This week, there were several headlines. In the midst of them, I was only truly struck by one thought.
Here is what came out:
1. There is an online industry that creates Billions in revenue per year. Billions with a “B”. That may create a white noise in your brain – that is the effect of “Big Numbers Psychology” issues. It is a massive number.
2. The implication was that the leaders in this industry just do not meaningfully care about the well-being of their consumers; they merely care about the money and power they are amassing. Apparently, the powers behind this crisis are completely aware of certain things about their product. For example, they are perfectly aware that their product”
A. Is powerfully addictive. Apparently, once someone is using this product, the user becomes more and more dependent on it for emotional support. The dependency begins to conflict with daily living, they risk things otherwise important to them (relationships, safety, etc). Check here for the full list of symptoms.
B. Creates negative self-imagery in a large percentage of users. This product creates deeply seated feelings of competition with others, and though many claim that it helps them through tough times, it actually has negative effects that can be much worse than any positives. It turns out that these negative effects are more pronounced in women, especially teenage women and especially when it comes to body image.
It is a common feeling in America (and maybe the world) that women wonder whether they are “sufficient”. “Am I enough?” is a common insecurity that women are plagued with. This crisis is encouraging these bad beliefs.
C. This industry actively and intentionally seeks to loop in children, presumably so that they create life-long addicts. Children are particularly vulnerable to outside influences. This is why it is completely unacceptable how many parents are ignorant of or too lazy to engage with these issues. Wake up, parents.
Here is what struck me all about this…
This emergency is about SOCIAL MEDIA – not PORNOGRAPHY?!?!?!?!
We have become so calloused to the ever-presence of this deep and dark evil, that we are blind to how every one of these issues is infinitely more true about the pornography industry than about the social media industry…
And, though I could write reems about the clear hypocrisy of the progressive movement, I was amazed at the tone-deafness of the same people who defend pornography against any restrictions at all are fighting to add restrictions to social media for being guilty of the same issues that the pornography industry has mastered.
Now, to clarify – I do not have enough information – only what the media has shoved at me so far – to decide what I believe about limitations on social media. I think I prefer them as merely responsible platforms and not heavily regulated media companies… though I think either would be better than neither, as it exists now.
Also, please don’t send me all of the shadowy political motivations that you think are likely behind all of this. I’m not naïve… I actually am pretty sure, sadly, that I DO understand the hypocrisy; I just prefer to bring attention to it.
It isn’t easy to miss (even though it feels like almost everyone did).
In 2019, Online pornography alone was estimated as a 35.17 Billion Dollar industry… $800,000,000 in the US alone.
There are dozens of websites developed to identify and help parents protect kids from the constant threat of internet pornography, much less becoming victims in the videos. I don’t agree with everything here, but some good examples are:
The most recent news about “Pornhub” having to remove millions of explicit videos (they had never bothered to verify that they weren’t child pornography or non-consensual sex) barely registered in the news media. Since 2007, the suffering and abuse of women and children were serving as a payoff for the multi-billion dollar company. Where were the Congressional Hearings and Whistle-blowers seeking to protect them?
The media and progressive thinkers in general came out with the proverbial pitchforks and torches when Only Fans determined to remove pornographic material from their website. Within just a few days, they were pressured into backtracking. No concerns about young women’s body issues here, I suppose.
If you wonder about the effects and inner workings of the temptations of pornography, you can find much more here.