Why is a game art but not porn? And what merits does art of immoral activities have?
Actually, both questions have the same answer. The difference between art and porn is that art has merit, in and of itself. Porn does not.
The merit that art has is that it is art; this outweighs most concerns of morality, and why art is protected under "freedom of speech." Occasionally, this becomes problematic, when the art depicts immoral acts. Luckily for us, we don't have a problem, because cub porn is porn.
Don't make me explain how I came to that conclusion.
Anyway, porn lacks artistic merit; we can argue whether a violent video game actually does have artistic merit, but by labeling cub porn porn, we have already established it has no artistic merit. This does not mean all porn should be banned; yes, all porn, and what it depicts, uh, "squicks" certain people, but cub porn goes above and beyond that; it "morally offends" people with what it depicts. That is a real world consequence.
You may see this as an emotional issue, and you've argued that, pragmatically, we should ignore emotional responses in decision making. But a true pragmatist would recognize that not every person on this planet is also a pragmatist, and realize that people will make decisions based on emotions, feelings, gut impulses, hunches, knee-jerk reactions and other such ephemera.
Why is a game art but not porn? And what merits does art of immoral activities have?
Actually, both questions have the same answer. The difference between art and porn is that art has merit, in and of itself. Porn does not.
The merit that art has is that it is art; this outweighs most concerns of morality, and why art is protected under "freedom of speech." Occasionally, this becomes problematic, when the art depicts immoral acts. Luckily for us, we don't have a problem, because cub porn is porn.
Don't make me explain how I came to that conclusion.
Anyway, porn lacks artistic merit; we can argue whether a violent video game actually does have artistic merit, but by labeling cub porn porn, we have already established it has no artistic merit. This does not mean all porn should be banned; yes, all porn, and what it depicts, uh, "squicks" certain people, but cub porn goes above and beyond that; it "morally offends" people with what it depicts. That is a real world consequence.
You may see this as an emotional issue, and you've argued that, pragmatically, we should ignore emotional responses in decision making. But a true pragmatist would recognize that not every person on this planet is also a pragmatist, and realize that people will make decisions based on emotions, feelings, gut impulses, hunches, knee-jerk reactions and other such ephemera.