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[–]DistantGlimmer 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (3 children)

We already censor porn though. We don't allow actual child porn or really vile abusive porn to be shown in wide release movies even if there would probably be sadly enough of a market to make those films profitable. I don't even care if I kind of line up with conservatives on this one issue. The pornification of society is doing real damage which is more important to me than free speech absolutism. We need to bring back much stricter obscenity laws.

[–]worried19[S] 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (2 children)

Well, sure, but that's porn. And pretty much the only illegal ones left are child porn and bestiality.

As far as actual movies go, there's not real censorship, just the MPAA. It's voluntary, but they give ratings, and if you don't have an acceptable rating, then you don't get shown in movie theaters. But your movie can be released on other platforms. I don't want to return to the days of government censorship of movies and books. Would you be in favor of banning romance novels? They have a lot of rape and abuse and other terrible content.

[–]DistantGlimmer 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

Yeah, to be fair I haven't seen 50 Shades (and no interest at all in seeing it) so I don't know if it would qualify as obscene by a legal standard. but I'm mainly just arguing in the abstract here. I think we are allowed to have standards and tighten or loosen those standards and while people have a right to produce consensual pornography and claim it is art they don't have a right to a massive audience or a profit from it. In the 70s there was a feminist activist movement to limit or ban porn which unfortunately did not succeed and things are so much worse now. I think it is a legitimate area for activism

[–]worried19[S] 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

I think it's a legitimate area for activism, but I'd limit it strictly to actual pornography, not movies, television, or books. We could perhaps be successful in exerting enough pressure for violent porn to be made illegal again, the way it used to be.