Warning 2021

 Good day, World.

     Just today, I read several posts on social media that depicted a Republican backlash to the current waves of reform that have been occurring across both the internet and the country. Many on the Right are now decrying censorship, their figureheads and rantings removed not only from power but from their usual sounding boards. Even their alternative social media platform has been extinguished for the present, and it seems that the most extreme elements of their cadre are being muzzled on more conventional ones. In non-digital life, the terrorists that attacked the Capitol are being routed by the FBI, aided greatly by the general populous' willingness to surrender insurrectionists to the Federal government. I've seen cries of leftist treachery, accusations of deep state machinations to enslave the public, and even Holocaust comparisons at their most hyperbolic. There was a festering pustule that has just been excised from America's body, and it seems that the Republicans are the flesh that was most closely affected. Now, they are irritated, weeping blood, and looking for someone to blame for the problems that they created, be it man, woman, Devil, or Ruth Bader-Ginsberg in her coffin.

     There is a humor to all of this. The same party of people who rail against things like hip hop, rock and roll, witchcraft, marijuana, same sex marriage, saying "Happy Holidays" instead of "Merry Christmas," raising the minimum wage, abortions, and anything else that may offend the Fox News crowd...are mad about censorship. These are the same people who bought and burned piles of Eminem CDs in protest, the same ones who constantly talk about boycotting any company that shows the thinnest amount of support to the LGBT community. These people tell others every day that certain demographics shouldn't exist or aren't real, that their fellow Americans are hellbent on destroying the country, or that minority concerns are invalid or wouldn't exist if said minorities were more obedient. To hear them whining like the snowflakes that they are when they practically invented cancel culture is a bittersweet irony. Remember the Moral Majority?

      So, what do we do here on the Left? It seems that the Redcaps are attempting to reconstitute themselves into a separate political party: the MAGA Party. You can imagine that this would be a place for Trump and his family to always have some sort of political relevance, using the party to install leaders on lower levels of government in cities where Trumpism still runs rampant. The fact that they would not be a part of our unofficial two party system would help cut the legs off of their abilities on a broad scale, but I expect to see MAGA towns popping up throughout the Midwest, South, and high North. The one thing the Right has over the Left most often is their ability to strategize and manipulate the playing field. What can the liberals do in order to negate the inherent power of these Trumpublicans?

     The answer lies directly in flipping local municipalities to Blue. See, as we witness the logjam that is the Senatorial and Congressional process on various issues, we are beginning to see the importance of the individual roles of Senators and Congressmen. Mitch McConnell has made certain things an utter nightmare for the entirety of the country, singlehandedly blocking a direct vote by the Senate to dole out much needed bailout money whilst apparently forgetting who pays for his salary and health benefits.  Well, there are a lot of local level officials that hold significant amounts of power over other key decisions and issues. Many individuals run completely unopposed in those places, complacency placating them into a feeling of security in their position. For example, the self-styled, self-titled "anarchist She-male" Aria DiMezzo ran unopposed as a Republican for Cheshire County, NH sheriff, winning the primary and getting over seven thousand votes compared to the incumbent's twenty seven thousand. While she lost, that was quite a voting bloc, and perhaps in the future she may actually be elected in some capacity. These are the moves the Left needs to continue making in order to attain more power, to find holes and penetrate them in order to crack the foundations of the establishment. The more Blue the leadership of a city, town, municipality, or organization is, the more likely it is that the "liberal agenda" can be forwarded to higher echelons of power. 

      There will be a war coming, but it will be an internal cold war. Towns where Trumpism runs roughshod will deepen in their resolve, and if Trump himself gets either impeached so that he cannot run again or is imprisoned, those towns will be powder kegs. Expect some sort of quasi-secession in a rural area, a bandying together of some rich Right Wing Trumpist, preppers, private military contractors, and gun "enthusiasts" declaring some sort of free state. Now, no one will attack that place due to the amount of rich white males and guns on the property, the Right will make comparisons to the autonomous zones that the Left has established, and eventually a secessionist army will develop calling itself a "millitia." The very key difference between the autonomous zones and this new thing is that this will be a white supremacist training/breeding ground fed by a lot of alt-Right money and nutjobs. These predictions are based upon activities I have seen extremists perform in the past, and one cannot call the Redcaps anything but that given that they have now tipped their own hand.

