Friday, May 6, 2016

So, Porn is a "Public Health Hazard" But The Price of College Educations, the Economic Climate and Poverty AREN'T? Also, Some Words on Prince's Death

Saw this article recently through a site I follow: http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2016/04/20/474943913/utah-declares-porn-a-public-health-hazard

Here are my questions and concerns about this:

Why isn't this resolution addressing the reasons why people actually do porn in the first place? A big part of it is M-O-N-E-Y. Many people need money for things & don't have it. You're not going to pay law school tuition with a job at Wal-Mart. You can't even pay college tuition with the wages from that job. Being a porn actress could make economic sense for women in the short term. Not to mention the degrading and abusive working conditions of entry level crap jobs. I'm sure when you make the comparison, working in the porn industry has to be no worse (or maybe even better) than a job at Wal-Mart or McDonalds.

You never hear these holier than thou types bashing people who work in menial, dead end jobs like flipping burgers but will have a total cow about people doing porn, working as strippers or anything related to the adult industry despite the obvious economic advantage those people will enjoy. Those same judgmental types also never propose higher paying jobs to make porn a less attractive field to people who might be able to work in it. They NEVER address the high costs of getting an education. They NEVER address single parents trying to raise children and keep them housed and clothed. Do these asshole EVER offer to help those women so they don't have to work in the adult industry? In my experience, almost never.

What about the consumers of these products? If you can cut demand, there's no product. The porn industry suffered from the Internet making it possible for people to create homemade stuff for free. We don't hear about child porn so much yet that mess still goes on someplace, at least enough for cops to have steady work busting child porn rings. How about punishing people a little more harshly for consumption if you really want to be effective? Granted, I (hopefully like other rational thinking people in society) think you sound stupid if you propose to jail people for watching porn in the privacy of their homes and hotel rooms. Don't we have enough real criminals to pursue like rapists, drug dealers, murderers, robbers, etc.?

While we're talking about rapists, I see not a word on addressing rape culture. In fact, it seems this is just trying to shame women further and make the whole rape culture scene even more acceptable by putting blame on them for daring to be sexual beings vs. paragons above sex that men have to violate. Are we going to stop letting high school athletes and other "popular" guys get passes on raping women b/c of this status?

Finally, do the people of Utah seriously not consider anything else a public health hazard? What about those economic conditions I mentioned? That whole rape culture thing? The upcoming presidential election? Global warming? Children in bars? The existence of Thinkx underwear? SOMETHING! Anything? Does time just move slower there? I'm curious about this.

I really hope they're not using taxpayer dollars to make police officers deal with this shit unless they are arresting rapists and child traffickers or maybe some holier than thou types who shoot off their mouths with moral condemnation while doing zero to make the option they dislike no longer be appealing (religious/moral arguments aren't acceptable; most of us grew past "because I said so" as a justification for doing or not doing anything). One can only hope.

So, Prince died recently. Looks like a Prince themed wedding won't be happening without creating a soundtrack. The idea of one just sounds really cool to me. He's got a very diverse catalog and it feels like everyone's touting "Purple Rain" when he's got other great albums as well. "Let's Work" has to be one of the best dance songs ever. You hear that and can't help but move. I also like "Controversy" since that song's idea is still controversial in some circles. You have everything from controversial (I remember hearing one song about incest that makes "Darling Nikki" sound chaste; I think it was called "Sister") to sweet and back again & I'm not even familiar with the man's later work.

You have to respect Prince for never taking shit from others, doing his own thing & not giving a damn what anyone else had to say about who he was even if you disagree with every stance he ever took. He also started out in a far less accepting time period and likely had to deal with a lot of hassle on sexuality and his stage persona. Would YOU have been able to do that? Could you even do that today? I'm sure most people couldn't. He even went against his record company at the height of his popularity & got his own music back, which most people never do.

The man had haters a plenty so I wouldn't trust much about how he died unless I heard it in the results of an autopsy. Regardless of how he left, you can appreciate someone's work without condoning their actions as a human being. People still like Michael Jackson, you know. Lots of other people also had less than perfect personal lives and no one trashes their artistic legacy. I also don't know of him being a drug addict or doing something stupid to end his own life like some other people did (and their fans will bash you if you dare point that fact out). Just my two cents. Lots of major things going on in my life at this point so updates are less frequent here.