Opinion of pornography

[memphis]

Freedom, I guess, but also dangerous. Not physically of course (hopefully), but I've heard a few stories of guys getting too addicted to it and only being able to get off to it, even when engaging with other people.

Neutral entertainment. Useful when it's needed, but one can't help but feel a bit of shame afterwards.

Not shame, more like "I can't believe I just got off to that..."

You could say the same thing about many items. Pizza looks a lot more appetizing before indulging as well.

[© tweed]

I actually almost like the way the second one looks better.  I prefer a slightly burnt cheese.

[© tweed]

You could say the same thing about many items. Pizza looks a lot more appetizing before indulging as well.

that's the entire point, transposing the phenomenon.

[Oldiesfreak1854]

From a spiritual standpoint, horrible entertainment.  From a secular standpoint, horrible entertainment.  It's destructive and often addictive, kind of like drugs. 

Sorry, I meant "from a spiritual standpoint, sinful entertainment."

[Frodo]

Addicting and destructive -so much so that when I look back on it, I wish I never came across those pictures and videos in the first place.  

Fortunately I have weaned myself off of it, so I consider myself clean again.  

[MaxQue]

I feel there is a couple of hypocrites here.

[memphis]

Addicting and destructive -so much so that when I look back on it, I wish I never came across those pictures and videos in the first place.  

Fortunately I have weaned myself off of it, so I consider myself clean again.  

Why the prudery? How is it "destructive?" Not like people are robbing banks to get money for more porn.

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

Addicting and destructive -so much so that when I look back on it, I wish I never came across those pictures and videos in the first place.  

Fortunately I have weaned myself off of it, so I consider myself clean again.  

Why the prudery? How is it "destructive?" Not like people are robbing banks to get money for more porn.

Dismissing people's personal experiences of addiction as 'prudery' is generally considered bad form.

[opebo]

Addicting and destructive -so much so that when I look back on it, I wish I never came across those pictures and videos in the first place.  

Fortunately I have weaned myself off of it, so I consider myself clean again.  

Haha, not all of us are so... easily led.

[minionofmidas]

turns out it is actually 54.5gb.  most of it is from a single massive torrent siterip of a performer I am fond of, 80% it I have not watched.

Who?  Who?

Inquiring minds want to know, Dave.

[memphis]

Addicting and destructive -so much so that when I look back on it, I wish I never came across those pictures and videos in the first place.  

Fortunately I have weaned myself off of it, so I consider myself clean again.  

Why the prudery? How is it "destructive?" Not like people are robbing banks to get money for more porn.

Dismissing people's personal experiences of addiction as 'prudery' is generally considered bad form.

It seems pretty darn ridiculous to call porn destructive. That's a very strong word. Has it cost him a job? Has he spent his last dime trying to get more porn?  How is it destructive? Describing himself as "clean again?" How is that anything but prudery?

[Gustaf]

Addicting and destructive -so much so that when I look back on it, I wish I never came across those pictures and videos in the first place.  

Fortunately I have weaned myself off of it, so I consider myself clean again.  

Why the prudery? How is it "destructive?" Not like people are robbing banks to get money for more porn.

Dismissing people's personal experiences of addiction as 'prudery' is generally considered bad form.

It seems pretty darn ridiculous to call porn destructive. That's a very strong word. Has it cost him a job? Has he spent his last dime trying to get more porn?  How is it destructive? Describing himself as "clean again?" How is that anything but prudery?

What the hell? What is it with you and empathy? How is it up to you to define what's destructive or addictive or not?

People react differently to different things. Reactions that you can't identify with aren't less natural or valid than the ones you have.

[Gustaf]

You get to learn a lot recently, congratulations!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pornography_addiction

[memphis]

Addicting and destructive -so much so that when I look back on it, I wish I never came across those pictures and videos in the first place.  

Fortunately I have weaned myself off of it, so I consider myself clean again.  

Why the prudery? How is it "destructive?" Not like people are robbing banks to get money for more porn.

Dismissing people's personal experiences of addiction as 'prudery' is generally considered bad form.

It seems pretty darn ridiculous to call porn destructive. That's a very strong word. Has it cost him a job? Has he spent his last dime trying to get more porn?  How is it destructive? Describing himself as "clean again?" How is that anything but prudery?

What the hell? What is it with you and empathy? How is it up to you to define what's destructive or addictive or not?

People react differently to different things. Reactions that you can't identify with aren't less natural or valid than the ones you have.