Do not misunderstand me. This is a direct comparison to Nazism. They are that dangerous, and I am worried for the safety of my family. Liberals and centrists, it is your job to combat these people as they appear in your spheres of government. Research ballot measures that appear in your state, county, and local levels to be sure that the far Right's agendas do not silently take over. Check the histories of the people writing the bills, politicians, and judges in your area so you know where their values lie rather than just listening to slogans. Hold local officials and police accountable for their negative actions. Remember, every politician will pretend to want the best for you in order to get into power, but not every politician has the best interest of the people at heart. 

 

On Civil Unrest in America

 Good day, World.

    Well. Here we are, folks. The Redcaps have shown their true colors, their failed coup the result of years of incendiary thoughts. They have been emboldened by watching protesters who rage against injustice, perverting the passion into the violence they've wished to engender this entire time. They hate that Obama's right hand man has been reinstalled, their love for the new Mussolini trumping their desire to be decent human beings tenfold. Trump has become exactly what he's been striving to be all this time: the next charisma vacuum to the alt-Right. The next great dictator is strutting his stuff, and all the king's horses and all the king's men have rolled out the carpet for Drumphy again.

     The telltale signs are more subtle, but this is a precarious position we have been put in. For example, when the National Guard was called in to dispatch the traitors who were actively attempting to subvert the processes of our government within the nation's capital, the Guard refused. Local authorities simply escorted the vast majority off the property, with very few casualties and far less force than, say, your average Black Lives Matter protest. Actual traitors were seen taking photos with the local police forces, the silent show of solidarity between the two factions saying more than any words could elaborate. Oddly enough, when angry white people show up with guns, no one seems to escalate like they do with minorities and protesters, as in 2016 with the Bundy armed takeover of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in Oregon. In short, when the white majority erupts into violence and barbarism over trivialities, it's not taken as seriously as non-violent people who wish to hold the government and society accountable for the injustices they perpetrate towards minorities. 

     And I do say trivialities with the entire weight of the word. When Trump won, the Left was told to hold their tongues by the Right, to "shut up and accept" that Agent Orange had been victorious. On the whole, the Left did just that, a smattering of "Not My President" bumper stickers and snarky late night comedy bits being the entirety of the protest made. However, now that Biden won, the Right's vitriol has boiled over and spilled into the halls of our government. The Confederate flag was flown in the Capitol that was built by the slaves who would fear it if they could see the future. Between the legislators who sided with him, the lies dripping from his mind through his clumsy thumbs, and the cacophony of Redcaps that clamor for him, we have seen the rise of a new terrorist group driven to madness. An election only establishes a figurehead, and so they commit treason over a fairly minor event. The Senate and Congress are the real decision makers, as seen while Obama was in office and had the vast majority of his moves deadlocked.

     The future holds some worry for me, as I am tracking a pattern and do not like it. For example, a lot of people do not realize that Hitler was elected to power at first. He was made  chancellor of Germany in January of 1933, then used the laws to maneuver himself into a dictator after a long history of using his charisma to appeal to the public. He used fear tactics and racist rhetoric to convince people that foreigners were the center of all of Germany's problems, spinning quasi-logic from drug addled mental episodes and vomiting it at a populace looking for answers. He took over the news media, creating an entire wing of the government in order to create and test propaganda in order to spark loyalty in his subjects. The people, desperate and angry, clung to this in spite of all logic, with 77,000 German citizens dying over the course of his reign due to dissent from this barbarism and millions more directly as a result. Meanwhile, the Nazi officers in their Hugo Boss uniforms stood neatly by, the mass genocide they helped orchestrate a daily chore for them, a simple meal on a plate.  

     Now, here we are in 2021. A fascist has been elected to power, his followers rabidly in support of him despite himself. The man himself has made overtures to other dictators, the oil barons of the Middle East, and white supremacist factions domestically. We have had our Beer Hall Putsch, the failed coup d'etat of a couple days ago serving as a preamble to what is certainly going to lead to worse things. Hate crimes against minorities have increased under his regime, the backlash to LGBT and racial groups asking for respect and fair treatment resulting in shootings, murders, and outright terrorism against said groups by the Redcaps. The people have clung to his words in a time of economic uncertainty and racial tension, and South and Central American immigrants looking for asylum have become the people in cages that the Jews and other minorities were in Germany. Let us not also forget the eternal war of the disenfranchised, the steady vacuuming up of minorities by the criminal justice system in order to fill private prisons and give businesses a cheap labor force. Trump holds rallies where he lies and whips crowds into a frenzy, allegedly studying from the actual speeches of Mussolini in his spare time to prepare. He has expressed great interest in changing laws in order to extend his reign since the very beginning of his tenure, and has managed to secure several news channels in order to spout his and others' far-Right propaganda as truth, not opinion. Independently, his followers mobilize and commit violence in his name, spewing poison and demonizing the victims as they make life more unbearable for those who think differently. 

