SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL CYNIC: Porn serves a greater good

It's a hard thing to admit, but in our society, pornography provides a very real catalyst for technological advancement. While it most certainly hinders our moral and ethical development, there is no denying that porn is undoubtedly a stimulus for many of the advancements we have made in technological and social areas.

Earlier this week, The New York Times ran an article about a certain company in the adult film industry that is going to start releasing its products on high-definition discs. Outwardly, this raises a lot of negative responses, because even in the realm of pornography, there have to be some sort of boundaries. When does a close-up become too close?

There is no doubt that there are a lot of terrible, amoral facets to the porn industry, but during the past fifty years, it has proved to be actually beneficial to the advancement of society. Porn is probably inherently evil, but it is undeniably a necessary evil.

Porn has been the main driving force behind a lot of technological advancements in the 20th century. For example, Playboy changed the face of the magazine industry and helped to redefine the censorship laws in the country.

The home video market was initially almost solely driven by porn and the desire to get it off the streets and into homes. Porn also revolutionized the Internet.

Pornography has a way of seeing the perverted potential of something and laying the initial building blocks so that other companies and industries can build off of the foundation that it has already lain.

Look at DVDs. Pornography saw the possibilities within the DVD market and embraced it. That's why your DVD remote has a multi-angle button on it. It was only a matter of time before the major movie studios picked up on the concept and ditched VHS for a format that was clearly superior.

There's an old saying that goes something like, "If you give the laziest man the hardest job, he'll find the fastest way to do it." There should be another saying that goes, "If you put up obstacles in front of a pervert, he'll find a way to get around them." Lazy people and perverts are special members of society. They aren't restricted by social constraints; they're always thinking outside of the box.

Nearly everyone has an experience with a creepy coworker or lived in the dorms with someone who was way too into adult entertainment. And yes, there are most definitely better things these people could be doing with their time than watching digital images of naked people. But if it weren't for people who were willing to sit alone, dedicating their lives to the procuring of smut, the rest of us wouldn't be able to capitalize on their ideas.

We may not like having people like this around, but they serve a certain purpose in society. It's like convicts; we may not like having convicts around either, but if we didn't, who would make the license plates and clean the sides of the roads?

So the next time you see the sleazy porn-fanatic in your life, thank him for high speed Internet, because if it weren't for him and his kind, it probably wouldn't have been invented in the first place.

You could also shake his hand; but make sure he washes it first.

Paul Metz is a graduate student and wrote this 'Support Your Local Cynic' for the Daily News. His views do not necessarily agree with those of the newspaper.

Write to Paul at pjmetz@bsu.edu

Comments