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Pushing Religion

I think what it was referring to was 60% of men who viewed pornography regularly would rape or force a woman to do something she didn't want to do if they were sure they could do so with impunity.

To me the "do so with impunity" the "or" and that they regularly view pornography, is the thing that makes it high.

No, it said 6 out of 10 men period would commit rape if there were no legal consequences. No mention of the frequency of their porn viewership (though obviously some would be involved in their view), it's just the pervasiveness of porn in society in general. Given that pervasiveness, and the fact that the majority of men would commit rape if given the chance to get away with it apparently, you'd think that rape statistics would be through the roof instead of on the decline, wouldn't you? Odd.

I can see that optimism you were crowing about earlier shining through by the way. I mean, if you think the majority of men are potential rapists just being held back by the law, I can definitely see how you'd be a glass is half full type.
 
Uh, I just provided links to a lot of evidence that in the very least showed that pornography has harmful effects on marital and sexual relationships, to say nothing of abuse and crime. You just don't want to see that and recognize it because then you would have to change your behavior.

It is ok, because at the end of the day, nothing said on this board will ever make any difference in the world, one way or the other.
 
And by the way, the rest of my post on societal obligation on page 8 went un-bothered and un-responded to. So the only thing anyone here seems have a quibble about from that post is that pornography is linked to sexual crimes.

Well you fluffed it on that point - claiming links to sexual crimes, not properly defining those links and then tangenting off into potentially harmful but non criminal issues like porn addiction. Oh and any marriage that fell apart cos of porn was probably on shaky ground anyway.

And as for what we view influencing us: probably yeah. But there are lots of influences out there, and lots of people who are already unstable and dangerous. If we removed everything that could possibly help tip them over into doing something stupid, we'd be left with the disney channel.

As for people in society having some obligations to each other, I don't actually disagree? Kind of lost track as to how we got onto that point, forgive me. But we only restrict the rights of others with good reason... and there's no good reason to shut down porn. A few people overdoing the fapping isn't reason enough; we can't protect everyone from themselves without becoming unacceptably authoritarian.

One point raised:

Statistics show that children of single mothers are much more likely to involved with crime and a host of other delinquencies.

I think there's probably wider issues behind that. How many single mothers are from poor areas where there are already crime problems, unemployment, lack of opportunities etc? That's not to say of course that a father isn't generally a good thing to have.
 
I think what it was referring to was 60% of men who viewed pornography regularly would rape or force a woman to do something she didn't want to do if they were sure they could do so with impunity.

To me the "do so with impunity" the "or" and that they regularly view pornography, is the thing that makes it high.

No, it said 6 out of 10 men would commit rape if there were no legal consequences, period. No mention of the frequency of their porn viewership (though obviously some would be involved in their view), it's just the pervasiveness of porn in society in general. Given that pervasiveness, and the fact that the majority of men would commit rape if given the chance to get away with it apparently, you'd think that rape statistics would be through the roof instead of on the decline, wouldn't you? Odd.

I can see that optimism you were crowing about earlier shining through by the way. I mean, if you think the majority of men are potential rapists just being held back by the law, I can definitely see how you'd be a glass is half full type.

*sigh* I don't think 60% of men are a bad day away from committing rape. And the study was about pornography affects so I am pretty sure that the men that were included viewed pornography.

Just because I see a problem doesn't make me pessimistic any more than your ignoring a problem makes you an optimist.
 
And by the way, the rest of my post on societal obligation on page 8 went un-bothered and un-responded to. So the only thing anyone here seems have a quibble about from that post is that pornography is linked to sexual crimes.

Well you fluffed it on that point - claiming sexual links to crimes, not properly defining those links and then tangenting off into potentially harmful but non criminal issues like porn addiction. Oh and any marriage that fell apart cos of porn was probably on shaky ground anyway.

And as for what we view influencing us: probably yeah. But there are lots of influences out there, and lots of people who are already unstable and dangerous. If we removed everything that could possibly help tip them over into doing something stupid, we'd be left with the disney channel.

