Porn Too Easily Accessible

A little note on where we are morally, how far we've traveled, and what the direction has been.

A few nights ago, I had the thrill of rewatching one of the most acclaimed British movies of all time, the Michael Caine starrer from 1971, "Get Carter."

Directed and written by Mike Hodges, the story is of a London hit man for the mob who comes back to his gritty industrial birthplace, Newcastle (as in "coals to Newcastle . . .") to avenge the murder of his brother.

This ruthless killer discovers that his brother was murdered because the brother found out that his teenage daughter had been duped into playing in an amateur porn movie made by and for a local slot machine mogul.

The outrage the killer (Caine) feels for the fact that his niece has been roped into such a horrid venture leads him to kill about a dozen men and women, some only modestly connected with the incident.

The outrage society feels for such porn doings is revealed by the fact that merely mailing the 8 mm movie to Scotland Yard brings down the full force of the law upon local gangsters.

Fast forward to 2010. The porn business is an immense worldwide venture. It is the main business in some parts of Los Angeles. The porn, of the most graphic possible variety, is available online 24 hours a day, for free, on many sites, available to any child who can press a few buttons.

Famous movie stars or would-be famous stars purposely make sex videos of themselves to advance their careers and distribute them on the Net.

It is totally and completely legal, protected by the Constitution of the United States.

People I know who know the porn business tell me their main problem with casting is that too many girls and boys want to be in the scenes, and are not bothered at all by having themselves shown doing graphic sex scenes wth strangers. The pay, at roughly $1,500 per scene for the high end stars, compares favorably with pay for waitressing or parking cars.

As for any moral qualms, that's autres temps, autres moeurs.

Progress.