You don't want to miss this week as Joey declares Tang to be one of the best things that came from NASA. One of the really big discussions we had is about prostitution and pornography. I would love to get some female feedback on the subject. We discuss episodes 9-12 of The West Wing, Season 3.
Various topics discussed in this podcast include:
Joey's Culture Corner: The Drunkard's Walk: How Randomness Rules Our Lives by Leonard Mlodinow
Principles of an American Life: The 17th Amendment
Mad Cow Disease
Legalize Prostitution? Why not? Pornography is legal.
Alcoholism/Addiction: Isn't it just a willpower issue?
Tell all books are stupid
Music by Shayna Zaid
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Here are the ratings that we gave for each show:
The Women of Qumar: 1hr 1min 38sec
Peter: Television - 6
Joey: Television - 4
Bartlet For America: 22min 19sec
Peter: Television - 8
Joey: Television - 8
H Conn 172: 19min 13sec
Peter: Television - 7
Joey: Television - 8
100,000 Airplanes: 13min 36sec
Peter: Television - 5
Joey: Television - 7
If you have something to say then we welcome your comments below, or feel free to email us at trekwest5@thehomestarmy.com, twitter us at hashtag TrekWest5, or leave us a voicemail at 801-788-4913.
1 comment:
Hi guys, I'm making my way through today's show, and you have me considering prostitution (as a topic, that is). It's a thorny subject, and one that this episode doesn't do a very good job exploring, although it's good that they gave it a shot.
I think prostitution is a difficult issue to make laws around because it isn't a straightforward "crime." People often say it's a victimless crime, and therefore should be legal. I, however, don't agree that it's a victimless crime. The problem is that the real victim is the prostitute herself. (For the sake of avoiding the whole he/she/sugardaddy/sugarmama problem, I'll just stick to referring to the prostitutes as women, since that is most often the case.) If you recognize that the real victim is the prostitute, then you'd be forced to discuss whether it should be legal for her to victimize herself. In this country, we've avoided that question altogether by deciding that prostitution should be illegal because of the societal damage it causes. This makes things messy because some people don't believe society is damaged by prostitution at all. Thus, we end up in discussions about legalities, rather than really looking at the cultural, psychological, and economic issues that surround prostitution, which are varied and complicated.
I agree with Peter that prostitition and pornography are of the same stripe. The problem with pornography is that outlawing it runs counter to the 1st amendment, which is a sacred cow in this country. Now, don't get me wrong, I'm a huge fan of the 1st amendment. My point is that, again, we get bogged down in discussions legalities, rather than looking at why pornography is so appealing to so many people, whether that's healthy, etc.
I don't think these questions are easily answerable, but I think they warrant examination. Even though it would've been a plot contrivance, I wish the writers had thought to bring in Lisa, Sam's "friend" from the first season. I would've liked to see her go toe-to-toe with Amy Gardner over this one. (Sam and Josh would probably bring the popcorn.)
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