Philosophy
It's interesting that the newest purity pledge being required of Republican presidential candidates includes an anti-pornography element. By "pornography," what they intend is surely images of nudity or sexual activity designed to arouse. But why do we segregate off these images from violent images designed to arouse? If you watch movies, television, even cartoons designed for children, there are weapons aplenty. People are killed or injured viciously and as long as it is "good guys" shooting "bad guys," it is deemed morally innocuous. But if we replaced one instance of violence with the image of a nipple, people go bonkers. I'm not arguing that we should be showing children nude bodies in their entertainment, but wondering why we don't have the same worries about showing them depictions of violence when a predilection towards acting in such ways does cause significantly more harm in the real world to real people than would running around without clothes (with a high SPF sunscreen because sunburns, especially on sensitive areas, can lead ultimately to melanoma).
- Soccer Hooliganism
Let me say up front that this is not an anti-soccer post. Yes, it is a slow game and I have no problem with that. There is an ebb and flow and like watching the weather channel there is a drama in seeing things maybe develop and then dissipate waiting...
- Gender And Violence
Guest post from C.Ewing What initially shocked me about this and this is how strongly I reacted to them, as opposed to how I would react were it to be an all male scenario. There was a local occurrence here some time ago, where a group of girls sliced...
- Violent Videos Is Ok For Minors
1st Amendment rights would be violated. Well, what about pornography? Maybe you don't need to be 21 anymore. "Supreme Court lifts limits on sale of violent video games to minors" California's restrictions on the sale of violent video games to...
- "a Serbian Film"...censorship For The Common Good?
I draw attention to Srđan Spasojević's A Serbian Film...a violent, pornographic film that has been dubbed by The Guardian as the "...most censored film in 16 years". Forget the film and think about the implications of a body of individuals that...
- Myth/reality--the Old American West
Not the wild and woolly West as we were taught...that there were leagues of justice and mythology should be taken lightly. "In a thorough review of the “West was violent” literature, Bruce Benson (1998) discovered that many historians simply assume...
Philosophy
Why Isn't Violence Considered Pornographic?
It's interesting that the newest purity pledge being required of Republican presidential candidates includes an anti-pornography element. By "pornography," what they intend is surely images of nudity or sexual activity designed to arouse. But why do we segregate off these images from violent images designed to arouse? If you watch movies, television, even cartoons designed for children, there are weapons aplenty. People are killed or injured viciously and as long as it is "good guys" shooting "bad guys," it is deemed morally innocuous. But if we replaced one instance of violence with the image of a nipple, people go bonkers. I'm not arguing that we should be showing children nude bodies in their entertainment, but wondering why we don't have the same worries about showing them depictions of violence when a predilection towards acting in such ways does cause significantly more harm in the real world to real people than would running around without clothes (with a high SPF sunscreen because sunburns, especially on sensitive areas, can lead ultimately to melanoma).
- Soccer Hooliganism
Let me say up front that this is not an anti-soccer post. Yes, it is a slow game and I have no problem with that. There is an ebb and flow and like watching the weather channel there is a drama in seeing things maybe develop and then dissipate waiting...
- Gender And Violence
Guest post from C.Ewing What initially shocked me about this and this is how strongly I reacted to them, as opposed to how I would react were it to be an all male scenario. There was a local occurrence here some time ago, where a group of girls sliced...
- Violent Videos Is Ok For Minors
1st Amendment rights would be violated. Well, what about pornography? Maybe you don't need to be 21 anymore. "Supreme Court lifts limits on sale of violent video games to minors" California's restrictions on the sale of violent video games to...
- "a Serbian Film"...censorship For The Common Good?
I draw attention to Srđan Spasojević's A Serbian Film...a violent, pornographic film that has been dubbed by The Guardian as the "...most censored film in 16 years". Forget the film and think about the implications of a body of individuals that...
- Myth/reality--the Old American West
Not the wild and woolly West as we were taught...that there were leagues of justice and mythology should be taken lightly. "In a thorough review of the “West was violent” literature, Bruce Benson (1998) discovered that many historians simply assume...