Needed to make this a main post for the sake of visibility, but in general, I think reset the clock did a lot more damage than help, because of the fact that people believe that the only reason you could ever be against a certain thing, is because you’re engaging in it yourself, when we know for a fact that isn’t the case.
To be specific, it is very much possible to be against loli/shota porn and not be an IRL predator. People like Ableist forget that, while I’m not against it existing per se, I understand why certain places would ban it altogether, and I would actually like for Ableist or anyone else to actually post the specific places where “governments ban loli/shota porn and waste police resources” where people have actually been arrested for the sole possession of that fictional content, because as much as you say that, I’ve never seen it. Unless that’s like a European thing, I’ve generally never heard of that before.
I just don’t get why some people don’t understand why the average person thinks that someone who jerks off to loli/shota porn isn’t right in the head.
I think the key thing is in the call to ban certain media or label those that consume it, the degrees of fictionality are often overlooked. Let me explain:
Written stories: Don't give the slightest of fuck, you can write whatever you want, an underage child orgy like Steven King did in IT, it's written, no one was harmed in making it I just don't spend money on it.
Drawn/computer drawn: same as above, don't care, if I don't click with the story then I just won't view it.
Using actors: Now HERE'S where you get me possibly chiming in, it's a lot more disturbing for me because, regardless of props and effects so everyone is safe, using real people for certain things can be disturbing. It's why I don't watch the Saw franchise, I don't like 'gore porn'. Then there's the actors themselves like with Cuties, having REAL 11 year olds do that should've never happened.
Real (torture/execution videos etc): this one depends on content, I watched a few of the security footage of mass shootings to know what happened but then for that New Zealand shooter I read a manuscript of the video than watch it.
When people instead of not viewing, advocate for banning everything above actors being involved, that's an ideological judgement since your saying fictional content takes precedence OVER media using real people. That a lot of the vocal and public personalities advocating this also indulge in things that harm actual children shows that their values are inverted that they believe what's fictional should be restrained but what they do in reality shouldn't.
You can not like Loli/Shota stuff and just not view it, unlike drag queen story hour, it's not being shoved in your face just like I dislike gore for the sake of gore. I wouldn't use the average person/normies as a bench mark for 'morality' though as this is what I think of the average person
I second this attitude. I think there are too many people wanting things set based on their personal preference rather than just saying “this isn’t for me” and moving on. Obviously, it is different on real people, but much like you I am very much anything goes on drawn or written work.
To go with my own example, I am not generally a fan of skimpy outfit looks. I find chainmail bikinis to be an active turn-off and consider looks like this to be vastly more appealing to me in terms of turn-ons. I am not going to demand everything meet my standard, and I am not going to say someone is a perv if they like the chainmail bikini look.
The Brenton Tarrant video looks like nothing. Like a Doom Game . You think it would be gorier, and maybe it was IRL.
That was less for gore more because of the guy himself. Everything from the way he decorated his gun to saying 'subscribe to pewdiepie' before going on to gun down people made watching it feel...dirty like I was easily playing into his hands giving him views.
A manuscript had enough distance to not give me that feeling.
All the copies I've seen of it are potato so that might have had something to do with it.