As for people in society having some obligations to each other, I don't actually disagree? Kind of lost track as to how we got onto that point, forgive me. But we only restrict the rights of others with good reason... and there's no good reason to shut down porn. A few people overdoing the fapping isn't reason enough; we can't protect everyone from themselves without becoming unacceptably authoritarian.

One point raised:

Statistics show that children of single mothers are much more likely to involved with crime and a host of other delinquencies.

I think there's probably wider issues behind that. How many single mothers are from poor areas where there are already crime problems, unemployment, lack of opportunities etc? That's not to say of course that a father isn't generally a good thing to have.

Well I don't want to get involved in the single mothers discussion, but of course there are many factors involved there.

I don't think legislation is always the answer to these problems. I mean, if you go to the extreme and say pornography is bad so you get the death penalty, I don't think that does any good. I am talking more on grounds of principle. Pornography is a bad influence, does damage lives, enhances already deviant behavior, studies and human experience prove it and yet all we do is say it is fine for adults, just don't expose it to children.

And I know no one will agree with me but the same goes for violence and language etc. You can only view so much of something before in begins to affect you and desensitize you and in the most extreme cases give you the desire to act out whatever you saw or heard at the expense of other people.

Should it be illegal to look at pornography, especially the hard core variety? I don't think so, but we should perhaps adopt or re-adopt the view that it is a thing to be avoided.
 
Uh, I just provided links to a lot of evidence that in the very least showed that pornography has harmful effects on marital and sexual relationships, to say nothing of abuse and crime.

Uh, no, I'm sorry, but I didn't see any scientific, peer reviewed studies to back anything up in any of your links. Having said that, I only skimmed through them, but then the onus of proof is on you, so if you want to convince anyone then you can do the hunting instead of dumping a bunch of links and running away.

About the WIRED article, I've read about pornography addiction and it is a real condition, but no different to videogaming addiction, internet addiction or any other kind of sensory dependence. Obsessive, excessive usage of anything for long enough is going to cause you problems.

Not to mention the fact that the main organisation you linked to is pushing a christian right agenda.

You just don't want to see that and recognize it because then you would have to change your behavior.

Excuse me? You know nothing about me or my "behaviour".
 
. Pornography is a bad influence, does damage lives, enhances already deviant behavior, studies and human experience prove it and yet all we do is say it is fine for adults, just don't expose it to children.

What exactly is deviant behaviour and why is it bad? I mean I know a few people into what I might call "deviant" stuff and they're perfectly sensible and well adjusted.

And you've not yet provided good evidence that it "damages lives" on a wide scale. People can become obssessed but they can become obsessed with lots of other things too.

To pull a random line from one of your quality conservative agenda sites:

"Layden also said that people who use pornography start to think sex is a form of recreation and that sex isn't about intimacy, love, or respect."

While I don't find casual sex appealing myself, there's no rule to say it's Bad and Wrong. I think you just have a fundamentally different concept to some people as to what sex is for.
 
Most of the links included info on books and studies that one would have to purchase to read. My parents have a few of these books, but I don't really live at home to look them up.

Besides what is wrong with using sites like focusonthefamily? They aren't legitimate?
If this were an environmental discussion would the sierra club and other activists be off limits?

No because generally money to do these studies come from people who care, have an hypothesis and will go see if it is right. In the links the names of doctors and professors of science, human behavior and psychology, etc are mentioned. I don't see how this isn't proof.

How did we get here anyway? This was on religion then it suddenly became about pornography. I never thought I would encounter people actively DEFENDING pornography...
 
I never thought I would encounter people actively DEFENDING pornography...

That says a lot, I think.

If this was an environmental discussion I'd ideally want to see press releases from major scientific bodies, and links to peer-reviewed journals.
 
eh typing to fast, it was in response to him saying that I didn't think I would encounter anyone with a different point of view and rolling his eyes, I was trying to say that more important than it being different, it was very strange to me...
 
Wow, if this is awesome-ness, then y'all are pretty far gone.
Nope, still here. :D

This is nonsense, not even an argument.
That would be an accurate assessment since it was just made for the lulz.

