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I have seen a few news articles recently about the effort to connect remote communities and cultures to the Internet. Often the subject of the discussion is Musk's 'Starlink' system which is supposed to be able to connect any location on the planet.
Something that is not commented on is the corruptive influence of the Internet, specifically in previously remote or under-developed cultures. Many of the contributors here struggle with the attraction of digital pornography, but then we've all grown up with electronic media, TV, and access to media of all kinds. Imagine the impact of suddenly being exposed to this kind of material in a traditional culture with strict conventions around sexual ethics and gender relations. It is not hard to see how it would would have huge impact. I remember reading a few references some years ago about the impact in remote Australian communities, where young men were sexually assaulting their female relatives, including sisters, after watching porn on mobile phones. I've also seen the stories about the link between pornography and sexual violence in India.
There's not a lot of discussion in the Australian media, aside from the odd article. The view in liberal cultures is generally that censorship of any kind is a greater evil than pornography, which is always a matter of 'individual choice' (many here will notice the irony of that.) And in my experience, to criticize porn on the internet is invariably to come off as a prude - it's like criticizing alchohol at a pub.
I'm not proposing that I or anyone can do anything about it, so I guess I'm just sounding off.
Something that is not commented on is the corruptive influence of the Internet, specifically in previously remote or under-developed cultures. Many of the contributors here struggle with the attraction of digital pornography, but then we've all grown up with electronic media, TV, and access to media of all kinds. Imagine the impact of suddenly being exposed to this kind of material in a traditional culture with strict conventions around sexual ethics and gender relations. It is not hard to see how it would would have huge impact. I remember reading a few references some years ago about the impact in remote Australian communities, where young men were sexually assaulting their female relatives, including sisters, after watching porn on mobile phones. I've also seen the stories about the link between pornography and sexual violence in India.
There's not a lot of discussion in the Australian media, aside from the odd article. The view in liberal cultures is generally that censorship of any kind is a greater evil than pornography, which is always a matter of 'individual choice' (many here will notice the irony of that.) And in my experience, to criticize porn on the internet is invariably to come off as a prude - it's like criticizing alchohol at a pub.
I'm not proposing that I or anyone can do anything about it, so I guess I'm just sounding off.