How much would you pay?

If you think about it, it all stems from the legalization of porn and a culture that accepts certain types of sexual behavior. I used to think that people who watched porn and masturbated to it was just a normal, healthy thing for men to do. Why is it that I'm finding from not only churches (who were against it to begin with) but the anti-church liberal side of the spectrum saying similar things? Is it because perhaps there is some truth in the statement that porn is bad?

How is it bad? Little teenagers watch porn. How else are they going to release the sexual tension they build up from the rest of the media that's out there that's encouraging them to have sex at as early of an age as possible? Well, it's when porn starts interfering with people's sex lives. I'm not saying I condone pre-marital sex - I'm against it but I have my reasons for that. Eh, to each their own. I know the statistics for divorce with people who've had multiple sex partners (divorce rate goes up exponentially with increasing number of sexual partners, surprise surprise) and as with other people, I'm entitled to exercise my opinion on the matter. In the end, if people are going to have sex, so be it. The problem is when porn starts to interfere with people having healthy sex lives. Since I'm talking about married people who have this problem, let's use that as an example.

A married couple is very in love with each other. They have a healthy, supportive relationship and for the most part are very happy with each other. However, the man has a problem. He's been watching porn since he was 14 and is used to getting off by watching porn and his right hand. So now when he's with a real woman in bed, he can't perform.

I mean there are differing opinions about this, but this pastor, Mark Gungor, made a good point - if you make it a big enough habit, you can pretty much reprogram your body to respond to only certain kinds of stimuli. I don't understand why this is such a big debate. NO DUH GUYS ARE HAVING PROBLEMS. I mean think about it. Boys start watching porn at as early as 6 (apparently) and let's say your balls drop at around 14. If you start on a habit, conditioning your body to respond to your hand to projected images on a computer screen for several years until starting with real women, what the heck do you think your body's going to do when it comes in contact with real women? What other habits does anyone keep up from 14? I can't think of any except the unhealthy ones I want to stop. When I first heard the whole debate about porn, I didn't it was a big deal. But this is kind of a problem.

This is not a religious thing (just because I heard this habit thing from a pastor means nothing when he's basing his observations on scientific and psychological studies - think Pavlov). In the end, I think this only affects guys who can't get women, choose not to and choose only to watch porn and all this other stuff. Blah blah blah. I mean this is one of the many problems with porn.

Then what's the other problem with porn? It stimulates. Guys have issues getting it up with real women. But for some guys, it turns into a desire to have a women. Because they can't get women, turn to prostitutes. If they get into certain types of porn, they start wanted to do illegal things to women. Some people can't view anything without the lens of porn since apparently every conceivable situation can be turned into a bom-chika-wow-wow situation. So what happens? Oh, look, you can pay a couple thousand bucks to have your own personal sex slave! When you're done them, pay a couple more thousand, get another one! They're so much cheaper than prostitutes and they cost less than woo-ing a chic for a date with only a possibility of getting laid and it's much less effort!

Except they don't want to be there. They thought they were going to get a new job at a company or factory so that they could help feed their family. Or their parents sold them because they come from a poverty-stricken country that can't even afford to feed themselves.

Oh boo-hoo, what a sad story. It doesn't affect me so who cares? What if it does matter? What if it did affect you?

Yeah, sex slavery is a pretty big deal. Does anyone personally know anyone else that has a sex slave? Well obviously not, people know it's illegal. No one's going to go around advertising that they have a sex slave in their home! No one's that stupid. But it exists. Even in the States. Isn't that sad? Go to this website: http://www.slaverymap.org/ I found 2 cases in my neighborhood. In a city that's apparently supposed to be affluent. Where bums aren't allowed to stay in one place for more than a couple nights because of the city's image.

But what about other forms of slavery?

What about the type where young children are forced to work long hours, just so they can eat three meals and live in a small room and get beaten every once in a while? Is that not slavery? Where dogs will attack them if they try to run away?

Would you be happy knowing that something you're eating, wearing or using stemmed from another person's pain and suffering? What if a lot of the products you buy, the products you use, the things you eat are direct results of these slaves working? Yeah child labor was a big deal back in the 90s - Nike apparently used them and Abercrombie apparently used them and now they probably don't. Hopefully. It's a non-issue since then, isn't it? Who cares anyway?

Can you really say who cares? Would you care if your 5-12 year-old child, niece/nephew, cousin, etc. had to do that kind of stuff?

Then the answer becomes "Well there isn't much I can do. That's just the way the world is."

Now there is something you can do. Simply buy an app (http://www.free2work.org/) and check to see how much of the stuff you're going to buy is a result of slave labor. Support companies that don't use slave labor. Don't support companies that use slave labor. It's not that hard. Though sadly, it's kind of hard for me because I'm one of the few people of my generation that doesn't have a smartphone. -_-;;

Y'know what the sad thing is? Making tiny choices to help the environment or the people in the environment makes me feel like I'm saving the world. Sometimes, I wonder what I can do. I have no money, I'm really not much of an activist and I don't volunteer as often as I feel I should.

But these kinds of decisions to help people out - whether it's buying a pair of Toms shoes (which apparently isn't a sound business model from an activist point of view but that's another story) or choosing not to buy certain types of coffee that use slave labor using that handy dandy little app or buying those cute T-shirts at the Not for Sale store. I mean there's a lot more that people can do nowadays... and I mean dude. It's slavery. It was totally supposed to be over in 1865 when Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation. There were supposed to be basic civil rights after the Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s. What the heck, America?

Anyway, if you're interested, check out the Not for Sale website - it probably has more accurate statistics and how you can get involved and all that jazz: http://www.notforsalestore.org/.

Yeah it's a long post, but honestly, slavery seems to be such a dumb, human-induced issue that we need to deal with. Why the heck does it even exist nowadays? It's so stupid. End it and stop people from doing it ever again so we can deal with other issues at hand (like all the people who are dealing with the aftermath of natural disasters).

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Completely random, but it's interesting how timing with certain things works out, isn't it? I felt so passionless a couple days ago, and now I have something to be passionate about. ^_^ heh~ I hope this lasts. I keep thinking that I'm just little ol' me and I won't be able to do much so I'll just do as much as I can while I still have the motivation so that I can feel like I've helped the world in my own little way. ^^;;