Displace porn with healthy activities
THE peddling of pornography has long been with us, but lately this shadowy activity seems to be heightened. What is the cause?
There are a number of possible reasons for this recent upsurge: a diversion from other markets elsewhere, a proliferation of supply by new operators, an expansion of business by existing traders.
Whatever the cause, the Ministry of Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs has pledged to uncover it.
As with most other commodities, an increase in the supply of porn nearly always increases the demand also.
In addressing the problem, the ministry has the unenviable task of tackling it at both ends simultaneously.
It may therefore be useful to ask why people patronise porn peddlers at all. Take away their business by refusing to buy, and soon they will quit the trade.
This may sound too simple, but that is often how it works. This is also what justifies tighter enforcement of existing laws: do enough to scare enough potential customers away, and the peddlers may no longer find it worthwhile to risk the more stringent policing directed at them.
What is needed is an adequate understanding of how to reduce, if not eliminate, the market for pornography.
Lecturing the public on the evils of moral deprivation that porn represents may be customary practice, but it is unlikely to stem demand. Since smut is already outlawed in the country, all that is required is more consistent enforcement and perhaps heavier penalties.
Simply taking porn off the streets may seem gratifying, but that cannot be an end in itself.
In all probability, such a narrow objective will only drive the trade elsewhere, for example to more secluded environments.
People may also need to be reminded that addictive porn in particular devalues normal healthy relationships. Indulging in smut can at best be a surrogate experience, a poor substitute for proper relationships.
Among the problems is that smut today is an industry – a lucrative industry commonly peopled by underworld characters. Money spent on porn can easily be siphoned from the pockets of the unsuspecting and curious into the bank accounts of hoodlums.
Also, porn as depraved distraction cannot be good for our budding young minds.
The Internet may be a porn minefield, and young people today may be more sophisticated than a generation before, but these need not mean that society has to abandon all standards of decency, especially in nurturing our youths.
Ultimately, the prevalence of relative absence of porn reflects on the quality of our society as a whole.
If Malaysians are better occupied elsewhere with healthier and more productive activities, many will find themselves abandoning habits like porn indulgence.
This may be the better way for the authorities to guide society, as an alternative to periodic bouts of nagging on morality.
But it takes effort and imagination to encourage more interesting and rewarding pursuits, moving society from sluggish self-indulgence to proactive engagement.
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