I see discussion on this particular subject almost daily in the political arena. So, if you are actually surprised by the fact that legislation is being proposed on pornography, welcome to the real world. And expect to see more and more.
"There are people who believe that making stuff like prostitution and narcotics legal, will actually improve conditions for both the "producers" and "consumers"."
I take it that you're one of those people. I guess you didn't take the time to read my source, so here are a few excerpts...
What is federal law on pornography? The only explicit, hard-core sexual material that is absolutely illegal by law in the U.S. today is child pornography -- all other material must be put before a jury.
Like the porn industry itself, it becomes less glamorous the closer you get. If you take away the accountants and CEOs, you're left with a small insular world, filled with renegades and outcasts, who like to flaunt society's rules.
One film, called "Forced Entry," includes shots of women getting raped and murdered. It also includes suffocation, strangulation, beatings and urination. Black calls "Forced Entry" a slasher film with sex, loosely based on the Hillside Strangler case. But 60 Minutes couldn't find enough plot to show anything beyond the opening credits.
Most girls who enter this industry do one video and quit. The experience is so painful, horrifying, embarrassing, humiliating for them that they never do it again
Now, anti-porn groups say hundreds of thousands of men have become addicted to it, leading to anti-social behavior, and causing divorce and family breakups.
Pornography is legal here in the good 'ol US. Doesn't sound to me like it's "improved" conditions for the producers or the consumers.
I know this will be an unpopular comment, but maybe it will strike a cord with some of you. While I value and esteem the internet as one of the last bastions of total freedom, the so called "Wild West" of our day, the fact is that with freedom, comes responsibility. Estimates value the porn industry at 10 Billion in the United States alone. The number may vary somewhat depending on which source you use, but what this says to me is that this is a major problem, not only here in the United States, but world wide. Pornography is a scourge on any society. It cheapens the value of women (and men), destroys relationships, exploits children, and feeds our ever growing appetite for the more and more bizarre. In some areas of the world, and I know this may come as a shock to some of you, people are traded as commodities in the sex trade, all so satisfy the lusts of the the "needs" of our ever growing appetite.
Then we bitch and complain about the loss of our freedoms, and the government coming in to restrict our freedom of speech, when we haven't shown the ability to police ourselves. Who can blame them. Cute jokes aside, any person willing to look past the attractive face of pornography can see the devastating effect this has on a society.
Whether you agree or disagree, why would you be surprised at the actions of Norway? I look at the statistics above, and I see a problem. Expect to see more and more of this.
Am I the only one who thinks these guys are total idiots for pulling a stunt like that??? We live in a time where our cities present a big red bulls-eye for some psychos who have sworn to commit themselves to the destruction of the United States. You don't go through airport security and say "careful with that, it's explosive" when the handler inspects your carry-on. Security doesn't have a sense of humor about things like that, and they shouldn't. Just leave the public conveyances like bridges and tunnels off the list of "cool" places to place advertising gimmicks, then there wont be a problem. These guys should have known better.
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Of course it doesn't. I never implied that it would. Nothing disappears if you make it illegal, it merely criminalizes the act and forces it underground. However, if you had paid attention to what I said, I neither condoned or condemned laws against pornography.
"So yes I'm suprised. Laws against porn are IMHO just as idiotic as laws against (the practicing of) homosexuality."
I understand that you feel the stated laws are "idiodic", but generally laws in most countries are enacted based on either an established set of morals reflected by the majority of the population, or in interest of public safety. The greater influence a particular industry has on a society, you can expect regulation to ensue. Here in the states I see discussion on this particular subject almost daily in the political arena. So, if you are actually surprised by the fact that legislation is being proposed on pornography, welcome to the real world. And expect to see more and more.
"There are people who believe that making stuff like prostitution and narcotics legal, will actually improve conditions for both the "producers" and "consumers"."
I take it that you're one of those people. I guess you didn't take the time to read my source, so here are a few excerpts... Pornography is legal here in the good 'ol US. Doesn't sound to me like it's "improved" conditions for the producers or the consumers.
I know this will be an unpopular comment, but maybe it will strike a cord with some of you. While I value and esteem the internet as one of the last bastions of total freedom, the so called "Wild West" of our day, the fact is that with freedom, comes responsibility. Estimates value the porn industry at 10 Billion in the United States alone. The number may vary somewhat depending on which source you use, but what this says to me is that this is a major problem, not only here in the United States, but world wide. Pornography is a scourge on any society. It cheapens the value of women (and men), destroys relationships, exploits children, and feeds our ever growing appetite for the more and more bizarre. In some areas of the world, and I know this may come as a shock to some of you, people are traded as commodities in the sex trade, all so satisfy the lusts of the the "needs" of our ever growing appetite.
Then we bitch and complain about the loss of our freedoms, and the government coming in to restrict our freedom of speech, when we haven't shown the ability to police ourselves. Who can blame them. Cute jokes aside, any person willing to look past the attractive face of pornography can see the devastating effect this has on a society.
Whether you agree or disagree, why would you be surprised at the actions of Norway? I look at the statistics above, and I see a problem. Expect to see more and more of this.
Am I the only one who thinks these guys are total idiots for pulling a stunt like that??? We live in a time where our cities present a big red bulls-eye for some psychos who have sworn to commit themselves to the destruction of the United States. You don't go through airport security and say "careful with that, it's explosive" when the handler inspects your carry-on. Security doesn't have a sense of humor about things like that, and they shouldn't. Just leave the public conveyances like bridges and tunnels off the list of "cool" places to place advertising gimmicks, then there wont be a problem. These guys should have known better.