Ok, let's substitute pornography for something else that we enjoy very much, but is also not destructive in a conventional sense. Posting on the Atlas Forum. I waste a decent amount of time here. I could be doing something better, sure. But, as with porn, it is extremely unlikely to endanger health or finanacial wellbeing. So let's take a look at his quote with a minor tweak to reflect our new reality of discussing the Atlas Forum instead of porn.

"Addicting and destructive -so much so that when I look back on it, I wish I never came across those maps and updates in the first place.  

Fortunately I have weaned myself off of it, so I consider myself clean again."

Does this not strike you as absurd? What's the difference between porn and the Atlas Forum? They both have equal levels of destruction on life.  

[Gustaf]

Addicting and destructive -so much so that when I look back on it, I wish I never came across those pictures and videos in the first place.  

Fortunately I have weaned myself off of it, so I consider myself clean again.  

Why the prudery? How is it "destructive?" Not like people are robbing banks to get money for more porn.

Dismissing people's personal experiences of addiction as 'prudery' is generally considered bad form.

It seems pretty darn ridiculous to call porn destructive. That's a very strong word. Has it cost him a job? Has he spent his last dime trying to get more porn?  How is it destructive? Describing himself as "clean again?" How is that anything but prudery?

What the hell? What is it with you and empathy? How is it up to you to define what's destructive or addictive or not?

People react differently to different things. Reactions that you can't identify with aren't less natural or valid than the ones you have.

Ok, let's substitute pornography for something else that we enjoy very much, but is also not destructive in a conventional sense. Posting on the Atlas Forum. I waste a decent amount of time here. I could be doing something better, sure. But, as with porn, it is extremely unlikely to endanger health or finanacial wellbeing. So let's take a look at his quote with a minor tweak to reflect our new reality of discussing the Atlas Forum instead of porn.

"Addicting and destructive -so much so that when I look back on it, I wish I never came across those maps and updates in the first place.  

Fortunately I have weaned myself off of it, so I consider myself clean again."

Does this not strike you as absurd? What's the difference between porn and the Atlas Forum? They both have equal levels of destruction on life.  

What do you mean? Plenty of people have testified to this and plenty of people have left the Atlas Forum precisely because they felt it had a destructive influence on their lives. Can you actually not understand that people are different? That's actually rather fascinating.

I'll try and babytalk this and see if you can understand it. To YOU pornography or the Atlas is not addictive and destructive. Yet, to OTHERS it can be! See, people are DIFFERENT.

This goes for a lot of stuff. My mother, for example, quit smoking. Just like snapping her fingers boom. She quit. Never looked back. It'd be silly for her to, based on that personal experience, say that smoking isn't addictive. Of course, smoking is addictive to most people, pornography may not be. But belonging to a minority in a society is not a crime.

There is nothing absurd about not being like you. In fact, right now, you strike me as a lot more absurd than someone who's addicted to porn.

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

Addicting and destructive -so much so that when I look back on it, I wish I never came across those pictures and videos in the first place. 

Fortunately I have weaned myself off of it, so I consider myself clean again. 

Why the prudery? How is it "destructive?" Not like people are robbing banks to get money for more porn.

Dismissing people's personal experiences of addiction as 'prudery' is generally considered bad form.

It seems pretty darn ridiculous to call porn destructive. That's a very strong word. Has it cost him a job? Has he spent his last dime trying to get more porn?  How is it destructive? Describing himself as "clean again?" How is that anything but prudery?

What the hell? What is it with you and empathy? How is it up to you to define what's destructive or addictive or not?

People react differently to different things. Reactions that you can't identify with aren't less natural or valid than the ones you have.

Ok, let's substitute pornography for something else that we enjoy very much, but is also not destructive in a conventional sense. Posting on the Atlas Forum. I waste a decent amount of time here. I could be doing something better, sure. But, as with porn, it is extremely unlikely to endanger health or finanacial wellbeing. So let's take a look at his quote with a minor tweak to reflect our new reality of discussing the Atlas Forum instead of porn.

"Addicting and destructive -so much so that when I look back on it, I wish I never came across those maps and updates in the first place. 

Fortunately I have weaned myself off of it, so I consider myself clean again."

Does this not strike you as absurd? What's the difference between porn and the Atlas Forum? They both have equal levels of destruction on life. 

memphis, you're talking like a social drinker who genuinely doesn't understand alcoholism as a concept. Do you have any idea how absurd that is?

