General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: What sexual acts do you consider to be violent? [View all]MyshkinCommaPrince
(611 posts)I've been reading the recent "porn war" threads with interest. There are clearly two or more sides, there's obvious disagreement, both (all?) sides seem to be talking past one another, to some extent. The same terms keep coming up, but one gets the sense that different posters intend them in completely different ways. I'm reminded of an old Bloom County cartoon, in which Binkley finds a room full of economists in his Anxiety Closet. He begs them not to discuss the economy, so, of course, they do. They speak in specialized code words, talk past one another, contradict one another, contradict themselves.
I find myself wondering whether mainstream Democrats are as divided by the wedge issues, notably guns and pornography, that seem to divide us so thoroughly on DU. I wonder what would happen if we ever had a major election in which the key issues were guns and porn.
I find myself agreeing with both sides of these DU discussions, to varying degrees. I wish I understood the stances and beliefs behind the arguments a bit better. I think threads like this current one, where we try to define the terms in play, would be a good start to seeking clarification. That idea seems to fall apart rather quickly, though, as this thread immediately became a continuation of the previous arguments, which threads were, themselves, continuations. Somehow I doubt things would be clearer if one could dig back to the oldest ancestor thread in the DU porn wars. I wish someone would explain some of the stances in these threads, clearly and calmly, as though to an outsider. I tried Googling to get to the bottom of things, but that only led me to the same problem. Any discussion of these issues seems to start in the middle somewhere.
To address the real question of the thread... y'know, I'm not sure how to answer. I may not be kidding in my post title. It's the kind of thing I would know when I see it? There are some rotten things out there. This response is probably unhelpful.