Very interesting view points. I don't understand the mentality on prostitution.
I don't understand your mentality on a lot of things either, so I guess that makes us even. ;)

Right now many women are put in harmful situations because of it, so if we legalized it, it would solve our problems and then we could regulate it. So that now we can pay women for sex in the open and without shame, because it is perfectly legitimate and healthy behavior!!! :confused:
What's so confusing about it? Prostitution has been around longer than all of the major religions, and really the only shame I can in it is actually having to pay for sex. Then again, if you just want to get laid, it simplifies things, and if legalized with strict health codes, you probably wouldn't have to worry about catching something you'd rather not have.

A wise old scholar from centuries past (can't remember his name off the top of my head) once said, that their are two freedoms, the false one where man can do what he wants, and the true one where man does what he ought.
I disagree – that's a rather limited mindset, probably made about doing some service to the state.

I think that applies in this discussion.
No, it doesn't really justify imposing morality on others when there is no legitimate harm to the state or any individuals.

You want everyone to do what they want, as long as it doesn't "infringe on the rights of others", the problem with that is, we all have a social/societal responsibility to each other.
So what part of "don't infringe on the rights of others" wouldn't meet that?

Statistics show that children of single mothers are much more likely to involved with crime and a host of other delinquencies.
So?

A single mother usually comes from a man deciding to not be responsible and stay with his family, or his doing what he wants and not what he ought. Society receives the negative results.
Yet life goes on. Don't get me wrong, it sucks to be them, but when you have people starving in the streets or just barely a step or two above that, discussion about morality doesn't really matter all that much.

So sure, you can view pornography, and forget that it is linked to sexual crime and divorce and spousal abuse (despite what a couple of posters here have said)
Yet the porn doesn't make them do it, and most of those "studies" are done by special interest groups full of busy-bodies trying to impose their morality on everyone else because they don't like it.

So let's have prostitution, forgetting the fact that it is an easy way to spread STD's and infidelity and is dangerous to women.
And let's also not forget that legalizing it would help to alleviate both of those problems.

So let's let people do what they want out of the name of freedom and choice and let's watch as we continue to pretend that we have no responsibility or accountability to each other.
:guffaw: I like how doing away with stupid, paternalistic laws that serve only to oppress equates to total anarchy with some people. It's amusing that somehow allowing porn and prostitution would mean you can go out and murder people or steal from people without consequence, because God is the only authority and there are no police or courts. :lol:

I am so sorry, it is just that we were having a somewhat serious conversation when a garbage link became involved and I thought I would point out that I thought so. Didn't mean to offend with my point out the obvious.
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I thought some of these links were interesting, I hope that work haha..Focus on the family had a series of articles on pornography addiction. I will continue to look for more articles.
So you basically proved my point about how some special interest groups made up of religious busy-bodies are the only ones to try to link those kinds of things with porn using unscientific means, thanks. :techman:

And some experiences from my life: I have a close childhood friend, a few years older than me who can't have a normal relationship with a woman because of his severe internet porn addiction.
smallestviolin.jpg

Yes, and my baby nephew can't chew a steak, so we should all be forced to drink warm milk. :rolleyes:

As an aside, has anyone ever noticed how some people always supposedly know someone personally they can use as an example in an attempt to vindicate their viewpoint?

What I speak of is true religious principle about a God and our nature and a right way of living.
:rolleyes: And this is pretty much the reason I don't like the majority of religious people and even a good number of atheists, because they all think there is only one "right" way of living, and they are already living that "right" way.

actually if you went through all the links, many books, studies and reports are cited the tell show what pornography causes, and I found this in just 10 minutes on the internet... Something I thought was interesting though was one group was asking money from congress (a few years ago) to do a brain map study on pornography addiction. Makes me think that a lot of research simply hasn't been done yet.
No, there has been a lot of research done with the intent to justify legislating morality, but they pretty much all get outted as the unscientific bullshit that they are.

