This article is making the rounds on the net:
A California state assemblyman has proposed dealing with the state’s huge budget shortfall by taxing pornography, including the production and sale of pornographic videos — by 25 percent.
Yes, in case you haven’t noticed (like you’re my mom or someone else who doesn’t prowl the Internet for nekkid pictures), the Internet is for porn. Indeed, it joins a long tradition. I’ve heard that every major media invented by man was quickly taken over by pornography:
- There is a room in the ruins of Pompeii (I’ve been there) with dirty wall paintings.
- After Gutenberg printed his bible, literally the next thing off the press was porn. (It actually increased the motivation for people to learn to read.)
- Photography was invented and then immediately dirty pictures were taken.
- Same thing with film.
- Nothing helped accelerate the introduction of the VCR into the home like pornographic video tapes.
- Once the Web got up to speed: Internet Porn.
Of these, the Internet has been the most successful. Hugely successful. Obnoxiously successful. Given the speed of the Internet, it’s massive storage capacity and huge world-wide audience, porn has found its home.
In fact, have you heard of Rule 34? Here’s the definition from the Urban Dictionary:
Rule 34. Generally accepted Internet rule that states that pornography or sexually related material exists for any conceivable subject.
Here are some statistics from the Internet Pornography Statistics web site:
Every second – $3,075.64 is being spent on pornography
Every second – 28,258 Internet users are viewing pornography
Every second – 372 Internet users are typing adult search terms into search engines
Every 39 minutes: a new pornographic video is being created in the United States
It gets even uglier. Porn is so pervasive that I do not let my kids use a computer outside of my presence. If you’re bold enough, try this experiment: go to the Google Image Search and type in any girl’s name. Odds are that the first screen, if not the first image match you see, will contain hard core pornography. (It’s possible to configure the Google Image Search to suppress such images; use the Google Safe Search option.)
Perhaps the best summary of the situation comes from a song. The Broadway show Avenue Q is a send-up of Sesame Street. The The Internet is for Porn song from the show puts it well.
It’s a very sad commentary on the human race as a whole when most people associate the Internet with porn. I surfed my share years ago when I first got into computers (on a 56K connection, no less), and it is addictive. But then thanks to lots of prayer and asking the Lord to help me, I learned there is a much bigger purpose of and for the Internet…education and information.
Your book was invaluable to me learning Windows 98SE, but I also went to the next logical step I believe you even mentioned in the book – use the Internet to learn. I took that and ran with it. While your book has been indispensable to me, great sites such as pcmag.com (I get the magazine too, as nothing replaces the feel and smell of a fresh, new magazine full of things I did not know), http://www.majorgeeks.com, http://www.cnet.com, MS forums and communities, Google and it’s myriad of great tech sites with awesome forums, Wikipedia, etc., have all taught me so many things I’ve forgotten some of them.
I also get to learn about my other hobbies, such as drums and music, books and authors, cell phones, etc. by visiting those sites that also have forums full of great wisdom and knowledge fine people are more than willing to share and teach you with. Now, the best porn for me is a picture or video of an open computer tower or a beautiful drum kit, either a static picture or a video of a band and drummer playing or someone working on a PC.
Oh well, at least I know others aren’t using the Internet just for porn. Or are they? Maybe thats why all my family and friends come to me for tech advice? I pray not. Prank/Lenny
Comment by Prankmonkey9 — June 8, 2008 @ 7:41 pm
Who knows? It’s just too easy. And where do you draw the line? I like looking at pretty girls. I used to get the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit calendar. Is that porn? I heard a great lecture on tape on pornography where the speaker said that pornography for women is shopping! Pretty interesting stuff.
Comment by admin — June 8, 2008 @ 8:34 pm