Re: Re: <eyebeam><blast> Kant and porn

[Carlos Basualdo <Cbasualdo@aol.com>]

"More to the point, what is wrong with Gullit's point? Pornography is
the major business on the internet, and one of the major driving forces
behind the proliferation of internet connections in the home. Try a few
choice key words on  any search engine and you will find plenty of..." 
Chris Byrne

"But I *don't* think it is true.  It seems clear that Internet Services
is the biggest business on the Internet (ISPs, Site Creation, Online
Services...), probably followed by advertising. Airline tickets, stock
brokering, and software sales are also in the running."
Stephen Linhart

Well, Chris, to start with it seems that porn is not that big in the net
as you and Gullit think...

Then you go on stating:
"The issues around mechanical or electronic representations of the body,
and particularly sexuality, are complex and cannot merely be reduced to
a narrow concept of spectacle (1). I believe you misrepresent Marx,
Hegel and Debord in your simplistic generalisation (2). For example you
leave out the phenomenon which is fairly widespread, of government and
religious powers attempting to suppress internet pornography, condemning
it as evil and corrupting. Debord in particular was known to be an
admirer of the writings of the Marquis de Sade, which were widely banned
and condemned as pornographic, disgusting, immoral, etc (3)."

1. Do you really think that Debord's concept of the spectacle is narrow
and can not be use to productively describe the proliferation of
commercial porn? 
2. It looks as it's more like you are the one who doesn't really have a
sense of humour, do you? 
3. Do you really want to suggest that watching the Hustler web site is
like reading "La philosophie dans le boudoir"?

Chris, the big problem with pornography, with the kind of pornography
that Gullit was referring to: commercial porn, is that is all the same.
A few tricks endlessly repeated. So it gets boring. 

And excuse me, but I will always find complexity very stimulating and
will always get annoyed when somebody's trying to shut it down.

(Last but not least, I do not really believe that all that is comes from
the
mind). 

Bye,

Carlos




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