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The fact that Paris Hilton's appearance on a reality television show had higher television ratings than Bush right after the capture of Saddam Hussein (1) shows that young men in the U$A have taken pornography to a whole new level. After September 11th, 2001, it was a source of some embarrassment that nakednews.com had to stop operations for a few days. The viewers realized that maybe their grip on politics was not what it should be and that at least for that moment, nakednews.com would not do. By the end of 2003, the pornography consumer openly ditched politics for Paris Hilton. It is actually a return to "normalcy" that less than three years later, Bush captures Saddam Hussein and the under-40 crowd changes the channel to Paris Hilton. That is a huge political watershed moment. It's tempting to say that when Amerikkkans are watching their porno videos at least they are not lapping up Bush-league propaganda. The government has tried so often to link Saddam Hussein and his sons to unrestrained sexual appetites indulged in luxury pads that then become the subject of tabloid story after tabloid story. Yet, now it is difficult to tell if this was just a way of getting the attention of readers. There is obviously good money to be made in telling and re-telling the stories of the sex lives of men who supposedly procured wimmin at will. The next image from all this that comes to mind is a military juggernaut moving forward and crushing all underfoot, while most of the staff of the juggernaut pays no attention, because it is too busy with pornography. The Amerikkkan military can accomplish quite a bit with some degree of efficiency even while most of the country continues in its oblivious and privileged existence. By coincidence, at the end of 2003, the bourgeois media did some thorough news stories that show how pornography gained mainstream acceptance in the United $tates. At $10 billion a year in business, the porno business is equal to the music industry or the non-porno big-screen industry.(2) Especially noteworthy is how pornography videos are the key to some cable television and hotel profits--not in the adult entertainment production industry, but in "mainstream" businesses catering to pornography consumers. CBS reported it this way: "Last year, Comcast, the nation's largest cable company, pulled in $50 million from adult programming. All the nation's top cable operators, from Time Warner to Cablevision, distribute sexually explicit material to their subscribers. But you won't read about it in their annual reports. Same with satellite providers like EchoStar and DirecTV, which is owned by Hughes Technology, a subsidiary of General Motors."(2) It appears that DirecTV would be in the red without pornography of about $500 million in revenue a year. The days are long gone when it was useful to think of pornography as some "deviant lifestyle" to be corrected by pre-political lifestyle practices such as advised by Christian preachers. Many of the largest corporations in Amerika would be sunk without pornography. "Hilton, Marriot [sic], Hyatt, Sheraton and Holiday Inn [...] all offer adult films on in-room pay-per-view television systems. And they are purchased by a whopping 50 percent of their guests, accounting for nearly 70 percent of their in-room profits. One hotel owner said, 'We have to have it, our guests demand it.'"(2) That level of economic organization is not something that a trip down to the local synagogue or Christian church is going to take care of. Capitalism is another reason that gender oppression is a system, not a lifestyle. If one cable company or hotel tried to do the "right thing," another would come along and make the profits from doing the "wrong thing." Hence, no single individual's choice really matters in a profit-system. The pornography industry now lobbies the California legislature, and among other things, lobbyists point out that adult entertainment brings California 12,000 jobs.(2) For that matter, all other entertainers have to compete; thus, Britney Spears and the "Friends" television show have made obliging references.(2) To restrict our view of pornography's influence to the direct employees of adult entertainment companies would be a big mistake. The biggest possible blow to pornography is not the same old religion, Christian, Muslim or any other. Those religions have been around for thousands of years without contributing to the solution of the oppression of wimmin. The biggest blow to pornography will come with socialist revolution. When it is legally impossible to make profits or spend ill-gotten money, it is pornography and drugs that will suffer most. Mao already proved that by successfully abolishing thriving drug, prostitution and pornography trades in China (1949-1976). Taking away someone's "right" to make profits from pornography is indeed an act of dictatorship at this stage in history and until the day no one would think of making money that way. That's why people who want an end to the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, prostitution, drugs and pornography should support the dictatorship of the proletariat.
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