Plus I read through your links and the studies seemed to want to answer the question does porno cause rape. Well that seems kind of intuitive, If pornography caused rape, practically every man on the earth would be committing rape. Pornography addiction however is a different matter, and rape is not the only sexual crime or abuse.
There are a lot of people who want some kind of connection so they can get porn banned, whether they think it's immoral, objectifies women, or they just don't want their kiddies exposed to the evil boobies, but these people all have agendas and thus their "science" never holds up. Just as with the anti-violence nuts who want to censor video games and movies, it apparently doesn't occur to them that while there may indeed be a link, it's that a violent person may just have an interest in playing a violent game or watching a violent movie, rather they have the brain fart of a notion that playing a violent game or watching a violent movie makes normal people violent (because everyone is "normal" :rolleyes: ). I'd say the same applies to these studies in porn, because while there may indeed be a link, it could be that a sexual deviant just has in interest in porn, not that the porn causes their sexual deviant. As for your theory on porn addiction, any addiction will ruin a relationship, no matter what it is. And since most addictions are cause by pre-existing psychological factors, linking porn addiction to failed marriages really isn't proving anything, other than that addiction can ruin marriages if the people involved don't seek help.

so is pornography :)
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I just mean that it is passed off as legitimate and acceptable entertainment or indulgence.

It is. Provided the people making it or featured in it aren't being exploited, I don't see what the issue is. I'd apply that to all forms of entertainment.

You obviously think it's not for you, and that's fine, but it seems like many people on your side of the fence desperately try to paint it as a "danger to society" to lend some legitimacy to your finger wagging.

I see the same nonsense going on when so-called christians in TNZ argue that homosexuality is "immoral". As if the bedroom activities of two consenting adults are any of their business.

You haven't got a leg to stand on, frankly. None of you can provide any credible evidence to back up your assertions.

I'd add something, but really in this case I can't, other than to say:
damnfinepoint.jpg



I think what it was referring to was 60% of men who viewed pornography regularly would rape or force a woman to do something she didn't want to do if they were sure they could do so with impunity.

To me the "do so with impunity" the "or" and that they regularly view pornography, is the thing that makes it high.

No, it said 6 out of 10 men period would commit rape if there were no legal consequences. No mention of the frequency of their porn viewership (though obviously some would be involved in their view), it's just the pervasiveness of porn in society in general. Given that pervasiveness, and the fact that the majority of men would commit rape if given the chance to get away with it apparently, you'd think that rape statistics would be through the roof instead of on the decline, wouldn't you? Odd.

I can see that optimism you were crowing about earlier shining through by the way. I mean, if you think the majority of men are potential rapists just being held back by the law, I can definitely see how you'd be a glass is half full type.

Words cannot describe the awesome that post is.

Uh, I just provided links to a lot of evidence that in the very least showed that pornography has harmful effects on marital and sexual relationships, to say nothing of abuse and crime. You just don't want to see that and recognize it because then you would have to change your behavior.

It is ok, because at the end of the day, nothing said on this board will ever make any difference in the world, one way or the other.
So why are you wasting your precious time posting here with all of us heathens?

Well I don't want to get involved in the single mothers discussion, but of course there are many factors involved there.
Yeah, poverty and a lack of time the parent can spend with their child or children being the major ones. But then this subject is only a red herring to the discussion anyway, since it neither has nothing to do with the main topic, or the topics of porn and prostitution that were being discussed when you blessed us all with that little nugget.

I don't think legislation is always the answer to these problems.
The way you've been arguing with me about how you think legislating morality is just fine and dandy kind of makes me skeptical of that statement.

I mean, if you go to the extreme and say pornography is bad so you get the death penalty, I don't think that does any good.
That isn't an issue – fining and jailing people for breaking paternalistic "anti-obscenity" laws is. If the only difference between a moderate and a zealot is that the moderate doesn't want to kill people but still wants to punish them for committing a "moral" crime, then that just isn't enough of a difference.

I am talking more on grounds of principle.
As am I and everyone else who's disagreeing with you, as well as on legal and scientific grounds.

