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A comment on Rick Falkvinge: Why free speech is harmed by the ban on child porn. Parent comment

Re:Rick Falkvinge: Why free speech is harmed by the ban on c... by sunnysunday on Sunday September 09, 2012 @08:50PM (#4497728)
I think you are making an assumption that I am suggesting there's a link between what people watch and what they do. I would expect that such assumptions would be made. It is an issue that is debated ad nauseum. No surprise you brought it up.

But I am not suggesting that, nor am I contemplating that issue. I am merely suggesting there indeed appears to be strong "market" for watching violence and murder, whether it is Hollywood or whether it is for real. And I might hope that the reader would question why that market exists. Issues of whether or how it should be "regulated" are besides the point. The question I'm asking is: Why do people want to watch such things to begin with?

And maybe this leads to thinking about the idea of "Hollywood" versus real life. What is "reality TV"? Why would "reality TV" be marketable?

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Rick Falkvinge: Why free speech is harmed by the ban on c... by aes256 on Monday September 10, 2012 @06:09AM (#4499054)
> I am merely suggesting there indeed appears to be strong "market" for watching violence and murder, whether it is Hollywood or whether it is for real. And I might hope that the reader would question why that market exists. Issues of whether or how it should be "regulated" are besides the point. The question I'm asking is: Why do people want to watch such things to begin with?

Why do people want to watch gore videos? For the reasons I just listed. Morbidity, curiosity, etc. I'm sure there are a few other reasons besides these.

All valid reasons why a reasonable, sane person might want to view such videos. I suppose you could say this creates a "market". In the case of gore videos, I would contend this market extends only so far as some (not all) people in possession of existing gore videos deciding to make them public on the Internet.

In other words, the market fuels the propagation of existing material, but not necessarily the creation of new material.

[ Parent | on HN ]