The Case Against Porn, Part 1

Some Introductory Concepts

Introduction

Let me begin this series on a note of hope and consolation. If anyone reading this is currently addicted to viewing porn, you have my sympathy. Forgiveness is an essential ingredient in stopping any addiction, and though some of the material in this series will be shocking—for, indeed, we will see that the porn industry is one of the greatest sources of evil in our world—the fact remains that most people today grew up with the internet, and have viewed porn at some point or another. The current environment all but guarantees a wide percentage of the population will develop porn addictions.

“Porn blindness” is a real thing—you don’t want to end up like the guy in the headline above (literally or metaphorically)!

It desensitizes people to the point where they can’t be truly intimate with others—which amounts to a catastrophic loss of one of the most vitally important parts of life as a human being. Like with alcoholism, people exist on a spectrum of susceptibility to porn addiction. Some people reading this might be thinking, “hey I watch a little porn from time to time and it doesn’t seem to affect me that much”. To which I say, “lucky you”.

The loss of the ability to be intimate with others can lead to nothing other than nihilism and a particularly destructive form of blindness. As anyone who’s ever truly experienced the difference between “casual sex” and real love can attest, nothing compares to the life-changing—and life-affirming—effects of the latter. These two things aren’t even remotely the same act. The commodification of intimacy itself has the tendency of blurring the distinction.

Ideally, children ought to be raised in an intact family with their biological mother and father, and the more we lose sight of the value of REAL intimacy as a society, the harder it will be for men and women to stick together and provide the next generation with the best possible foot forward in life.

The purpose of this series is to demonstrate that any purported “benefit” to the widespread proliferation of pornography can’t make up for the numerous and disastrous downsides that come with it. (Indeed, I don’t believe there’s any benefit, however I will try to present “both” sides of the argument in order to be fair).

Why Ban It? Do We Really Need to Go that Far?

Let me ask you something: would you be okay with the proposal that we put a heroin dealer in every home, who’s available 24/7, and who can provide an infinite supply of every type of heroin imaginable for free at the click of a button? Yes, porn is a very powerful drug and needs to be seen as such.

“Let people make their own choices” I hear some of you say. “If people want to sell their body and if other people want to view that material, then let them do it!” Well, you see, it doesn’t just harm the makers and viewers alone—there is a mentality that accompanies the normalization of pornography that has a way of seeping into the “mass consciousness” of a given society. The slippery slope is very real.

To summarize it as succinctly as possible: widespread porn use erodes people’s ability to recognize sex as a meaningful, intimate (and, many would say, sacred) act. This degrades culture as a whole. (The book, Sex and Culture by J.D. Unwin backs this up using sociological data gathered from dozens and dozens of societies.)

Furthermore, is the hyper-libertarian viewpoint that we should just let people poison themselves ad infinitum truly a compassionate perspective? I hate to break it to y’all, but there are many people out there who don’t have sufficient self-control to avoid being ruined by the easy availability of porn (or other drugs, for that matter). Some people need guardrails to keep them safe. It’s not politically correct to say so, but it’s true. I don’t see the availability of porn as a “free speech” issue—no, it’s a matter of public health.

And speaking of “free speech”…

One mans unlicensed “freedom” to do whatever he wants will inevitably become another man’s tyranny. Is it “free speech” to go around flashing people on subways? No… Ergo, we can see that it’s perfectly okay to identify behaviors that harm everyone and then prohibit them. Even the most diehard libertarians can’t disagree that there are some actions that constitute real harm being done to others. To flood public spaces (the internet, etc) with pornographic imagery—especially where it is well within reach of children—is a form of sexual assault.

The highest possible form of freedom that can exist in this reality is the freedom to secure you survival, build your family and community, and develop your talents without undue hinderance. The idea that “freedom” means no limitations on behavior whatsoever is a psychopathic ruse (I’m not kidding, psychopaths reliably view common morality as “oppressive” because it prevents them from preying on others without restriction. See Political Ponerology, for more on this phenomenon).

Porn Sickness and Hypnosis

In A Primer on Hypnosis, we learned that the subconscious mind is highly receptive to things that it sees as relevant to it/you. Well guess what—few things are as relevant to your subconscious mind as matters pertaining to survival and mating, and anything that can spike your emotions or powerfully grab your attention can hypnotize you!

Associations are the bread-and-butter of the subconscious mind. Through repetitive hypnotic suggestion, associations can be created or dis-created. Considering all this, what do you think is being “associated” through repetitively viewing pornography? What happens when a person needs to view harder and harder forms of pornography in order to “get off”?

I’ll tell you what happens—people learn to become aroused by acts that would have previously disturbed them, which in turn creates a larger and larger market for increasingly depraved types of pornography. A vicious cycle is born. Scat porn, incest porn, child r%&e, bestiality, and other horrifying genres of porn become more widely produced—and this leads to more human trafficking and sexual slavery of the worst kinds.

Fake love can never truly lead to satisfaction, only real love can do that. Porn, by acting as a substitute for intimacy, merely gives the appearance of temporary “satisfaction”, but does not deliver—hence why porn use resembles any other kind of drug addiction where users need to chase harder and harder “hits” in order to pursue ever dwindling levels of satiation. Sure, not everyone will chase the dragon into the lowest depths… but many will.

A Horrifying Connection Worth Considering

If you were to add up the running time of the entire output of Hollywood—that is, every single movie produced—would it come anywhere close to the total running time of all the available porn out there? I don’t know the answer to that question, however we know for certain that someone is making gazillions of hours worth of porn every single year…

Where do the people come from who star in these films?

According to best estimates tens of millions of people go missing every year… Is there a connection between the absurd levels of missing persons and the voluminous output of the porn industry? I think so. We will explore this question in depth in this series.

Conclusions, For Now

Having read this brief introduction, I hope you can start to see why I’m so vehemently opposed to the porn industry. If I could wave a magic want and make it disappear forever then I’d do so in a heartbeat.

I want to reiterate at this point that I’m rooting for each and every one of you out there who may be currently dealing with porn addiction. Please begin the process of weening right now—I promise you, your entire life will improve. I’ve been there too. Forgive yourself if you relapse, but keep going. Sooner or later, you will be free.

In upcoming installments of this series we will discuss, among other things:

1. Does porn “feminize” men? (Spoiler: yes it absolutely does).

2. Does porn addiction cause brain damage? (I’ll let you take a wild guess…)

3. Does porn frequently lead erectile dysfunction? (Yup)

4. Does porn use reduce the visible sexual dimorphism of a given population? (Sexual dimorphism is the degree to which the sexes look distinct from one another… anyways, again the answer here is yes).

5. Would the porn industry exist in the first place if it weren’t for child abuse? (No)

6. Can porn destroy marriages? (You bet)

7. Can porn make you gay? (There have been more than a few cases)

8. Can we have a porn industry without incidentally increasing levels of worldwide human trafficking? (I doubt it…)

9. Is porn used as a weapon against the masses by psychopaths in positions of power? (Undoubtedly)

10. Are all forms of nudity and/or depictions of sexuality inherently pornographic? (Not necessarily… this will take some explanation)

I sincerely believe that few things would benefit mankind as much as the disappearance of the porn industry, and I hope that, by the time we’ve finished this series, I will have persuaded you of the same.