8/12/2019 1989 Issue 3 - The Politics of Pornography - Counsel of Chalcedon

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The olitics

o

Pornography

by

Rousas ohn

Rushdoony

n

order to understand some of the

n a ~

jor currents of

our

day, it is necessary

to recognize that one

of

the central

u r ~

poses

of

pornography is political.

An

analysis of the politics of pornography

is therefore essential.

Before doing so, it is necessary

to

call attention to a distinction made

b e ~

tween pornography and obscenity. The

novelist,

Henr

y Miller, has said, Ob

scenity is a cleansing process, whereas

pornography only adds

to

the murk .

Wherever a taboo is broken, some

thing good happens, something revital

izing. Miller is by his own statement

a champion of obscenity but hostile

to

pornography.

What

is the distinction, if

there is one? Basical ly, Miller's d i s t i n c ~

tion

is

this: pornography is dirt for

dirt's sake, whereas obscenity has as its

purpose the systematic destruction of

law and moral order, a revolutionary

ordering of society. This distinction is

only partially true. Obscenity does have

this revolutionary purpose, consciously

and

openly. Pornography is more ex

ploitive,

but

it

has nonetheless an

im-

plicit or explicit revolutionary purpose.

It is hostile to morality and law, and

it

encourages and favors rebellion against

morality.

As

a result, it has political

implications no less than Miller's ob

scenity. In discussing the politics of

pornography, we are therefore analyzing

the basic position

of

the whole field,

pornography and obscenity. While there

are differences in emphasis, the essen

tial position is the same.

Now the first thing which is apparent

in pornography is its obvious hatred of

~ i RJ Rushdoony l

8/12/2019 1989 Issue 3 - The Politics of Pornography - Counsel of Chalcedon

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stated, involves being "exempt from

worship" as well as morality, but man's

freedom also involves a Marxist state

Slavery

is religion and morality, and

freedom is Marxist socialism.

Moral

anarchism

is

the tool

and

instrument of

totalitarianism of socialism

nd

dicta-

torship.

Moral anarchism is used to

destroy every

form of

social stability

and

order in order to pave the way for

totalitarian order. Christianity gives to

man the faith and c h r c ~ for self

government, and morality is the essence

of

self-discipline and self-government.

Dissolve man's self-government, and

you make a totalitarian authority over

him

a social necessity.

I t

becomes ap

parent, therefore, that the link between

pornography and revolutionary totali

tarianism

is

a necessary one. The rise of

totalitarianism has always been preceded

by moral anarchism, and those seeking

tyrannical powers over man have al

ways worked to reduce man to a de

.pendent position by undercutting his

moral self-government and responsibili

ty. The

rise

and triumph

of

pornogra

phy

is

a prelude to totalitarianism.

Moral anarchy is the seed-bed of

tyranny.

This then explains the relationship

between pornography

and totalitarian

ism. The champions of pornography

Continuing the series of

taped messages on

orinthians

.by

Joe Morecraft,

III

The Purity

of

the Church

(I

Cor

5:1-13)

aking eople

to Court

(I Cor. 6:1-9a)

Such ere Some ofYou

(I Cor. 6:9-11)

Christian Liberty

Sexual Purity

I Cor 6: 12-20)

$4.00

a

tape

(cassette)

$14.00

for set of four

Order from:

Specialty Media Services

P.O.

Box

28357

Atlanta,

GA

30358

talk loudly about liberty. Any legisla

tion against pornography is protested as

hostile to freedom of press and civil

rights generally, but

these same people

are curiously silent about protesting the

inroads of totalitarianism, of Marxism,

into the social order. f they

are

in

terested

in

liberty, why

not

defend

it

against Marxism? The answer is that

they are hostile to liberty; hence their

defense ofpornography is an instrument

whereby man's moral liberty can

be

eroded and destroyed.

Our sixth

point is thus an obvious

conclusion: the politics

of

pcimography

is a moral anarchism whose purpose is

revolution, a revolution against Chris

tian civilization. The dean of modem

pornographers and a great revolutionist

was the Marquis de Sade.

The

Marquis

called for total freedom for every kind of

sexual perversion. For Sade, "true wis

dom" meant "not epressing

our vices . . . . since these vices. con

stitute almost the only happiness in our

lives o repress them would be to

become

our

executioners." The Marquis

called. for the abolition of the death

penalty, laws against theft, laws against

murder, prostitution, adultery, incest,

rape, sodomy, and all else. Equality

required that all acts have equal standing

before the law, except, of course, Chris

tian moral laws such as monogamy,

laws protecting property,

and

similar

legislation. For Sade, Christianity and

its moral laws should be abolished by

law; all. things else should

be accepted.

He defended all kinds of crimes and

perversions as natural and good. "Can

we possibly imagine Nature giving us

the possibility

of

committing a crime

which could offend her? The most

independent of men and those closest to

Nature are savages; with impunity they

devqte themselves to murder every day."

The Marquis

de

Sade wrote with

honesty. lit his books, the politics

of

pornography is open and obvious. The

contempoary pornographers are less

open about stating their revolutionary

goals,

but

they are still very obvious.

The politics of pornography is simply

the politics

of

revolution.

The sexual aspect

of

pornography is

P U ~ 6

the .most obvious

aspect. It

is an . ex

cellent come-on for the stupid and im-

mature, but the underlying

pUipOse

is

far more extensive in scope. It is

nothing less than revolution. It

is

the re

ordering of

life and of society

in

terms

of

moral anarchism.

lit

Esquire

June, 1963, Anthony

Lewis wrote

on Sex-Mand

the Supreme

Court," stating that after the Supreme

Court's Roth decision "no serious

literary work can now be termed con

stitutionally obscene."

All

that a

pornographer needs to do, if this be

true, is to call attention to his serious

purpose, namely, his revolutionary pur

pose, to seek an escape from prosecu

tion. The "serious" pUipOse can be

called sexual reform. Thus, in

The New

Leader

for September 2, 1963, Stanley

Edgar Hyman, writing

on

"In Defense

of Pornography;'' wrote, "These books

may teach and encourage a wider range

of

heterosexual activity, oral and anal

as

well as genital, and should be welcomed

if they do." In other words, the in

creasing defense

of

pornography is that

pornography itself is a socially re

deeming activity and is therefore its

own justification.

Jn

short, the

plea

for

pornography is becoming the fact that

it

is pornography.

Many things can be said

at

this

point. Certainly new and clearer legisla

tion is necessary and urgently needed.

Moreover, it is necessary that

we

recog

nize the radical political implications

of

pornography. These things and more

need to be done

But positive action must also accom

pany them--the re-ordering

of

life and

society in terms

of

Biblical faith and

standards. The basic answer to moral.

anarchism is the strengthening of hris-

tian moral discipline. We need and must

have sound legislation, but we must al

so establish the right kind

of theologiM

cal and moral foundations.

If

he founda

tions are destroyed, the structure will

not stand. "Except the LORD build the

house, they labour in vain that build it"

(Ps. 127:1).

[This article is reprinted,.,by pennission,

from Law and Liberty by .1\0Usas J. Rush

doony,

Pres]:lyterian Reformed Publishing

Com

pany, Nutley,

N.J.

I t has recently been

reP.uolisned by Ross House

Books, Vallecito,

California, 19S4.] D

The Counsel of Cbalcedon, AprU, 1989