im going to go on reading the rest of this thread but ive only gotten half way through it so far and i am spitting!!! i swear if i could get my hands on john howard i would like to do him great personal damage. and i really object to violence.
i cant even speak. there are no words strong enough. the STUPIDITY of it!!! discrimination is wrong on every level and to make it worse by outright persecution is... grrrrrrr. but what really gets me is it doesnt even make sense! are they TRYING to make things worse???? and hes not the only person to do things like this nor is this the only area i know hes made ridiculous policy decisions in. (edited to explain that im talking about the Australian actions regarding the Aboriginal communities there)
ok im trying to breathe here.
and as far as porn is concerned... im very very confused on this issue no matter how much i think about it. the only things im clear on are that i see no problem with written porn that does not depict violence or domination/submission. i also think most if not all of the problem with the visual porn industry is that the way it is made and the people who are involved makes it fundamentally rotten and exploitative. (edited to add that i know there is some porn that is made without exploiting anyone e.g. lesbian porn made by lesbians for lesbians) i agree with what others have said about asking more closely whether the 'choice' made by women to become involved in it is actually a free choice.
however i, like alex_k, do not believe in the concept of 'evil' so i dont think porn or people who watch it are evil. and i dont think the risk of it possibly leading to the actualisation of impulses already contained within certain individuals warrants banning it or anything extreme like that. that strikes me as similar to banning cars because of the number of deaths through drunken driving and joy riding. there are other ways of working to prevent abuses committed by certain sick individuals.
ok i think im done. obsessive monologue ended. and i feel calmer for having written this out. i hope it doesnt offend anyone. if it does please dont hesitate to delete raynaadi or one of the mods.