Pornography can hurt children, women and men. The objectification of human beings leads us to disregard the humanity of the other and use the other for our own perceived good … Passing laws against such material on the Internet is not the solution. Such laws would seem to be relatively unenforceable and at the same time a violent reaction to this evil. Ultimately it is true that we cannot legislate morality – each of the ethics we have examined comes to this same conclusion … Pornography on the Internet – do we really care? Indeed we do – we care both for the freedom of the Internet to explore and the freedom of the individual from harassment and harm. And so we end up validating both the Internet as a link for the autonomous individual and a vehicle towards and for responsibility.
Predictor: Pohlhaus, Gaile M.
Prediction, in context:In 1994, Gaile M. Pohlhaus, presented the paper, “The Use of the Internet as a Vehicle for Pornography – Do We Really Care?,” at the Symposium on Free Speech and Privacy in the Information Age at the University of Waterloo. Pohlhaus writes: ”Pornography can hurt children, women and men. The objectification of human beings leads us to disregard the humanity of the other and use the other for our own perceived good … Passing laws against such material on the Internet is not the solution. Such laws would seem to be relatively unenforceable and at the same time a violent reaction to this evil. Ultimately it is true that we cannot legislate morality – each of the ethics we have examined comes to this same conclusion. We can only educate towards it … We should refuse to participate in this evil. Organizations such as University communities and businesses should not carry the bulletin boards which promote and propagate pornography … We can see that the persons who are demanding the right of unlimited access to pornography on the Internet – while calling for responsible action are, in fact, refusing to take responsibility for their actions as they impact upon others. Far from pornography being a creative use of the Internet, it is in fact an oppressive act when it is used to intimidate, oppress, or coerce other people. It is by examining both the ethics of justice and the ethics of care that we can see that they can work together to bring to moral analysis a full panorama of responses and opportunities. As with any situation it is not in opposing dialectically that the solution can be found but in dialogically working for a mutual acceptable solution. Pornography on the Internet – do we really care? Indeed we do – we care both for the freedom of the Internet to explore and the freedom of the individual from harassment and harm. And so we end up validating both the Internet as a link for the autonomous individual and a vehicle towards and for responsibility.”
Date of prediction: January 1, 1994
Topic of prediction: Controversial Issues
Subtopic: Pornography
Name of publication: Symposium on Free Speech and Privacy in the Information Age
Title, headline, chapter name: The Use of the Internet as a Vehicle for Pornography – Do We Really Care?
Quote Type: Direct quote
Page number or URL of document at time of study:
gopher://insight.mcmaster.ca:70/09/org/efc/doc/sfsp/pohlhaus
This data was logged into the Elon/Pew Predictions Database by: Guarino, Jennifer Anne