I’m disappointed in your logic here Mark. I think that’s an “intellectually dishonest” argument your posting here.

Think of it this way…
If this is “just news” as you put it…
Would you feel comfortable in bringing this article into say a 3rd graders class room and reading it in front of the kids?
Yes or No?

LOL! How much fun would that be? Hell, why not a Boing Boing post discussing the issue of Avatars having sex in Second Life or some other virtual community? My cute avatar looks like a five year old boy. Of course, I’m not five, so it would be okay for me to engage in virtual sexual relations with an adult dragon-headed lizard lady. Or a priest. It’s all far game, right?

And yet…there are ways of talking about and reporting about pr0n which are less graphic, and more fit for smaller eyes. I’m currently accessing this from a middle school, for example. Thankfully, I convinced the district admin to unblock boingboing a few years ago, since I get good ideas and content for my computers/media/culture classes from here. And though this entry isn’t something I can use, it’s still relevant to someone tracking cyberculture, as I have to for my work.

I have no problems with this entry, in other words, though I know I’m taking a risk here in an empty classroom in a planning period. And though the NYT can theoretically address the same issue, I’d not feel as uncomfortable trying to defend reading it in the classroom. Degrees matter, here.

On the other hand, the screenshot of today’s BoingBoingTV episode is much less appropriate than this one, and it’s harder, I think, to justify that as news. At first, I thought I was in the comments section for the wrong entry.

Is news about porn the same thing as porn?

As far as many are concerned, yes. You don’t really expect Americans to have rational, adult views about sex do you? There is a very large segment of the population in America for whom even the slightest hint of sex must be vigorously repressed. Otherwise snorting a line of coke off a gay hooker’s ass loses it’s appeal.

It’s good to see that the art of letter writing is still alive, at least when our ready supply of dildonics is threatened by internal deadly foes. Were you serious about having a contact for the DL to ask that question? If yes, then yes.

I’m always amused by the snarky faux disclaimers in “This American Life” along the lines of “there is no actual sex in this story but it does acknowledge the existence of sex.”

It’s sort of like “note to dumb people: you are dumb”

Let’s look at an example of your logic. Say the Lizard Man of Lee County is real, and that it has sneaked into three houses and eaten the kids. I don’t think it would be appropriate to tell my kids the news reports about the Lizard Man if we lived in Lee County, but that doesn’t mean the news story about the Lizard Man is the Lizard Man itself.

Sheesh!

And if Takuan can totally misunderstand my point like that, then I give up trying to explain myself. I must not be doing a good job – I’ll go back to lurking again. I’ll keep my comments to myself.

needless to say – Thanks Mark for doing a good job on bb – I’m a huge fan and meant no disrespect. (and no I’m not being sarcastic here.)

ps> my comment about the Lizard Man was meant to be a joke too, but even that too sounds sarcastic and nasty. Sorry again.

#18/32, Would you feel comfortable reading a graphic article about waterboarding to a 3rd grade class? Why exactly is it that you want to raise 3rd graders to be uncomfortable with this?

#19, Why do people always underestimate the intellectual capacity of third graders. (I was reading OMNI in third grade.)

By the way, who was it who decided we need to protect third graders, rather than preschoolers. Maybe we should ban clashing colours and words longer than two syllables.

#25, Sometimes you don’t really don’t want to click that link, especially if it mentions rule 34.

#28, I think you may have hit the nail on the head. (Hehehe, they said “nail.”)

#32, I think internally censoring the subjects that can be posted to defeat being censored by censorware would defeat the purpose. I also don’t see the post itself as being objectionable, though following the link might be. Well designed censorware would block opening the link to the site that is being mentioned rather than the mere mention of the site.

I wonder if Fox News would be censored by the same censorware that blocks BoingBoing.

I don’t think the net, or the rest of the world, should be made appropriate for the idealized vision of childlike innocence held by the sort of people who are likely to say “won’t someone think of the children.”

#36, SL makes it possible to explore all sorts of situations, but it’s obviously a simulation and the kink factor is still only in your mind. I’m not exactly impressed by watching live, recorded or simulated meat rubbing against other meat.

DISAPPOINTED,
clarice

I don’t like having to hear or see theft, murder, lies, slander, corruption, or violence while I eat my breakfast.

And yet the news continues to be broadcast.

Might I suggest being more mindful of where you click? The word “porn” is present in the title of the article, so you knew what you were getting into when you read the article. Which you didn’t have to do. You could have skipped it without missing out on anything else on Boing Boing. But you chose not to. (Or were you merely offended by reading the word “porn”? That would be truly sad.)

You’re an adult, right? Act like one. Take responsibility for your own actions. Seriously, how did you end up reading the article if you didn’t want to see anything about porn?

Boingboing blogs about all kinds of commercial enterprises. Why is this any more “free advertising” than a post about someone selling arty chairs or bizarre stuffed animals?

Just because you don’t care about one post doesn’t magically make the entire blog Eeeebil.

For reference, I’m a girl, and a world of warcraft player. I have no intention of going out and downloading this mans product (I have suspicions my boyfriend may have already done that, actually) but I still find the article interesting and amusing.

Next thing you know there will be human/chimp hybrid porn when those “reborn” baby sculptures grown up.

I might also not see it appropriate to discuss murder and rape with a 3rd grade class, but would still see this as news worthy material.

#6 Noen You don’t really expect Americans to have rational, adult views about sex do you? There is a very large segment of the population in America for whom even the slightest hint of sex must be vigorously repressed.

I fully expected that last sentence to read “There is a very large segment of the population in America for whom even the slightest hint of sex elicits juvenile laughter and dick jokes.” That’s probably closer to the truth.