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E-PrinceLast Tuesday, The Daily Princetonian reported that the student group Let’s Talk Sex (LeTS) had received funding from the USG to invite individuals in the pornography industry to come to campus and, in the context of their presentation, screen ...(back to the article)
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The idea that there's nothing wrong with porn is not "in conflict with current prejudices" or a "most unorthodox perspective" as you imply. Certainly the opposite is true on college campuses, if not nationally (or internationally... looking at you, Japan). Who has the Centers on this campus and on every campus? I suspect the chastity center saga was a reductio ad absurdum of the prevalent college culture, and if so it was an effective one.
It's disingenuous at best to claim that the university is all for open discussion and free speech; the truth is that it's not. Set aside the fact that the university sponsors certain interest groups. Under Princeton's speech code offending someone is an ... offense punishable by expulsion. Needless to say, it all depends on whether that someone belongs to one of the university's favored groups.
I fail to see how pornography contributes to a discussion and a speaker. Is it safe to assume that most people in LeTS have watched, or at least have access to pornography? They screened it because they thought it would be controversial,and they loooove being "cutting edge" and "challenging norms".
Did they discuss the merits of said porn? Was it high or low quality? The screening was merely another ploy by LeTS to get publicity. We get it. You think you're a big deal.
Two things:
1. The event hasn't happened yet. So you don't know what they are going to show. For all you know they're going to show censored clips, or clips that don't involve nudity! Seriously.
2. Not all pornography is the same. Porn communicates patterns of how people interact in intimate situations. Thus, there might be merit to showing specific clips to show how THIS pornography is different from what you expect. (Or at least to get people on the same page.)
As far as ploys to get publicity go, I think Anscombe's misrepresentation of what this event is... is merely a ploy to get publicity.
Some people might have missed this quote, since it was buried in the second paragraph of the original article:
"We’re still in the planning stages, and we will release more information about the exact nature of the event when we know what the date will be."
If the objective is to "talk about sex," pornography is a distraction as it is primarily about exploitation and arousal. If the organizers want to have an event about pornography, it would make more sense to label it as such and not confuse it with ordinary (or even peculiar) sexual behavior.
In other words, you are arguing that no matter how dumb or puerile the purpose, it would somehow traduce the spirit of free and open inquiry not to throw money at it. This equates open-minded and empty-minded as identical values, which is hardly what a great university is about.
Fantastic point. The whole point of open discourse is to interact well reasoned ideas that have the greatest potential for compromise. Showing pornography at this event will automatically polarize those in attendance and solidify previous held views. There is nothing productive about it.