What bothers me is that why do we still let those criminal elements of society to operate freely? Should we not clamp down on these elements? — Question

Probably because local governments and police forces are, in part, implicated in such dealings or blackmailed. I want to say, though, that organized crime has taken a huge hit in recent decades. The romanticized age of the Italian gangster was more or less dead and buried by the 1990s.

And for the matter, why is pornography often called by it's less pejorative name as 'adult entertainment'? Isn't that like a kick to the face to a supposedly well rounded and good 'adult' to need entertainment that is so low in regards to morality? — Question

its*

But excellent point and well said. It's quite an ironic euphemism.

I've always been under the impression that the porn world is full of cocaine users and criminal elements such as drug dealing, exploitation, and mafia type elements. — Question

I think it depends on where and at what economic level one is speaking of. High class prostitutes, for instance, usually have no connection with organized crime, gangs, or drugs. At the opposite end of the economy you definitely find drugs and organized crime--like human trafficking for purposes of prostitution, both within and across our borders. Gangs may combine drugs and prostitution.

Organized crime was not always been involved with casino gambling, like Las Vegas. They used to be more involved in local gambling, loan sharking, protection rackets (pay us or we'll beat you up) and so on. They weren't always involved in drug dealing either. They are opportunists. Tony Soprano and his waste management operation is a fictional good example. Aside from whacking somebody ever now and then, Soprano was mostly about municipal fraud. Loan sharking? How can you compete with VISA, MASTERCARD, et al? Or Wells Fargo? Political corruption? Hasn't that been professionalized, pretty much?

Porn... I suspect that it was much more involved in crime when it was a socially sanctioned product. I really don't know how anyone could make much money in porn these days -- there is so much of it, everywhere, catering to every sub-fetish there is--porn just doesn't command the prices it used to get. Plus, it's extremely easy to copy. Tumblr has a lot of gay subscribers who are mining the supply of old and new porn and distributing it free--and there are a lot of straight subscribers doing the same thing with straight porn.

Adult entertainment is akin to calling whores "sex workers". Some people think that "whore" is an oppressive term, like "sex work" is some sort of liberation. Some people think "prostitute" is a term of oppression--it demeans sex work, or something.

What bothers me is that why do we still let those criminal elements of society to operate freely? Should we not clamp down on these elements? — Question

There are a couple of problems (at least). One is technical sophistication. When organized crime makes a lot of money in drug importing, the money has to be "cleaned up". It needs to be made to look like it is the product of legitimate business. Large international banks are presumed to be involved in this activity -- money laundering. It's complex, and there are only so many forensic accountants around.

Another, as Thorongil said, is police involvement or intimidation. A skilled crook could arrange to compromise a police department.

A third is flying under the radar -- maybe literally, but mostly as a figure of speech. If a criminal enterprise can effectively conceal the details of its operation, and if, for all intents and purposes, it appears to be legitimate, probably no one will come calling to have a look at the books.

A fourth is that tax evasion, fucking over the public good, and all sorts of corrupt and corrupting activities (that may not be, shall we say, "exactly illegal") are carried out by mainline institutions, maybe all the way up to at least two branches of the federal government.

And for the matter, why is pornography often called by it's less pejorative name as 'adult entertainment'? Isn't that like a kick to the face to a supposedly well rounded and good 'adult' to need entertainment that is so low in regards to morality? — Question

Because not everyone subscribes to the notion that pornography is "so low in regards to morality".

"I've always been under the impression that the porn world is full of cocaine users and criminal elements such as drug dealing, exploitation, and mafia type elements.

I know, that the casino rings in (in the past) Nevada have been operated by criminal elements like the Italian, Asian, and Russian mafia. A good historical analysis on the matter is the series of films, Godfather I/ II/ III."
--Question

I don't know but I would guess that the people that work in the porn industry are just like anyone else trying to make a buck, but of course excluding those who's morals would not allow them to do such a thing. I remember reading on one forum that an unemployed mother found a way to support herself and kids by creating and managing adult web sites. While such work isn't always a "good" thing, everything about such an industry may not be as "bad" as some people think.


