In 1966, the conservative journalist William F. Buckley warned that Hugh Hefner’s “Playboy philosophy” would be the end of Western civilization as we know it. In 1970, Buckley received a Christmas card from Mr. Hefner, thanking him for being a “member of the Playboy family.” In those four short years, Mr. Buckley had become a contributor to Mr. Hefner’s magazine—and its chief rival, Penthouse.
Buckley’s surrender to Playboyism was a watershed moment in the Culture War. Conservatives didn’t become pro-porn; not exactly. But anyone who took a hard stance against smut was labeled a prude and dismissed to the fringes of the Right.
Then, suddenly, things began to change. I first noticed that porn had (re)enter the “mainstream” debate in 2018, via Ross Douthat’s column “Let’s Ban Porn”. Since then, the Right has (re)adopted an anti-porn orthodoxy.
Well, kind of.
First of all, the anti-porn conservatives generally hail from younger cohorts, especially Generation X and Millennials. Older conservatives still prefer to skirt the issue; when pressed, they’re generally more pro- than anti-. (See Denis Prager’s recent appearance on Pints With Aquinas.)
Secondly, while younger conservatives are more likely to condemn smut, I think most of them still use it. And, to be clear, I’m not passing judgment. A huge part of the reason why they oppose porn is because they know how addictive it is. That doesn’t make them hypocrites. Just the opposite. Who has more right to hate alcohol than an alcoholic?
Still, for those of us who are invested in the Porn Wars, I think we have to bear one thing in mind: our debate about smut—and sex, and gender—isn’t between the hedonistic Left and the puritanical Right. No: both liberals and conservatives are products of the Sexual Revolution. Arcadia has fallen. The ceremony of innocence is well and truly drowned.
So, what does this mean in real-time? Well, put it this way:
Last week, my friend Rod Dreher shared a link to NBC’s report on the recent New York City Drag March. As most of you probably know, the marchers flounced around the Big Apple chanting, “We’re here,/ We’re queer,/ We’re coming for your children.” This caused a largeish stink—and rightly so.
Yet I was struck by another detail: a sign being carried by one marcher. It said: “Trans, Your greatest fear, your biggest fantasy.”
According to a PornHub press release, “transgender” is now the site’s third-most popular category. And, according to the National Institute for Health, over 90 percent of men view porn at least once a month. Which means that, statistically, the huge majority of Republican men are watching “transgender” porn.
Basically, that marcher’s sign is spot-on.
Now, folks are asking why there hasn’t been more of a backlash against Drag Queen Story Hours, sex-reassignment surgery for minors, LGBT indoctrination in schools, etc. And why is it almost exclusively moms who are protesting at school board meetings? Well, here’s your answer. Their husbands are watching tranny porn. They’re either basically pro-trans, or else they’re too embarassed/ashamed to stand up to the LGBT lobby.
Again, it’s not that they don’t care about their kids. They’re addicts. They’re choosing their drug over their families. That’s what addicts do.
For the record, this is why the LGBT stuff is running rampant in America. It’s also why the Left is so defensive of porn, despite the fact that it’s demonstrably so harmful—both to the users and to the “actors” who produce it.
Porn is the #1 vehicle for social change in the United States. Social media, public education… those are all time-bombs. They won’t bear fruit for a decade or so. But porn is transforming the country right now, before our very eyes. And yet we can’t have a meaningful discussion about the influence of smut. Why? Because most Americans are hooked on the stuff. In fact, it’s only a tiny minority of us who aren’t.
A few months back, I did a spot on a nation radio show. The host asked me if I was encouraged by the parents who show up to protest at their local school-board meetings. I said yes, because every act of resistance to sin is good and true and beautiful… but, looking at the big picture, I didn’t think it would do much good.
The host was clearly miffed. He wanted a Rah-rah GOP! moment. Still, I stand by what I said. God bless those moms (and occasional dads) who are fighting back against Big Queer. I salute them. They’re going to lose, though.
I wish it weren’t so. But it is. We’re going to lose every single battle over sex and gender, for one very simple reason: nine out of ten American men are addicted to porn. It doesn’t matter how much an alcoholic hates alcohol; if he keeps drinking, the booze wins. Evil will triumph over good, because we—being free moral agents—choose evil over good.
The LGBT lobby is our greatest fear. It’s also our biggest fantasy.
This is one of the many (many) reasons why I’m blackpilled. Christendom is dead. America has fallen. Everything is worse than you could possibly imagine, and it’s going to keep getting worse.
Yet that’s all the more reason to have hope—not optimism, mind you, but Christian hope. As Meister Eckhart said, “Only the hand that erases can write the true thing.” God is clearing away the rubble of Christendom so that the Church can blossom once again like a mustard seed. And that seed will be watered by the blood of martyrs—red, white, and green.
Pray, fast, and love. At this point, everything else is a waste of time.