Pornography and Liberalism

Classical Liberalism did not support Pornography. It believed that it was immoral and that it was an attack upon human dignity. It is obvious however that this is not the current attitude of Liberalism towards Pornography. Why is that?

Classical Liberalism believed that trade should be unrestricted, but it came to accept that sometimes the Government should restrict the sale of items that were against the public good or against the National Interest. It came to accept that Slavery was wrong and so was the slave trade. It also accepted that just because something was possible that did not automatically mean that it should be done. It accepted that censorship had a place. That not all ideas were equal and that not all behavours were equal. That things such as moral and immoral, just and unjust, right and wrong were real divides and that they should be kept divided. 

On this point there was not much difference between Conservatives and Classical Liberals, in fact Socialists, Communists, Facists and Nazi's held very similiar views on this idea. Pornography was degeneracy. And while individuals had their own opinions, some opposed, some supportive, the mainstream views within every Political Philosophy was that Pornography was bad. And until Denmark made Pornography legal in 1969 when it abolished all cenorship, no country had ever legally allowed Pornography, even when they quietly tolerated it.

In fact you don't have to search hard to find Liberals, Socialists and others from the early 1900's who opposed censorship, who said it was wrong and immoral. Some who thought that even Pornography was harmless and should be legalized. But these were not mainstream views at all.  What turned the tide was The death of Classical Liberalism. When Liberalism split in the 1950's it allowed ideas at the fringe to move to the centre. And one of these was the removal of censorship. It made sense as it showed a complete change, a more open tomorrow without the restrictions of the past. But it shows the false choice presented to us at every election.

The truth was that Right-Liberals used ending censorship as a way of showing how much better the West was compared to Communism. In other words, the end of censorship was a weapon in the cultural campaign of the Cold War. It was a way of saying "hey don't support Communism, only we can give you freedom". That freedom included Pornography. Just as the Left-Liberals supported Free Love and Sexual Liberation, the loosening of personal and societal morals. Here both sides of Liberalism, with much support from Feminism, supported the same thing but from different directions. It didn't matter which way you voted, you ended up supporting the legalisation of Pornography, no matter what your personal opinion was. 

In time Right-Liberalism would also come to support Pornography from a Classical Liberal position, Classical Liberalism believed that it is the right of every merchant to sell anything he likes to anybody who wants to buy and that the Government doesn't have the moral right to stop this as the market is the highest moral authority. So selling Pornography was now a moral right, it was no different then selling soap. Just as there are now Right-Liberals who push the same idea about drugs.

For Left-Liberalism Pornography is part and parcel of their new world view, that freedom is unlimited and that each person can choose and make their own life. Pornography is like a catalogue which helps you pick and choose your next sexual adventure, after all life is an adventure, your only here once, your a long time dead, it's true but somehow miss's the point. It provides a distraction, it allows the illusion that an unlimited sexual smorgasbord is out there for the taking, it allows you to "experience" sex with people who in real life you would never stand a chance of being with. 

Sadly it also fills a void that modern Liberal society has created, it allowed the lonely to pretend that they are not lonely, it allows sexual relief and it never rejects you. But Pornography is a dream factory and dreams are not real.

There are a number of questions that remain, why is Pornography so widely accepted, I do not mean why is it used we all know the answer to that, but why is it so rare to hear it being criticised? Why is it that Parliaments have been so ready to allow Pornography such free rein, Politicians are normally very jealous of others having power that should be theirs, but no where in the West has there been a pushback against Pornography, even when it is clearly illegal to do what they are doing. For example in Australia all Internet Pornography is illegal, but the Government has never done anything to stop it.

But my biggest question is an economic question, who's paying for all this? Pornography is available on demand in enormous quantities, you could spend every waking hour looking at Pornography every day for the rest of your life and at least theoretically, you would never see the same scene twice. It is truly amazing how much exists. But apart from Amateur Pornography, someone has to pay those who appear in it, they have to pay the film crew, to have the film processed, to have it put on the internet and for bandwidth. But in this day and age why would anyone pay too see Pornography when it is available in such quantities foir free?

Something about this doesn't make sense.

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