Frodo, I'm glad for you that you're clean, and I'd be glad for you that you're clean regardless of what it was that you were addicted to.

[memphis]

If Frodo sincerely lost his job or his health or something of the same scale because he was looking at porn all day long, I'll admit that he had a legit problem. I vvery much doubt this is the case. What is far more likely is that the people who raised him made him feel so guilty about sex and porn that he cannot enjoy a little fun. Which do you think is more likely?

[Frodo]

Just to clear the air (and get rid of some unwanted attention) -I meant 'destructive' in the sense that it was taking time away from my studies, affected my social life, and delayed my graduation from college by at least several years.  

No, it is not as serious as losing a job over it (unlike some federal employees), or destroying a relationship, but it was bad enough from my perspective.  Enough such that it spurred me to quit.  

P.S.  Memphis -there is no need for you to get so defensive about the issue.  The porn industry is doing well enough that it does not need your help in this thread. 



 

[Franzl]

Just to clear the air (and get rid of some unwanted attention) -I meant 'destructive' in the sense that it was taking time away from my studies, affected my social life, and delayed my graduation from college by at least several years.  

No, it is not as serious as losing a job over it (unlike some federal employees), or destroying a relationship, but it was bad enough from my perspective.  Enough such that it spurred me to quit.  

P.S.  Memphis -there is no need for you to get so defensive about the issue.  The porn industry is doing well enough that it does not need your help in this thread. 



 

Pornography led you to graduate years later than you should have?

[Gustaf]

It's always funny to see people who proclaim that they are socially progressive be unbelievably judgmental to those who differ from them.

Assuming that what it more likely is true for an individual and judging them based on that, rather than what they themselves define as true is severely condescending and bigoted. 

[memphis]

Just to clear the air (and get rid of some unwanted attention) -I meant 'destructive' in the sense that it was taking time away from my studies, affected my social life, and delayed my graduation from college by at least several years.  

No, it is not as serious as losing a job over it (unlike some federal employees), or destroying a relationship, but it was bad enough from my perspective.  Enough such that it spurred me to quit.  

P.S.  Memphis -there is no need for you to get so defensive about the issue.  The porn industry is doing well enough that it does not need your help in this thread. 



 

Pornography led you to graduate years later than you should have?

^^^^^^^^
Yeah, I find that one a little odd too. The thing about the desire porn is that it's rather self regulating. The Atlas comparison I made earlier was not a good one. If you plotted a brain's interest in Atlas throughout the course of the day versus that for porn you'd find a stark difference in consistency. I'm not sure how one could spend more than an hour or two with porn per day.

[Gustaf]

Just to clear the air (and get rid of some unwanted attention) -I meant 'destructive' in the sense that it was taking time away from my studies, affected my social life, and delayed my graduation from college by at least several years.  

No, it is not as serious as losing a job over it (unlike some federal employees), or destroying a relationship, but it was bad enough from my perspective.  Enough such that it spurred me to quit.  

P.S.  Memphis -there is no need for you to get so defensive about the issue.  The porn industry is doing well enough that it does not need your help in this thread. 



 

Pornography led you to graduate years later than you should have?

^^^^^^^^
Yeah, I find that one a little odd too. The thing about the desire porn is that it's rather self regulating. The Atlas comparison I made earlier was not a good one. If you plotted a brain's interest in Atlas throughout the course of the day versus that for porn you'd find a stark difference in consistency. I'm not sure how one could spend more than an hour or two with porn per day.

Come on! That you aren't sure how something could be done doesn't make it impossible! Surely, you're not this stupid?

Have you never understood someone else's experience of anything?

[Antonio the Sixth]

There are plenty of instances of how pornography can be damaging to one's life. That's not to say it's sinful or should be banned, but it's certainly good to understand all its potential consequences before engaging in it. Being an emancipated individual doesn't mean carelessly fulfilling all your short-term desires, but rather being aware of them and taking conscious decisions.

[minionofmidas]

I'm not sure how one could spend more than an hour or two with porn per day.

Then you've never surfed through porn sites with a view to downloading and collecting the good stuff and without actively masturbating.

I can assure you that that way of using internet porn can become a massive timewaste very fast.

[memphis]

Gus, I'm getting tired of the personal attacks. You're not living up to the TOS for members, much less the behavior expected of a mod. If you can't disagree without resorting to ad hominem, you have no business here and certainly should not be in a position of authority. Grow up.