NoPorn Noho debate -- my last word

The one thing I've learned in all these of years poli-blogging is that you'll never change an ideologue's mind -- especially a "holier than thou" moralizer. But I'm going to do one more post on this anyway in a last attempt to enlighten NoPorn Northampton.

First of all Adam, let's drop the pretense that you give a flying leap about the workers in the porn industry. Your agenda is clear by the name of your organization and your disingenous claims of concern for the poor exploited workers ring hollow.

Yes, they tested hundreds of porn workers, 483 in SoCal to be exact and 30% of the STDs they contracted commonly occur in the general population. Chalmydia happens in the best of families. Foundry workers have just as much a chance of injury or illness on the job and when they get hurt, it's a lot worse than a easily treatable case of the clap.

As far as AIDS, since 1998 less than a dozen performers have contracted it and none have died. Furthermore no porn performer has ever been killed on a set. There are many more dangerous occupations. I'm sure a workers' rights guy like yourself must be concerned about their welfare too. Are you spending any money to improve their safety?

And while I'm complacently espousing my illiberal view, perhaps I could draw your attention to this excellent piece, written by Mark Kernes, an expert in the field, on the myth of secondary effects. Maybe you could give your readers both sides of the story. And let me leave with this quote from Radley Balko of the Cato Institute.

The evidence of a link between porn and sex crimes is scant. Sex crime rates in Europe, for example, have remained stagnant or declined since the onset of the porn age. Japan is notorious for its widely accessible, particularly violent varieties of pornography, yet its rape rate (2.4 per 100,000 people) is far lower than that of the U.S. (32 per 100,000). The U.S. rate has dropped by about 25 percent since the early 1990s, when porn first became widely available over the Internet. This happened even as the stigma against rape victims has eased, making the crime more likely to be reported.

So, Mr. NoPornNorthampton, your agenda is clear but your propaganda is muddy. I judge the honesty of an argument by how long it takes the ad hominems to begin. It didn't take you long to come here and hurl insults. I don't think anyone has ever called me complacent or illiberal before so let me pose the same question to my dear readers. Who seems more narrowminded to you?