deviantART

 
:iconmjranum:

*mjranum

The voice from the abyss
About Me deviantART Subscriber Experimental Photographer Marcus J Ranum46/Male/United States Recent Activity Deviant for 3 Years
9 Month Subscription
Statistics 514 Deviations
7,363 Comments
1,655,992 Pageviews

Porn and Political Control

Sat Jun 20, 2009, 1:59 PM
What about Marx/Lenin/Confucius is anti-porn?

The other day, I saw that the government of China was complaining about Microsoft's "bing" service and Google doing a bad job of blocking pornography in searches.

"Hmmmm..., what about Marx/Lenin/Confucius is anti-porn?" I asked one of my friends. Neither of us had any good ideas; at least followers of the abrahamic religions can fall back on the notion that the supreme all-powerful being that created us doesn't like to see us running around naked (for his own mysterious reasons). But, really, if you're ideologically Marxist/Leninist, pornography may simply be a new opiate for the masses; it serves government's agenda more than not.

But then the other shoe dropped; really, what's going on is that they're using pornography as the stalking goat for enhancing the tools of political control. If you can block porn, you can block links to "how to bypass content filters" and "here's photos of how state power responds to pro-democracy protestors, using tanks and guns." Sure - use porn-blocking to justify tightening your control of information.

One reason this strategy works is because the US (where Google and Yahoo! and Microsoft are) has its own horrible indecision about censorship. Thanks to a run of religious fanatics in our government, we have a Department of Justice that spends a significant amount of effort trying to prevent free speech in spite of the fact that, every time they try, The Supreme Court shoots them down. "The will of the people" doesn't even enter into it - but this kind of nonsense puts US companies in a position where they're already used to being told what is 'acceptable' or not by a government, and the legal structures are already in place to force compliance.

Censorship has always been one of the primary tools of the religious autocracy and dictatorship. Stifling free expression is necessary, especially when you are lying - and know you are lying - to your own people. Whenever you hear about dissent being suppressed, or a crack-down on anti-government speech, you can bet that - if it's on the Internet - the tools being used are the ones that were put in place for "porn" filtering. Think about that, next time someone tells you "it's for your own good."

:heart:

mjr.
  • Mood: Thanks
  • Listening to: Hasu Patel
  • Reading: "Without Miracles"
  • Watching: my computer; duh
  • Playing: with photoshop
  • Eating: Coffee
  • Drinking: Coffee

Devious Info

  • Current Residence: Morrisdale, Pennsylvania
  • Interests: computers, guns, photography, horses, dogs, blowing stuff up, rockets, particle physics, and more!
  • Favourite movie: Seven Samurai / The Duellists / Blade Runner / Hero / Battle Royale
  • Favourite band or musician: Apocalyptica / Cure / Evanescence / Rammstein / Bauhaus / Sisters of Mercy / Ray Wylie Hubbard
  • Favourite genre of music: Operatic goth
  • Favourite artist: Trevor Brown / Vermeer / Milo Manara / Serpieri / Caravaggio / Azpiri
  • Favourite poet or writer: George McDonald Fraser / Lois McMaster Bujold / Richard Feynman
  • Favourite photographer: Erwin Olaf / Helmut Newton / David Hamilton
  • Favourite style of art: sexy
  • Operating System: OpenBSD 2.6
  • MP3 player of choice: iPod 80 ("video porn" model)
  • Shell of choice: /bin/ksh
  • Wallpaper of choice: Black
  • Skin of choice: female
  • Favourite game: Laser Squad Nemesis / Xcom
  • Favourite gaming platform: whatever is in front of me
  • Favourite cartoon character: Marv from Sin City / Druuna / Honey
  • Personal Quote: If life gives you lemons - kick its ass.
  • Tools of the Trade: Desert Eagle .50AE, Canon EOS 5d, Photoshop, Intuos 3, screwdriver, K&R C
http://photography.ranum.com

Comments


Hello
used ur stock here [link]
thank you :heart:
:wave:
I just realized - we missed being in Paris at the same time as you, by all of 2 days!
Hello Mr Ranum, I saw a shot you took in your gallery titled Submission III and I know you hate people who want to use your work in a photo manipulation but I would love to use that piece as it is the only shot of its kind even though i have seen other shots in the same pose but they don't speak to me the way the Submission III does. I promise i'm not a sparkles all over your piece to ruin its beauty kind of guy. If you agree to at least allow me to add Violetta in the piece i am creating I would email the final product to you and you can tell me if you approve before i add it to my site. I can't even finish the piece to keep for myself without your permission. For some reason when i look at the almost complete product I feel like your blessing is missing.

Thanks for you answer in advance, Kyle.
Great art works :clap:
But I have a challenge for you - try to shoot different type of women - too fat, too skinny, too tall etc. It's a nice challenge and I hope you'll try : )
(and I want to see that your talent can make everything beautiful ;) )

--
:icondonotuseplz::iconmyartplz::iconccwelcomedplz1::iconccwelcomedplz2:
:iconcommentplz:
It's a nice challenge

It's also one I have zero interest in.

Site Map