Anti-porn bills in eight states would force the likes of Apple and Samsung to automatically censor nude and sexually explicit content

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

I agree but we can't completely ignore the issue of unlimited porn access by the youth.

We need to tread very carefully on this issue so that we don't end up crushing legitimate political speech as well. After all if I want to show the results of say, gender "affirmation" surgeries or the complications thereof through either pictures or text I prefer not to have to argue why such explicit descriptions don't qualify as "pornographic", I'd also rather not cede ground to the hyper religious prudes who consider a bad Harlequin dime novel to be XXX material that needs to be purged from society.

But I do think it's a problem when we have literal pre-teens just starting to go through puberty to be able to have unlimited free private access to extreme hardcore pornography of all types. I mean, I did when I was a kid, it wasn't healthy. But we didn't have smart phones back then and it still took some doing.

These days I think we do need to have a real discussion about how easy it is for kids to access porn and what we should do as a society to address that. And I do think that means we need to find some kind of restriction on it, but it's a complicated problem. We've got to find a balance between the extreme prudish censorsial types and the people on the other side who claim it's no issue publicly but then actively target kids via the internet.

Rule 34 is a great example of this. Some kid wants to search their favorite TV show or something, there is porn of it, and they'll find it, now much of that shit is basically horny teenagers doing what horny teenagers are going to do, but a lot of it is also made by adults to appeal to kids specifically. And it's well documented that pedophiles will use such materials to "desensitize" kids to the "wrestling" before they actually predate them .

The real question going forward is a tough one. We need a strong definition of pornography, and a smart way to limit it's access to children. I think the simplist solution now would be to simply ban children from using smartphones before they are 18. That won't totally fix the problem. And it will create new problems. But the entire issue is one I think where we do have to seriously consider action.

This is the sort of territory where we can't really get good scientific data on the scope of the problem. The research necessary to gain that knowledge would be unethical in practice, normies would shun it and cede the territory to predatory types and further exasperate the problem. See the John Money situation for a prime historical example.

[–]Vulptex 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (2 children)

Dude. Ban smartphones for everyone under 18? That's some communist-level authoritarianism. Stop listening to the media and thinking this culture battle is the only thing that matters in life. That's what they want, because they're planning to take over.

[–]Alienhunter 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

I think such heavy handed authoritarian solutions become inevitable when problem are ignored long term and allowed to progress. Putting an age limit on the actual physical device is about the only solution to this issue that doesn't stray into a 1st amendment free speech and censorship issue as it specifically keeps the government out of the business of policing the online content itself which is where most of the problematic elements lie.

Ideally this is something that should be dealt with on a social level itself and not require legal intervention but the nature of tech companies now is very corporate and there is loads of money tied into it so much like with Tobacco companies there's entrenched profit motives that will eventually through normal capitalistic processes progress towards amoral or immoral solutions towards expanding their market.

We make it illegal to sell tobacco to kids or to advertise tobacco to them. Sounds good. We do the same for porn. Neither product in a small amount is going to end up causing an adverse effect on the individual or society. The issue is that unlimited access to either feeds into addictions before the child is mature enough to be responsible for their own actions or even have the mental capacity to understand the nature of addictions and the will and life experience to deal with it so it doesn't become a problem.

You can't download cigarettes through your phone. In this case it's not so much porn in and of itself though that is an issue, it's that the porn is addictive and it's being fed through a device that is also addictive and designed by any number of profit driven corporations that don't care about social harm caused so long as short term quarterly gains are met.

We are at the precipice of a new era of authoritarianism. It's rather ironic with the two party split as both sides realize this to be an issue and a threat to society, but both consider the opposing side to be at fault.

In reality they are both correct.

The end of the day though is you have to do something about the issue and be smart about it. Because if you don't, eventually someone else will.

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

Taking such extreme measures because of some perceived "threat to society" is literally socialism. The "emergency powers" excuse is what first allows almost every corrupt regime and dictator to rise to power. I think deep down your instincts just want a reason to have such sweet power over others. UNLIMITED POOOOWWWWWAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Porn is not that bad, this is beyond ridiculous. It's a concern in the context of adultery or if that person is religious, not a literal poison that will cause all of civilization to crumble. Especially when you're going to set the age limit so high. I bet you also just hate technology and don't want kids to have it because you don't want them to have it. I guess your way of life is superior to everyone else's and you have the right to tell people what they should do and like.

Have you all lost your minds?! Am I the only one left who doesn't want a full-blown dictatorship with government monitoring and controlling every aspect of our lives? Who thinks everyone shouldn't have to be exactly like me or die? What is wrong with you all? What happened? Why did you all go off the rails? Please God help us.