Free Julian Assange! Free Porn!

Let’s get something straight: Julian Assange is a journalist. You can argue that he is not practicing journalism the way you think it should be practiced — releasing classified U.S. State Department documents — but he’s a journalist nonetheless. And for many of us he’s a hero.

-Larry Flynt

That was is an article Flynt wrote today in the Huffington Post.  I’d recommend you all go there and read it.  He put the case

Larry Flynt, Hero of Free Speech

for freedom of information very clearly and succinctly.  A paragraph or two down from this brilliant quote he has another.  Something along the lines of “the unimpeded flow of information is less dangerous to society than an impeded flow of information.”

For real.  What is the very worst thing that could happen if people had total access to information, if people knew everything that their governments were up to?  Some people might go to jail, but they are people who deserve to go to jail.  There might be a bit of monetary panic as people realized that the entire world economy is a bubble, built on faith, but people actually know that anyway.  Panic cannot be sustained forever.  The fundamentals of the economy would not change.  People need to eat, so they will buy food.  The sun will continue to shine and food will continue to grow.

Actually, the freeing up of information is an inevitable result of the internet and it’s appropriate that Larry Flynt should be the one standing up for free information.

Why?  Porn.

Before the internet, porn was sold in stores, but a lot of people were embarrassed to buy it.  I remember quite a few times walking past the same store a few times, waiting until there were no other customers or until there was a man behind the counter.  Now, it’s a click away and it’s much more socially acceptable.  Women watch it, too.  Or so I’ve heard.  Also, it’s about 10 times as explicit as it used to be.

Has this caused any social upheaval or catastrophe?    No.  Has it caused an increase in sex crimes?  No.  It’s probably caused an increase in the reporting of sex crimes, because people talk about sex more openly than before.  An increase in reporting means an increase in resolutions, which means a reduction in the actual crimes.  This is all good stuff.

This may sound like  somewhat strained  logic, but I think the increased openness in sexual attitudes due to porn on the internet presages an increased openness in politics due to Wikileaks.  And that is a very good thing.