The uniform has changed, but the ideals remain. 

     

     Reader, I will reveal something to you about myself (if you have not already gathered): I am a minority. I actively fear for my safety as I have heard awful things said directly to me about my specific minority, as well as having heard candid recordings from those who are exposed to this vitriol but have no other recourse but to expose it to the public. I fear for the future, the safety of myself and my family, and the direction this country is headed in. As a child, I saw the destruction of the Twin Towers, having lived within an hour of New York City by train and having relatives who lived in the area. The sight of the pillars of smoke billowing upward through my father's car window as we drove through the Meadowlands was sobering, and I would not have been anywhere near as politically minded if that hadn't happened during my formative years as a preteen. Now that I am in my thirties, I have watched the country fall from grace on the world stage, slowly descending into chaos as greed and racism drive this place into a more divided state than I have ever seen. I fear for the future, and I am too poor to either distance myself from it or leave here during this civil unrest. 

Either we fight this timeline or we die. We cannot lose ourselves to this. 

Escapism

 Good day, World.

     One of the greatest financial establishments in the modern world is the industry of escapism. While this multifaceted economic concept has several methods of implementation, they all strive to achieve the same purpose: make huge profits off of distracting the public from reality. From this, we see the film industry, record labels, vacation package companies, technology conglomerates, international sports leagues, alcohol producers, and various other industries built with this singular purpose. Of course, there are sections of many of these same sectors of business that attempt to augment rather than distort or obfuscate, but oftentimes these comparably small endeavors are either corrupted or altogether subsumed by larger companies that utilize them for their own purposes. In short, escaping reality is big money and has been for a very long time. 

     The main selling point of these commodities is to distract from the crushing grip of a nigh-feudal level of living that many of those same industries help to create. Nestle pumps water out of areas that need it desperately, ruining ecosystems and causing droughts to water tables around the world while selling "Pure Life" water. Chocolatiers use child slaves to gather their cocoa beans in desperate countries, marketing the fruit of their labor as things like "bliss" and "heaven" while putting actual children through hell. Workers in third world countries manufacture promotional materials for multi-million dollar movies, flights of fancy and spectacle insultingly thrust into their faces as the whip cracks behind them to work faster and do more. Even the companies that Americans work for market their products as silver bullets toward happiness, their own workers tired and struggling as the price of existence is steadily inflated to a staggering amount above what the average American can make. If the people were allowed to think instead of the constant push to consume, they would be too angry to continue making money off of, after all. Wear this brand, eat from this restaurant, drive this car, and listen to this artist. Happiness comes from never thinking and always doing.

     Unfortunately, this formula seems to work for many, choosing to immerse themselves in whatever fiction they deem appropriate rather than learn of anything past what they are told to. People erupt into violent conflict over sports teams that know nothing of their lives, and even scripted contests like the WWE have caused fanatics to riot. Followers get genuinely upset over changes in writing styles, film adaptations, and fictional characters, their emotional investment wasted on something that is not real and has no actual effect on them. Listeners become bitterly embroiled in the lives of the artists they listen to rather than taking their music at face value, and some artists have lost their lives behind the misplaced emotional turmoil of a crazed fan. There is no logic to what people find themselves passionate about, but when said passion is directed at something completely meaningless, it has been co-opted by some corporation in order to profit. 

     While I know time is meaningless, in this new year I am asking those reading to consider that. There are so many exciting events happening, so many people with real, inspiring stories to learn about, and so many new advancements pushing forward that can be paid attention to. Do not waste your emotions on fiction, as we need more people who deeply care about real life in order to help progress ourselves to a better future. Fiction is made to sedate and distract, to rob us of our emotions in order to manipulate our money out of our hands. It's like cartoons from the 80's and 90's: created with the specific purpose of selling toys. The cartoons were simply an advertisement that they knew would end up causing the children to essentially annoy the money out of their parents' pockets. 

Well, we're all adults now.

Frustration.

Hello, World.

     Today has been...difficult for me. Normally, I write musings regarding current events, societal trends, etc. However, today I feel the need to vent my personal frustrations. I hope you do not mind if I speak frankly and unfiltered, though I'd hope by now those of you who do read my ramblings know that is the case in most instances. I will not go into specifics, as I am still fairly private in my dealings (unless either you've traced together the different facets that amalgamate my identity or I have brought you here directly), but I will instead generalize the issues I face.

