- Points out that the courts agree that porn can/does cause harm. - Argues that a society that allows porn is one that does not take a large portion of its populace seriously. McKinnon points out that child porn expresses an idea, but we do not allow it to protect children. If porn is harmful, whey ought we allow it rather than protect women from its adverse effects Bottom Line: Porn is real bad. So bad that it ought not be around. Defending it via the first amendment and freedom of speech is absurd, since it leads to silencing of women and as such goes against the spirit of the first amendment anyway. d) .
Bork: - Another Anti-absolutist: focuses on the harm done to the moral community at large. - Democracy, for Bork, requires citizens with good character. Offensive things like gangsta rap and pornography destroy that character and hence should not be allowed. - Argues against the notion that 'if you don't like it, you ought turn it off' as untenable: it is impossible to avoid the proliferation of sex and violence in mainstream media insofar as you have anything to do with the mainstream, since its effects are so wide reaching. Also argues that solutions such as ratings or the v-chip are ineffective. - Points to studies showing a connection between the mass media and undesirable social effects like teen pregnancy, shootings etc. - Argues that decency impossible to maintain in an 'anything goes' society. - Points to cyclical effect: it used to be that the communities" standards could determine what ought to be allowed. But as porn proliferates, the community standards drop accordingly. And so, we (to quote the title of the book) 'slouch towards Gommorah', with little or no character, left to make democracy what it need be: an institution full of people with respect for one another and for the law and for decency. - Tries to argue (I think this is ridiculous, personally) that he is against government control and for greater democratic control.