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0 pointssimoncion11mo ago0 comments

I'm not a downvoter, but I have a few minutes to kill, so sure, I'll bite.

> Why do you then tell others how to live their lives?

In all reasonably-free societies, the default stance is "Mind your damn business, and everyone else will mind theirs.". Deviations from that default veer into "telling other people how to live their lives" territory. Sometimes it's right and proper to actively interfere in the lives of others. It is occasionally even extremely important to do this. But -the majority of the time- the folks doing this are nothing more than busybodies sticking their noses in other people's business.

You might think that US-based businesses should not be permitted to accept payments tendered by the two major credit and debit card processors for the sale of more-extreme pornographic content. I think it's none of those processors' business what legal goods consenting adults purchase using their systems.

Given Visa and MasterCard's enormous size, I think it's absolutely essential that they not be permitted to refuse any legal purchase for any reason other than credible suspicion of fraud. You may feel differently. You're totally entitled to that opinion.

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npteljes11mo ago· 2 in thread

I definitely agree on the payment processor situation. In my opinion, businesses should also be free to refuse business for whatever reason, but, with the very important caveat that when they so large that to be considered a utility, they can't refuse legal business, like in this case Mastercard and Visa. There is not exactly an alternative to them.

The point I'm more interested in here is the "Why do you people always presume they know what is best for other people?". To which my answer is that many people make it their job to care about what people are exposed to. Often it's rooted in extensive experience and literature. I don't think it's a good notion to outright disregard everyone who seems to have a better idea on how people should live. Among other things, not everyone needs to make the same mistakes over and over again, like falling into an addiction, just because "they can't tell me to not fall into this addiction".

And yeah, there will be a lot of busybodies as well. When there's power, there will be abuse as well.

simoncionOP11mo ago

> "Why do you people always presume they know what is best for other people?"

Well. Let's examine the context of the conversation. You replied to the statement "Don't like porn? Cool, don't buy it or avert your eyes!" with "Why do you then tell others how to live their lives? Is really leaving everyone to their own devices the good idea?"

Most folks have a healthy relationship with porn, and a reasonably-healthy relationship with sex in general. Given that the US is a reasonably-free society, its default stance is "Mind your damn business, and everyone else will mind theirs.". You rejected the call to avert your eyes from something that is moderately offensive. This indicates that -when it comes to porn- you're not content to mind your own business while people quietly go about their own. This means that you are the busybody poking his nose in other people's business.

npteljes11mo ago

Thanks for clarifying. I now see where the disapproval comes from.

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