Iceland government, lead by the militant lesbian feminist Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir from the Social Democratic Party (aligned to the Socialist International) is now planning to implement Internet filters, similar to the ones being used in Iran and China, in order to censor Internet porn in the country[1]. Moreover, they also plan to make it illegal for people to use Icelandic credit or debit cards to purchase pay-per-view pornography over the internet.
Interior Minister Ögmundur Jónasson, from the Left Green Movement, says this should be done because the rights of the women that appear in porn are violated and that he also considers the safety of the children that might get access to pornographic content as “a priority.”
He also adds that this is not censorship, saying the following:
We have to be able to discuss a ban on violent pornography, which we all agree has a very harmful effects on young people and can have a clear link to incidences of violent crime.
A problem, though, as there is no link between porn and the incidence of violent crime, except to the degree that study after study after study points to the indisputable fact that increased availability of internet pornography has a strong positive correlation to a decrease in violent crime, rape in particular.
To put it even more bluntly, there is valid concern that the proposed Icelandic measures will result in an increase in rape.
Regardless of how one might feel about pornography, it’s obvious that control over the Internet is the wet dream of almost all governments in recent years, since the Internet is the only place that is still free of censorship and ideological control.
Besides, there’s no mention anywhere, in any news report, about the men that appear in porn. Aren’t their rights also violated?
What’s worse, is that censorship of porn has the synergistic support of many religious radicals who also feel that they have the right to dictate others what they can and cannot watch. This is not the first time when we see feminism and religious radicalism virtually mirroring views regarding sexuality in general, and male sexuality in particular. Feminism and Christianity collude on the view that male sexuality is dirty[3], the same way feminism colludes with Abrahamic religions’ view with regard to porn.
That being said, it is likely for this idea to pass, at least in Iceland – though I would not hold my breath on the UK anytime soon.
To make things worse, the Icelandic government paints this overt authoritarian censorship as “progressive” and “civilized” – just like other governments in Europe have done throughout the last 20 years with their authoritarian bans and regulations – and the population buys their story.
Iceland has a history of this kind of action
In 2010, the Icelandic government banned strip clubs, lap dancing or paying for nudity in restaurants and in 2011, the government also made it illegal for one to print porn or to sell pornographic material. So this is basically an extension of the law to Internet porn.
The fact that Dubai bans lap dancing for Islamic reasons and Iceland did it for feminist reasons describes the best way possible the synergy between two totalitarian ideologies. The end result is the same.
This opens the door wide for scarier things
But the issue goes beyond porn. The moment you let someone have control over the Internet, the possibilities for tyranny are unlimited. China commenced its censorship program attempting to stamp out criticism of the Politburo and the Communist Party and it ended up banning all social media. It was close to banning Google till Google helped them censor material from Chinese citizens.
Iran started its program attempting to prevent non-Islamic positions to be read by the people, and it ended up banning blogspot and wordpress altogether – including, ironically, several thousands Islamic blogs.
So is it going to be different in Iceland? Of course not. Except that more women are likely to be raped.
What will stop the Icelandic government from banning AVfM? They can just say that because this article contains the word “pornography” – it will lead people into temptation. The government is all too happy to “deliver you from evil”.
The same happened in the EU with several attempts to pass legislation that would allegedly help the authorities to catch imaginary pedophiles. Since the laws were rejected, now the European Parliament prepares to spend millions of euros to pay Internet trolls to deal with those criticizing the Maoist-lead European Union[4].
So this is not a slippery slope fallacy. Giving governments’ control over the Internet will eventually degenerate to censorship of everything that the State doesn’t like and frankly, there are a lot of things on the Internet that the State doesn’t like, starting with freedom.
Is this the world in which Icelanders want to live? Is this the world in which any sane person wants to live?
You don’t like porn? Fine, then don’t watch it! You don’t want your children to access porn? Fine, then install a parental control software. You don’t want your children to access porn from their smartphones? Well, there is a technical solution for that, too. Or a better one – don’t buy your children a smartphone. What do they need it for? There are a lot of classical cell phones available on the market that will fulfill the necessity of being in touch with your kid. This way, your kid might actually end up socializing with people instead of living his or her life on social media.
We are heading towards a world where the Ministry of Truth will tell us what opinions we should hold. And, as time goes by, this statement becomes less of a farfetched hypothesis and more of a daily reality.
[2] http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2277769/Icelands-bid-ban-web-porn.html#axzz2KldsNyMh
[3] http://www.avoiceformen.com/men/men-and-patriarchy-in-the-church/
