Thirty years ago,I shot loop films for the peepshow machines that ran in porn theaters.On the average,these machines made about 125 to 200 dollars a night in quarters that were taken out of them daily.Most of the machines were owned by a man named Michael Thevis,who I believe is currently serving a life sentence in the state pen for murder and arson.In his day,Thevis grossed over 100 million dollars a year.
Back then,porn was illegal,or at best,on the fringe of legality.Production facilities as well as theaters and bookstores were constantly being raided.Meanwhile,the media attention it drew fueled more interest and interest in porn went to an all time high.Then along came the VCR and later the internet and no longer could porn remain a back alley business controlled by the mob.It's now a mainstream business with many fortune 500 companies backing it.What this means is that the violence and criminality in the legit porn industry is a thing of the past.A mobster like Thevis would think nothing of involving children,think nothing of murdering anyone who stood in his way or anything else criminal to make a profit.Today,these criminal activities are no longer part of the business.People who are in the business of porn in the US are there because they choose to be,and they're adults and today no one is getting bumped off because they want to compete in the industry.
This to me shows that making vice activites illegal does absolutely nothing to curtail the activities,indeed I believe that it helps proliferate them.Prohibition did nothing to curtail drinking.All it did was pave the way for the Al Capones of the world to provide the booze for an inflated price.Capone certainly didn't want Prohibition repealed because Prohibition insured that competition would be kept down,prices could be kept high and there was no annoying government inspections to make sure that quality control for the product was kept up.
Those who hold the opposing view to keep such activities illegal will talk about how disgusting these activities are,yet none of these folks could really argue logically about why these activities should be illegal.They'll go on and on about moral fiber and degradation and right and wrong,but not one of these posters can provide any emperical evidence or any logical,reasonable argument as to how legally prohibiting vice activities helps society.
Just from a cold look at the profit these businesses make,one can do some simple arithmetic and see how legalizing and taxing activities such as porn,prostitution,drugs and gambling could help the economy.The taxes could go to drug education,intervention and treatment,STD cure research and a host of other things that could treat society's ills instead of proliferating them.Furthermore,if these activities were kept in the hands of legal businesses,held to government guidelines and regulations,then the more important business of keeping these activities away from children and others not wishing to be exposed could be tended to.I mean right now,if a minor wants a beer or a cigarette,he needs an adult to buy it for them.If that same minor wants pot,it's much easier as he need only go to his dealer.
<font color="#a62a2a" size="1">[ January 16, 2007 10:11 AM: Message edited by: oldasdirt ]</font>
