The quintessence of conservatism

[sabotabby]

So Tom Flanagan is pro-child porn, basically

The far-right, which is now mainstream in Canada, will continue to spin this in whatever direction suits them, but the fact is that Flanagan's comments, that the freedom of pervs to wank over child porn outweighs the right of children to not be abused, raped, or otherwise exploited by said pervs, really sums up the modern conservative mindset. (Of course Jonathan Kay is defending him. Of course.) "Freedom" is a meaningless term to them, easily appropriated to mean the opposite of what it means to most people. Just as some Maoists claim to recognize only the right to revolt, so does the contemporary right only recognize one right: the right to be a complete asshole.

Lest the significance of Flanagan's comments be downplayed as merely the senile babblings of some whacko poli sci prof, it should be noted that his is one of the key minds behind Stephen Harper's rise to power and the merging of the traditionally right-wing Progressive Conservative Party with the radical right Reform Party to form the CCRAP party. He's an important dude. He gets paid to think about this shit and how it will help the Tories stay in power.

And as much as Harper and his party will attempt to distance themselves from the pedo professor, his comments are indeed the logical conclusion of market economics. Marginalized people, including children, women, workers, people of colour, and especially indigenous people, are not entitled to rights or freedoms of any sort. Corporations have rights. Property has rights. Wealthy white men are entitled to freedom of speech, up to and including speech that causes active harm, but no one else is. (It is permissible to look at photographs of exploited children—that's just a matter of "taste," but the Raging Grannies are a threat to national security.) When Conservatives screech about the evils of child pornography, they typically have an agenda that has nothing to do with protecting actual children and everything to do with giving themselves broader surveillance powers.

Markets don't optimize human behaviour for the better. In a pure free market, child porn would be an incredibly profitable industry. We rarely see economic violence enacted as vividly as Flanagan's statements illustrate, but this is an extreme example of how the capitalism, at its heart, fosters cruelty and inhumanity.

I wish I could say I was enjoying watching this scandal unfold, but it, you know, involves child porn, which is kind of a rage-inducing subject for me. I do hope it brings down the government, but we're never that lucky.

Comments

[ironed_orchid]

Fuck.

I came here to write screeds of disgust. But just, fuck.

[sabotabby]

There aren't enough screeds of disgust.

[lienne.livejournal.com]

mhfcgjfrdh;kjnkj.nkjhvbkujgcfneangfcvkjuhyugk,jgcwkjhbjlkjjhhglffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffgfgk,hgbj

[sabotabby]

At least mostly everyone is appropriately outraged?

[frandroid.livejournal.com]

I'm giddy that Flanagan has basically lost all of his gigs, and that it did not take one day for his university to force him to retire.

Also of note, the people who brought these quotes out of Flanagan aren't random people, they're Idle No More activists that drew him out and recorded him. Yay activism.

[sabotabby]

I didn't know the latter bit. But that rocks extra hard.

[monster-grrrl.livejournal.com]

I think you really hit the nail on the head (or hour the basil on the head, as my phone seems to think I want to say) with your comment about freedom being about being able to be an asshole. Why are people so ready to be such jerks instead of having compassion for others?

[sabotabby]

Hour the basil on the head. I love it.

They're jerks because they're privileged. They haven't taken the time to remember that children, in this case, are actual humans that exist in the world. I don't think it even occurs to them.

[monster-grrrl.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I feel like that every time a discussion gets derailed by dudes who want to argue as if people's experience is a theoretical issue. My feelings don't matter because I'm not actually a person.

Which is probably why those dudes stop talking to me when express empathy for their feelings.

[misslynx.livejournal.com]

Yes. I took a brief, ill-advised look at the comments on that article (I know, I know, never do that!) and while the first few were from people reacting fairly appropriately, right after that there was one about how really, this story should have been titled "Conservative stands up for individual rights", and then no one would have been outraged at all, but that of course the Star wouldn't print that, because they are TEH EVIL LIBERALZ.

Because apparently freedom to abuse children - or, since Flanagan and his defenders seem to be emphasizing the difference between producing child porn, which they generously allow is actually bad, and consuming it, which is apparently OK, the freedom to pay others to abuse children for you, is all about "individual rights". Children, apparently, not being individuals.

This is a pretty rage-inducing topic for me too, especially as a parent. Anyone who thinks their "individual freedom" extends to harming my kid is likely to find out that my individual freedom extends to ripping their throats out with my teeth.

[sabotabby]

There's a good argument to be made that our current child porn laws are fucked, in the sense that they go after purely fictional works, including depictions of child abuse by survivors of child abuse. And, like, Harry Potter fanfiction, which never harmed anything other than my sanity. But that is apparently not what he's talking about; he seems to be claiming that it's wrong to make the porn, but not that it's wrong to provide a market for it. Which is incredibly backward and yes, typical conservative mendacity.

[ironed_orchid]

children, in this case, are actual humans that exist in the world.

I used to run up against this all the time in philosophy related conversations where people would try to treat child porn as purely a censorship issue. Real children, real crimes, real abuse, real harm.

[sabotabby]

I suppose it's unpleasant to contemplate how child porn actually gets made, but necessary, politically and philosophically speaking.

[terry-terrible.livejournal.com]

Who would've known; the CP likes CP.

[sabotabby]

This does not surprise me. Arch-conservatives tend to all be perverts.