Pornography and Internet Censorship

I was watching the Communism Channel, and I saw a joke that made me think "WTF? ROFLMAO!"

The comedians said "Companies like Google, Yahoo, and Research in Motion have problems doing business in China. China's political leaders are concerned that people will use the Internet to download pornography, and have adopted an Internet censorship policy."

The reason that China's government is censoring the Internet is that they are concerned about people spreading ideas that contradict official State propaganda. I can't believe that the comedians on the Communism Channel weren't able to explicitly state that. It's ridiculous to say with a straight face "China's leaders are concerned about pornography and not censorship."

"OMFG! Pornography is a problem!" is a common excuse used for Internet censorship.

The comedians on the Communism Channel couldn't tell the truth. "OMFG! Pornography!" is one of those blanket excuses used to censor/restrict the Internet. This excuse has been used both in the USA and in other countries.

Making or viewing pornography is not a crime, provided all the participants are consenting. If someone is coerced into making such a movie, that is a separate crime. Another argument is "economic coercion". State restriction of the market is so severe that, for some people, making pornography is economically attractive. The solution is to remove State restriction of the market, rather than ban people from making pornography.

The strongest pro-State propaganda comes for things that aren't really crimes. Making and viewing pornography is not a crime. Most people have been pro-State brainwashed to believe "Pornography is bad!" Then, pro-State trolls can use this hot-button issue "People use the Internet to view pornography! Therefore, we should censor/restrict the Internet!"

I'm surprised that the comedians on the Communism Channel said "China's political leaders censor the Internet because they are concerned about pornography!" instead of "China's political leaders censor the Internet because they want to restrict free speech!" Someone probably told the comedians to say "restrict pornography" instead of "restrict free speech". That was a particularly blatant example of censorship.