Jurisprudence: Harm Principle & Enforcement of morality: Pornography and cencorship?

Question

1. Does society have the right to pass judgement on private matters which concern only the individual?

2. In what circumstances is intervention justified?

3. Should the law intervene to prohibit or restrict the free market in pornography? If so, what form should regulation take?

4. What are the dangers of legal regulation in this area?

Answer 1

only one word should describe this topic

FREEDOM

Answer 2

1. Under the "preventing harm", not if there is no societal harm. Under the "enforcing morality", current laws say yes. I disagree.

2. Justified? Anytime it is accepted. I don't approve of forced intervention, since it is ultimately counter-productive in most cases.

3. No. The law should not be legislating religious morality.

4. Left as an exercise for the reader. But imagine what happens when the govt has the authority to determine what information is safe for you to be exposed to, like a parent does with a 4-year old.

Answer 3

Whether society should pass judgement on personal matters or not is moot. We have been legislating morality for years. With porn intervention is justified when the participants are shown to be underage or forced to participate. Porn made with underage girls or boys is repugnant to most people and needs to be stopped. Legal regulation wont stop this particular black market item it can only attempt to stop the flow of kiddy porn.

Answer 4

laws that restrict any form of expression restrict all forms of expression.

no civil right is in a 'vacuum' ; no one person's rights stand alone; what affects on person's rights affects ALL person's rights.

once that slippery slope is breached, how and when will it stop? It seems that historically we have an example of how it stops. Did you ever hear of the "Boston Tea Party"? or Taxation without representation? I am sure that small incursions on civil rights were taken first .......

Answer 5

1. No
2. When it could cause harm to others
3. No
4. The black market

Answer 6

' C E N S O R S H I P '