Should we also ban sports cars, alcohol and trashy romance novels?
> Should we also ban sports cars, alcohol and trashy romance novels?
Vehicles are heavily regulated. Various safety standards are put in place, seat belts are required, and you have to provide identification in order to drive. A license is required to use a vehicle that you own, you often have to pay for insurance. This is all to use something that you own, pornography typically isn't even purchased and owned, I see no reason to avoid regulating it. Alcohol is also regulated heavily, you need to be 21 in the United States and provide identification, consumption is then restricted in various ways (public consumption, driving, etc). Is that paternalistic? I don't think so, I think there are reasonable regulations of such things, I think we should apply this to other harmful elements.
This seems very much personal good though, not to the common good of citizens.
Drunk driving, where a driver can kill a random person, is a common good sort of problem and thus we might see the state regulate elements of that.
I don't see how we can justify cracking down on porn as common good though.
We could say drug addiction is a "personal" evil, it should still be combatted (I oppose [most] drug advertising for this reason). I've known people who harmed their bodies, irreparably in some cases, without harming anyone else. But that's not the whole story. Their family relations are degraded, they cost public resources, they have worse relations, and not to be forgotten is that they are people who deserve love, help, and support. I apply this to other evils other than drugs, such as pornography.
Pornography is sold, provided, promoted to the general populace. It has an affect on real people and is typically spread socially. Discouraging and disrupting this helps individuals and groups by helping discourage immoral and unhealthy actions from spreading. Pornography affects an individuals outlook on not only themselves, changing their own view of their sexuality, but also changes how they view others, this is especially important in children who are developing in so many different ways.
edit: looking at your blog.. everything makes sense now, coming from the most backwards environment imaginable.
Yes, "prohibition" of actions and items does work. There are numerous activities and purchases locked behind age barriers as well as items which are completely illegal. There is a false idea that prohibiting or limiting something means you expect it to be completely, 100%, wiped out but that's not the case. There will always be people violating rules and regulations, that is a given for anything, the goal is to limit and discourage access.
> edit: looking at your blog.. everything makes sense now, coming from the most backwards environment imaginable
This is not an argument nor is it appropriate. First, my beliefs and arguments elsewhere are irrelevant. If I argued that the sky was blue it wouldn't make the sky red because you don't appreciate my other beliefs. Second, you haven't substantiated the claim that I come from "the most backwards environment imaginable" which is a pretty serious claim, which seems to be a major exaggeration since I'm sure you could conceive of a potentially worse background from your point of view.
Why does it being digital make it different?