Virtualized Horror
Thu, Oct 26
Today's lecture visits the Internet's red light district: a dark fantasy land that is raising some of the most serious ethical dilemmas we'll examine in this class. Pornography and shock content aren't new to the Internet, but the massive proliferation of extremely violent images and videos is, along with the platforms dedicated to them. The implications of adolescents coming into contact with this material as well as the psychological effects of repeatedly viewing virtualized horror are a current source of debate. When it comes to the worst of the worst content, further questions emerge. If real, it raises criminal justice and human rights concerns, if fake, what does it say about about our culture?
We have three main in-class learning goals. By the end of lecture today you will:
- Understand that Section 230 contains a grievous loophole that lets platforms make money on illegal content.
- Consider the existence of increasingly extreme forms of pornography and shock content in a broader cultural context.
- Recognize that not everything that looks real on the Internet is.
The slides for today's lecture.
Read This:
Nicholas Kristof reporting for the New York Times on The Children of PornHub, the piece that brought the hammer down on the operations of that notorious platform
Elizabeth Bruenig poses ethical questions in the Atlantic about Courses to Train Young People to Be Ethical Consumers of Porn
Catharine A. MacKinnon rejects the popular idea that OnlyFans is a "safe" platform for sex work in a guest essay for the New York Times
Janelle Brown writes about the Internet's original shock website Rotten.com for Salon
Lessley Anderson investigates Murder and Torture on the Internet, and the People Who Watch It for The Verge
Very serious social concerns, as well as a fascination with oddities, have spawned a burgeoning genre of reporting on disturbing content on the Internet. These supplemental readings are drawn from it:
Unmasking Reddit's Violentacrez, The Biggest Troll on the Web
Islamic State’s TikTok Posts Include Beheading Videos
Benedictine College Raises the Bar in Fight Against Porn Addiction
Senate passes controversial online sex trafficking bill
Edmonton gore site owner charged in Magnotta video investigation released on bail
Revisiting Meatspin, the NSFW site that shocked a generation
How goatse.cx went from shock site to webmail service
Do This:
Writing Reflection 06
See the instructions posted on the assignment's page.
This writing reflection is due on 10/31 at 5pm.
This Week's Dialogue Group Meeting
Find at least one hour to meet with your group to discuss the prompt of the week: Is there a role for content moderation on social media today?
Schedule your group meeting for next week. The new prompt is: Is there anything too extreme to be posted to the Internet?
Watch This:
David Cronenberg's 1983 sci-fi film Videodrome was remarkably prescient in anticipating the enormous popularity of shock content. Just replace the word "Television" with "Internet" when watching this, and you have a good depiction of the present day.