Porn result of twisted society

Rocky Mountain Collegian

Colorado State University

(U-WIRE) FORT COLLINS, Colo. - Anti-pornography protesters probably kick themselves in the butt when they realize the most successful way to make money on the Internet is through sex sites.

A Sunday Denver Post article reported that while other companies are cutting back on their pay-per-view information, adult Web sites are actually increasing output. The Post reported that an estimated $1 billion was made off of adult sites last year, and an estimated $3 billion will be made this year.

Nobody wants to pay for the overly intellectual encyclopedia information provided by Britannica.com or read the dry and boring news at Slate.MSN.com, but they'll sure as heck shovel out all their dough to watch Bambi's "special" bedtime story.

Undercover porn users don't have to subjugate themselves to purchase a copy of Hustler at their neighborhood convenience store, and they don't have to risk the embarrassment of being seen entering the Book Ranch.

Now, porn users young and old have access to millions of adult Web sites right in the comfort of their own home. All you need is a credit card and active imagination for all your fantasy desires to be fulfilled. Besides the embarrassing credit card statement, porn users can roam virtually undetected through our humble and modest streets.

So what's the problem with this?

Anti-porn protesters say that pornography dehumanizes women. They say, especially with the availability of the Internet, it does damage to children exposed to such information. They say pornography demoralizes the world, changes sex to a profit industry and takes away from its true purpose as a symbol of love between two loving, committed people.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, the business people, dubbed "entreporneurs," say the women willingly pose for the cameras and children exposed to such information should be under the supervision of their parents anyway. They say they are simply selling a product people are buying. They say pornography does not dehumanize a society, rather it is just a tool to see how much society is already dehumanized.

The sad thing is that they're right.

Pornography, like everything else in our capitalistic society, is a business. It sells a service and people buy it, whether or not they should. People have the choice of what they are exposed to or what they choose to have exposed to them. Some call pornography a temptation that will lead to sin. But if people can't stand the temptation, how strong are they in the first place?

Don't misunderstand me. I am not advocating pornography. I don't like it, and I choose not to expose myself to it. I do wish that pornography would be banned, but I know that will never happen if legislation is simply passed. Prostitution is the world's oldest industry and it's been banned, barred and barricaded, but it still exists.

Pornography distributors are not simply going to wake up tomorrow and think, "What have I been doing making millions of dollars selling sex to someone who wants to buy it? I had better change right now!"

The porn industry won't go away because it's wrong or because we pass laws to stop it. The industry will go down the toilets when people stop paying for it. The porn people are pretty smart -- they see a desire within a population for something and they provide it.

That's good business. The only way for porn to stop is when society as a whole stops purchasing it.

Pornography is not really the problem. The problem is a society that purchases the pornography. We live in a society with people who ban porn in the outside world, make fun of people who openly use it and then, within the secrecy of their homes, log onto sex.com.

I don't agree with pornography, but I know that it won't go away easily. Even if it is against the law in the country, it will still survive - maybe even better than it does now. The only way to stop pornography is through the mindset of the people who use it.