Quote:
|
Originally Posted by 2HousePlague
You're in Europe, right?
I ask because your post reflects the luxury of a detachment from consequence we simply don't enjoy here in the US. This is NOT a theoretical, semantical, "intellectually stimulating" discussion we're having here - this is for keeps. I don't care to partake in an argument about technicalities of language. "Shampoo" is a Hindi word -- who gives a fuck, I still go to Walgreen's for mine. It's MY use and the connotations and associations THIS culture heap on the word that determine its MEANING FOR ME. The simple truth is the use of the same word ("pornography") in both circumstances is HURTING US. It contributes to our continuing legal marginalization. It operates on the collective cultural psyche. This isn't happening in college lecture halls, where the confused get a chance to raise their hand and ask the sorts of questions that might resolve clarity from complexity. Please don't argue with us on this point, unless you are prepared to convey your technical argument in layman's language to as many Americans everyday as are reading, hearing, and THINKING the association is real, simply because the terms have been so long conjoined.
Let's all of us please begin to distinguish mental masturbation thread-fodder from things that REALLY matter.
2HP
|
Theory and reality are inseparable in this case. The connection is real, and thus people will continue to use the same words. Child exploitation contains but is not limited to child pornography. Child abuse, the same. What we are talking about is
pornography containing children.
You want to destroy the association between kiddy porn and normal porn? Tough shit - it ain't gonna happen. Both are porn, and people know that.
Pornography contains snuff, kiddy porn, beast porn, rape vids, etc., and trying to change that meaning is extremely unlikely to be successful. If you want to destroy the association between "us" and "them", focus on terms for us like "the adult industry" and "adult entertainment". Throwing the subgenres out of the main genre doesn't make sense linguistically, and indeed doesn't make practical sense either. Take your cue from language and theory, and you'll see that the much more obvious solution is to emphasize
our subgenre, and separate that from the others.
Theory is valuable because it helps us deal with reality in an effective way
