This has been among the most heavily debated issues on the boards lately. The country has become extremely polarized in most areas of the population, and the adult industry is no exception. Opponents of Bush are strident in their opposition, sometimes so much so that they become blind in their hatred and disgust toward the man. Many supporters are blind in their support. The middle ground is almost non existent.
No one can argue that Bush is a fan of porn, or even that he would not enjoy seeing our complete and utter demise. Likewise, no one can argue that Ashcroft has not made plans to go after porn companies. Otherwise, why would he have hired prosecutors specifically to enforce obscenity laws? Liberals seem to have a general apocalyptic vision of this industry's future under Bush/Ashcroft, arguing that the administration will do everything in its power to ensure that U.S. pornographers go under in the upcoming four year term. Second term presidents are much more free to take care of personal vendettas, without the fear of facing another upcoming election.
Conservatives and Bush supporters have two counters to this. For one, the administration has already had four years to attack our industry, and their assault has been relatively minor... almost non-existent. They argue that the administration has much greater concerns than obscenity, so there's not much chance of them turning their attention our way on a very large scale. They argue that even if attention is turned our way, only the most extreme cases (as with Extreme Associates) will be prosecuted (although Ashcroft has stated otherwise). Most importantly, will the Democratic alternative ensure our safety? John Kerry is no fan of porn (at least publicly). He's also known to shift opinions according to polls... and we all know that polls show a strong distaste among the American public for pornography - particularly online pornography which is seen as being far to readily available to children. Perhaps this wolf in sheep's clothing could be more dangerous than the more apparent opponents of porn to the conservative right (despite eight years of being virtually ignored under the Clinton administration).
Regardless of who wins this election, the effects on our industry simply cannot be predicted. No mainstream politician will ever align him/herself with our industry. If the people demand a crackdown on obscenity, then they'll get their crackdown regardless of who sits in the oval office, or who is acting as Attorney General. But history has shown a much greater focus by conservative adminstrations on prosecuting pornography. While liberal presidents will always publicly condemn porn, it goes largely ignored under their administrations. This is an issue that will be debated until well after the election, and only time will tell whether the winner of the upcoming election will be a boon for our industry (by simply ignoring us), or a disaster.
DISCUSS THIS AT JBM |