Pornography is a bad influence, does damage lives, enhances already deviant behavior,
Says you and some others pushing agendas, but none have been able to prove anything scientifically, and you haven't been able to provide information to back up this assertion from anyone who wasn't obviously just pushing an agenda.

studies and human experience prove it and yet all we do is say it is fine for adults,
That's because no study has ever proved anything you've asserted and that consenting adults should be able to do as they please in the privacy of their own home.

just don't expose it to children.
Believe it or not I would agree with that on moral grounds (shocking I'm sure) simply because kids should be kids and not have that added complication, but I doubt the sight of a naked person would do them any harm since they came out of a vagina, sucked on breasts, and have probably seen a penis whether they have one themselves or have helped to change or bath a younger male sibling.

And I know no one will agree with me but the same goes for violence and language etc. You can only view so much of something before in begins to affect you and desensitize you and in the most extreme cases give you the desire to act out whatever you saw or heard at the expense of other people.
Ironic as I already mentioned how that was bullshit.

Should it be illegal to look at pornography, especially the hard core variety? I don't think so, but we should perhaps adopt or re-adopt the view that it is a thing to be avoided.
Which pretty much fits with the Christian ideal of still doing something they preach against, but just feeling guilt about it because they think it's wrong.

You just don't want to see that and recognize it because then you would have to change your behavior.

Excuse me? You know nothing about me or my "behaviour".
Unfortunately a lot of religious people seem to think that because you like something they think is immoral, or at least have no problem with it, then you must be an immoral person and everything you do is immoral – a very black and white mentality. It's not unique to religious people, but it's something I've observed, since there are plenty of Conservative Christian Busy-Bodies (CCBBA ;) ) in my area.
 
I never thought I would encounter people actively DEFENDING pornography...

That says a lot, I think.

If this was an environmental discussion I'd ideally want to see press releases from major scientific bodies, and links to peer-reviewed journals.

And even then rational scientists debate on many environmental issues. I could show you studies that would be in support or against global warming.

Pornography and its affects is not nearly as studied... at least not yet...
 
Most of the links included info on books and studies that one would have to purchase to read. My parents have a few of these books, but I don't really live at home to look them up.
So?

Besides what is wrong with using sites like focusonthefamily? They aren't legitimate?
If this were an environmental discussion would the sierra club and other activists be off limits?
Correct, right-wing zealot sources are about as legitimate in a discussion about porn and other "immoral" things as left-wing hippy environmentalists are in a discussion about globalization and climate change.

No because generally money to do these studies come from people who care, have an hypothesis and will go see if it is right.
And shockingly that doesn't make it any more right for them to try to push their agenda by trying to use science legitimize that agenda.

In the links the names of doctors and professors of science, human behavior and psychology, etc are mentioned. I don't see how this isn't proof.
When you look at the organizations they belong to, where they went to school, and the past work they've done.

How did we get here anyway?
It got brought up as an example of "immorality."

This was on religion then it suddenly became about pornography.
Yeah, I'm fascinated how obsessed religious people can be with porn, too.

I never thought I would encounter people actively DEFENDING pornography...
168937208_b9e3e2a4f3_o.gif

:guffaw: Thanks for the lulz. Yeah, imagine that, people having their own beliefs, what's next? :vulcan:

This current line of discussion raises another question: At what age do you stop being pissed about your kids getting into your porn stash?
18
mischief.gif

More seriously though, if I had kids, I don't care how old they are, since they'd be violating my privacy even if they were grown adults, and that would be the issue with me.
 
Well Captain X, you certainly know how to treat a conversation with tact and sincerity.

As I have stated again and again, while other evidence exists, what I have shown you should be at least enough to have a "reasonable doubt" in your mind, but in stead you mock it without really trying to answer it.

It doesn't matter what I show you, you have already made up your minds, more than likely because you like pornography and don't want to change or stop.

That doesn't mean I think you are a horrible, immoral person as you asserted above, it just means you have a problem with pornography. We all pretty much have a problem with something...

Here's a test, I have no idea how often or how much porno is viewed by all of you, but if it is everyday try going a week without it, if it is every week, try going a month without any pornography in thought, video, books, magazines, online off-line... anywhere in any form, soft or hard, gay or straight or whatever.

If you can go a week or a month without it, and hardly even notice it, feel free to send a PM, then I will gladly concede the point. :)
 
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