"What bothers me is that why do we still let those criminal elements of society to operate freely? Should we not clamp down on these elements?"

I find it too easy in today's world for a child to accidentally browse the internet or pick up a CD / Flash drive from a friend and watch adult entertainment."
--Question

I think a good part of it has to do with it are laws protecting people from censorship, free trade, etc. as well as various lobbyist groups that are almost as powerful as those that oppose pornography. I think a good movie to watch (or read up on since it is told at little bit on the pro-pron side) is called "The People vs. Larry Flynt" which talks about the battles between the religious establishment and Larry Flynt

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_People_vs._Larry_Flynt
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boogie_Nights

..and perhaps "Boogie Nights" which talks about the struggles of the early producers/actors who had to deal with the problem of pornography being illegal because it obviously involves some form of prostitution at some time or another. Even today some people scratch their head as to why it IS ILLEGAL to pay someone for sex in almost all states, however in many of them such a transaction IS LEGAL if it done to make a movie or video. .

Another important issue is the problems when a western/supposedly "capitalist" country decides it prefers to enforce "morality" instead of allowing "free trade". This has happen with gambling, drinking, drugs, and perhaps other vices I can not think of at the moment. I think with gambling and drinking, I think the state and federal governments gave up when they realized it allowed criminal organizations to make so much money that it overall was making matters worse. However we are still fighting the "War on Drugs" which at this point isn't going that great either for the feds or the dealers; drugs are so easily available that they are a lot cheaper than it use to be and many people are turning to pharmaceutical/ over the counter drugs and other stuff in order to get their fix since it is even easier and/or cheaper than dealing with dealers/illegal drugs.

I don't know what a "War on Porn" would look like but there are some countries in the Middle East and Africa that enforce Shiite law where it can be illegal to have even a picture of a woman in a two piece bathing suit on one's computer. I'm sure in certain countries where morality is more strictly enforced some people behave better and many people may be a little happier because of it, I also believe that not having any outlet or vices for one to channel one's stress into can make it a real living hell for many others as well.


"And for the matter, why is pornography often called by it's less pejorative name as 'adult entertainment'? Isn't that like a kick to the face to a supposedly well rounded and good 'adult' to need entertainment that is so low in regards to morality?"
--Question
Agreed, but it is common for any organization to try to whitewash any negative information if they believe it to be too much for it's intended audience and they might find it unsettling. An example of this might be when the military like to say "non-combat related gunshot" instead of suicide, since one might think it is just accident with a gun or at least until you realize how common "non-combat related gunshot" are in a war zone.

I'm not sure if it is the more of the fault of the people who are too sensitive for certain topics or the people use double wording to "sugar coat" things to protect them, but I don't think entirely either one of their faults that this happens. If you happen to be one of these people who are sensitive to certain words or topics than I think it is a given that you are not blameless for such things, and if you are nonsensitive/ 'macho' enough that it doesn't really bother you that you ought to be 'macho' enough to understand that such issues are part of the human condition and not a lot can be done about as long as people are too sensitive about certain issues. Which it is a given that such conditions will exist for forever or at least as long as human beings are alive. :D

there are some countries in the Middle East and Africa that enforce Shiite law where it can be illegal to have even a picture of a woman in a two piece bathing suit on one's computer — dclements

I would guess it would be illegal to have a picture of a woman in even a ONE piece bathing suit in some countries. She might as well be naked. However, according to journalism I've read, lots of men in the middle east are viewing porn.

"I would guess it would be illegal to have a picture of a woman in even a ONE piece bathing suit in some countries. She might as well be naked. However, according to journalism I've read, lots of men in the middle east are viewing porn."

