[RL] the decay of modern morality, less sex! more prizes! Options

[mfb]

Seoul is neck-and-neck with Thailand as the hooker capital of the world, a trend that the ROK gummint is apparently trying to reverse. the striking thing about isn't what they're trying to accomplish, it's how they're trying to accomplish it. people aren't buying into the moral or even health arguments, so the ROK has resorted to offering prizes for not paying for sex.

news like this always weirds me out. not that i have any problem with prostitutes myself (some of my best friends are prostitutes!), but i somehow expect the rest of the world to, y'know, disagree with me. and when they do disagree with me, i'm expecting them to take the moral high ground--not turn it into a lottery.

[SL James]

[Snow_Fox]

I'm just surprised it's in a well developed nation like Korea.

[mfb]

well, there's developed and then there's developed. the ROK's going through puberty, right now. lots of zits, hair sprouting in funny places, etcetera. their economy has exploded so quickly that there hasn't been time for them to figure out how to keep a lid on the crime that comes with it.

[James McMurray]

So if I opt not to go to a hooker my boss might win $1000 and some movie tickets? Whose bright idea was that?

[Moon-Hawk]

Minor correction. If you "pledge" not to go to a hooker your boss might win. This has absolutely nothing to do with whether or not you actually visit a hooker.

[SL James]

Making it as useful as an asbtinence pledge. And we all know how successful those have been.

[Moon-Hawk]

So here's how this is really going to work:

Boss: Hey, I want cash, everybody sign this.
Everybody: Whatever. <signs, goes and visits hookers>
-later-
Boss: Hey, I won cash! Hookers for everybody!
Everybody: <goes and visits hookers>

That sound about right?

[knasser]

[SL James]

It's entirely stupid because the campaign makes any concern over the issue seem trivial at best. This is the kind of message that Fanpro would think makes sense politically... Which in the real world means it's actually counterproductive.

Which is exactly what the message is compared to the intent.

[knasser]

I broadly agree with you actually. (Not necessarily the Fanpro parts). I just thought it was worth pointing out that people should think about this more before just laughing at it. Saying that it's stupid because it trivialises the issue is valid. Saying it's stupid because people don't have to honour their pledge neglects some potential positive aspects.

I don't know the culture or the general attitude to prostitution over there so I don't know quite how it will be received.

-K.

[mfb]

the reaction will be split into two camps. most people will find the idea pretty funny. the old farmers who visit Seoul once or twice a year as a vacation will be like "my god, there are prostitutes in Korea!?"

[hyzmarca]

A better solution would be mandatory chastity belts for everyone in the country with the only keys being in the possession of the government. Those who want to have sexual intercourse must fill out all the proper forms, provide valid ID along with a marriage certificate. The act must be performed within a government office under the supervision of a government inspector. The use of condoms will be enforced unless they have permission to concieve, which is even more paper work and a great deal of red tape.

Really, preventing sexual immorality is very simple. I don't understand who these policies are not more common.

[Wounded Ronin]

I wish I had friends who were prostitutes. That way I'd be able to make a graph representing how many men claim to have used a donkey punch versus how many actually have.

[Kesslan]

[hyzmarca]

[Kesslan]

How would you tell the terrorist attacks appart from people causing an appartment to explode just cause they wanted to have sex?

[hyzmarca]

Sex is terrorism. That is precisely why it must be controlled.

[Kesslan]

Well then it would probably be easier and cheaper just to basically spay/neuter all citizens. Store their genetic material, and then if they ever get a lisence to procreate they get to have a test tube baby.

[Kagetenshi]

We can't do that, that would be inhuman. The chastity belt-bomb is the only ethical solution.

~J

[Kesslan]

Nonsense! My ideas will simply lead to a new age utopia! That or the eventual extinction of the entire human race should all the cloning facilities manage to fail in a very brief period of time.

[hyzmarca]

Well, you only have to do it for one generation; after that they'll all have been indoctrinated in extreme anti-sex propaganda.

Eeewww, disgusting! You mean... fluid transfer?

[Kesslan]

I'm pretty sure you'd actually have to do it over 2 or 3 generations actually. After that it would definately become rather rooted.

Makes me wonder how exactly they pulled all that crap (by fluff) in Demolition Man. Though given the movie itself.. it likely didnt actually have any real thought behind it. Just a 'wow this would be so cool!'

[hyzmarca]

In that scene Huxley lists a number of fictional STDs which are (presumably) worse than HIV. It is quite possible that the ban on sex began as a emergency medical precaution which people accepted because of an absurdly high risk of a horrific death within a few weeks of an illicit sexual encounter. Those who did have sex during this time simply died off due to the plague. However, even after the STD plague ran its course the sexual ban remained in place as a precautionary measure and children were indoctrinated in a culture that feared sex as being more dangerous than walking out onto an bombing range during a nuclear weapons test. It is quite possible that most people of Huxley's age had relatives and even parents who died due to STDs and thus personal experience to back up the government propaganda.

It isn't too unbelievable. At least it isn't unbelievable compared to the NAN (which can be explained with some effort) or a future where militant feminists have outlawed the male gender (as in some dystopian works that I shall not mention by name).

What really has to be explained is how Cocteau gained dictatorial power in the SanAngelas metroplex without concern for state or national powers. I can only assume that the US fell and California broke up into individual city-states, but that would promote more violence, not less.

[Kesslan]

Well the movie itself tends to support chaos in general being rampant. As it was just that one city.

Cocteau also seemed to me to be the type that would likely back some sort of military coup or something in the 'name of peace' to establish his perfect new world order.

Which effectively worked until lhe was killed.