Friday, July 10, 2009

[izoeyofe] Porn of porn

Rule 34 of the Internet states that "if you can think of it, there exists porn of it on the Internet ".

Is there pornography of pornography? This requires answering the age-old question of exactly what pornography is. Suppose we define pornography along the lines of something which is devoid of any other value than arousing the viewer. Then, "porn of X" is defined as taking X, which does have some "merit" outside of sexual arousal and re-doing it in a way removing that merit. (I personally believe anything, including things that others might call obscene, has value as a historical record of our contemporary culture.)

By this definition, porn of porn cannot exist. It is the removal of "merit" that makes something pornography, and for pornography itself, there is no starting "merit" to remove by definition. Ironically, this makes porn itself a giant exception to Rule 34.

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