Well the reason I used a picture of a woman in a two piece bathing suit as an example was because an article that I remembered an article I remember reading on the subject had a woman at a party wearing a two-piece bathing suit as the "smoking gun" that the Shiite police used as the evidence that the person they were investigating had "porn" on his computer.

The fact that men can still access porn in the middle east, probably to some degree even in places that have Shiite Law to me shows the difficultly of enforcing such laws as well as the double standard to often how the laws are enforced. Anyone wealth enough to have a computer with internet access will likely be able to access porn one way or another if they have some idea on how to surf the web where as someone without a computer and who lives hand to mouth I believe will be forbidden to buy an adult magazine or anything like it. It was the same during prohibition where liquor from the black market was too expensive for most but easily accessible to those who could easily pay the two to four times the price it normally would be. Even in the west there are many illegal things that are usually outside of the price range of the average citizen such as illegal drugs, contract killings, prostitutes, snuff films, gimps in a foot locker, etc but are much more accessible to those with more money.

n places that have Shiite Law — dclements

Did you mean "sharia" law?

"Did you mean "sharia" law? "
--Bitter Crank
That could be the proper term for it; I'm not familiar enough with the middle east and their culture to be sure of what term is the right one to use when there seems that there are often a half a dozen to a dozen ways to call something (such as ISIS is also called Isil, IS or Daesh with the label "Daesh" being a derogatory term for the group), and although they all more or less refer to the same thing they are not really the same.

When I did a search on the differences between Shiite and Sharia law, I was given the impression that they more or less mean the same thing although you may be correct in calling it "Sharia law" since it seems to be the term that is more commonly used. To be honest I can't even remember where I got the term Shiite law when I was searching for the proper term to use in my earlier posts.

High class prostitutes, for instance, usually have no connection with organized crime, gangs, or drugs. — Bitter Crank

Do you know this to be true, or is this just an intuition? I ask, because it's not information that most people have access to reliable sources for. I have no idea myself.

Do you know this to be true — Reformed Nihilist

This is 50% reading, 50% intuition. I have read some reports that madams and high class prostitution aren't involved with organized crime. Since these are (usually) "outcall" services, services are rendered at widely dispersed locations, by appointment. Educated and/or sophisticated women are hired to serve wealthy clients with services at a high and exclusive price point. The volume of cash is high enough to afford protection from police (through payoffs).

Organized crime generally isn't interested in penny ante rackets. Bottom of the barrel street prostitution doesn't produce enough income to be of interest. Mid-level prostitution would be of more interest because centralized locations (whorehouses) are used, the cash flow is reasonably good, and the business can be tightly controlled.

Organized crime generally prefers to have more control over its operations than this sort of high class whoring allows. The only thing the madam needs is an address book with contacts and telephone numbers of customers and her stable of women. One of the features of exclusive outcall services is protection from blackmail -- something organized crime would be interested in doing, not protecting people from.

There are some rackets organized crime has difficulty entering. Prescription drugs, for instance, aren't generally available in underground markets (there are exceptions) and are subject to oversight by state Departments of Heath. Selling stuff on the internet (like e-bay facilitates) is too dispersed and unpredictable a business to be attractive to organized crime. Loan sharking was a good business before credit cards became ubiquitous.

(Crime gets organized when necessary, and is always looking for new rackets. A current racket is forgery of high class trademarked products like Gucci, Chanel, or Louis Vuitton.

Nothing would prevent organized crime from running a high class outcall service -- I'm sure in some places they have. But in general, that doesn't seem to be their preferred "business model".

"Do you know this to be true, or is this just an intuition? I ask, because it's not information that most people have access to reliable sources for. I have no idea myself."
--Reformed Nihilist
Think of it this way, what does it take for single girl to find enough 'sugar daddies' (a term I've heard strippers and guys that see them use for regular customers coming to a club) where they don't have to go through anyone else? While a single girl or dancer finding sugar daddies may not be the same thing as high end escort encountering new clients I don't imagine it to be entirely different.