I am, in essence, a fairly 'reactive' person. Hence, this is just a quick post related to both Cam and McKinley's most recent dissertations. Looking over my posts, it does seem that my two main concerns are veganism and porn. One informs the other. Seriously, once you start questioning the foundations of society, there are many inter-linked doors. Mainstream media and it's profit-motivated CEO's strike out on both (veg/porn). Many thanks to McInley for her links to Jensen's articles, -the following are thought-provoking extracts (bold highlighting indicating the phrases that really hit home to me). Enjoy;
" Listening to many on the left defend pornography, one would think the material is being made by struggling artists tirelessly working in lonely garrets to help us understand the mysteries of sexuality. Nothing could be further from the truth; the pornography industry is just that -- an industry, dominated by the pornography production companies that create the material, with mainstream corporations profiting from its distribution."
"News Corp. is a major owner of DirecTV, which sells more pornographic films than Flynt. In 2000, the New York Times reported that nearly $200 million a year is spent by the 8.7 million subscribers to DirecTV. Among News Corp.’s other media holdings are the Fox broadcasting and cable TV networks, Twentieth Century Fox, the New York Post, and TV Guide. Welcome to synergy: Murdoch also owns HarperCollins, which published pornography star Jenna Jameson’s best-selling book How To Make Love Like A Porn Star."
"So, men’s choices to buy or rent pornography are complicated by two realities. First, he likely can’t know the conditions under which women made their choices, and hence can’t know how meaningful the choices were. And second, even if he could make such a determination about specific women in a specific film he watches, the demand for pornography that his purchase helps create ensures that some other women will be hurt."
It's like being a vegan. When you know how deep the rabbit-hole goes, you are then presented with difficult choices as to how far you will go in your stance. Twentieth centure fox for example, ridig on the substantial profits of it's porn holding through Newscorp. It's not excatly a life-necessity, but should one boycott TCF via non-attendance? And Murdoch? I know at least one person who will be asking this corporate giant for collaborative assistance in the near future.
To close, this was my favourite ,-very succinct.
"If anyone wants to dismiss these concerns with the tired old phrases "to each his own" and "as long as they are consenting adults"...that is, if you want to ignore the reality and complexity of the world in which we live---I can't stop you. But I can tell you that if you do, you a abandoning minimal standards of political and moral responsibility, and you become partially responsible for the injuries done as a result of a system you refuse to confront"
Indeed.
definitely my vegetarianism (which is absolute, my veganism has occasional small lapses) reinforces my feminism, and vice-versa. They both fundamentally come down to the fact that, just because you have the power to do what you like to another creature, doesn't mean it's okay to.
ReplyDeleteAnd "the personal is political"
"every dollar is a vote"
that kind of thing.
I really appreciate knowing someone feels the same.
I hope Cameron really does try.
I suspect he will:-) And I agree, it's such a relief to know that you're not the only one who thinks this way:-)
ReplyDeleteLet's just hope that the 'engagement' is a silly cyber-possibility, not an actuality!