     The greed of the upper echelons of society have driven the economy into a dizzying spiral of artificially inflated costs. In order to exist in this world of modern peasantry and fiefdoms, we the majority are subject to either mass indignity or outright slavery in order to survive. Jobs that require constant movement, harassing the customers for up-sales, working in boiling heat or extreme cold, or the constant Damocles' sword of deadlines and timers are worth much more monetarily than the business owners are willing to pay. It is this very reasoning said higher ups attempt to cut the cost of labor razor thin, selling your body for two to five times what they pay you to the customer and reaping the benefits of your skills, abilities, or mere presence there. This is atop the doubling or tripling the cost of whatever item is being purchased or used, depending upon the situation. I understand the concept of overhead and profit margins, but truthfully, the gap between inflation and wages has slowly been widening since the Eighties, if not before. Now, said gap is exponentially larger than it has been ever before, and no amount of "overtime" or "extra shifts" is going to fix this problem.

     Thankfully, there are some institutions that assist in times of exceptional crisis, but it seems that every day pundits and politicians scream for their repeal. "Do not feed the lazy," they cry, ignoring that several large scale inquiries into fraud in these systems led to a near nil result. "The virus only culls the elderly," they cry aloud, while two hundred seventy five thousand individuals die on this land's soil. "The doctors and media inflated the numbers to get more funding," they insist, clutching desperately at their six hundred eighty six billion dollar military purse. Businesses defy shut down orders because asking them not to host crowds of people during a pandemic surge is "tyrannical." This inability to focus on anything but money drives us all to madness, and all because those at the top of the pyramid want every single dime.

     The struggle for existence is only a struggle when there are predators looking to eat you every day. Yes, there are packs and groups that temporarily give shelter from the biting winds of capitalism, and cooperation between like-minded parties is a rare boon that passes once objectives diverge. Still, I see the eyes watching me, their icy claws raking at my pockets and my sanity. Advertising rapes my eyes and ears, leaving me staring blankly at a screen as my thoughts ebb and I try to recall what I was trying to originally search for. Earlier today, a police officer arrived to speak to one of my neighbors. I hid inside my residence until he left simply because I did not want him to take any interest in me whatsoever. 

Do not see me. Do not kill me. I know you can.

     Some say fear is an emotion that one should not indulge in, that it is weak and renders one useless. I say that any person that has lived through real trauma, tragedy, or loss has every reason to accept the fact they feel it. In our own way, we have all had to live through situations that we were afraid past all comprehension while still handling said instances. Fear itself does not inhibit our strength as a person, but rather it shows that we are mentally fighting not to fail. Those who have accepted defeat are not afraid, just as those who know that victory is certain do not feel nervous. The fact that we fear for what the future holds means that we are uncertain, but we do not wish for a negative outcome. 

     Fear makes me focus, as it is my natural state to hyper-focus as it is. People say in tense situations or catastrophes that I react very well, but the main reason is that I am so focused on fixing the problem that I seem calm. They aren't there when the seizures take me at night because my mind is overloaded. They aren't there when I wake up screaming or when the crying hurts my chest. All they see is the rest, what I allow them to see. When I drink a liter of homemade absinthe in a few days, they see that. When I come out at eight am to smoke my first blunt of the day, they see that. They don't see that I've been awake since four am staring into a screen or the void looking for a solution to whatever issues I can address at the time. They don't hear the screaming I hear in my mind every morning, the whip cracking again and again to get more accomplished. 

I am spent. Good night, World.

The Western Cult(ure) Machine

 Good day, World.

     One of the fundamental facets of Western civilization is ravenous, unchecked capitalism. Every major company in the US seems to lobby for less restrictions and oversight so that their companies can get away with an increasing amount of injustices towards their workers, the environment, and even their consumers. Politicians, ever in bed with these industries, receive money to roll back any regulations regarding the planet or their workers that do get put into place, with some directly benefiting from doing so in their own private businesses. Even the prison industrial complex directly feeds into this capitalist agenda, using prisoners as slaves for companies to contract out and make even more profit by cutting their labor costs. Businesses fight to keep minimum wage at poverty level in whatever states they operate in, with the ones that successfully attain higher mandatory pay being slandered by politicians and pundits as liberal trash states that should be seen as outliers, not examples. In all, Western "civilization" prioritizes the rich and their brands as more important than people, with even the government slashing at social programs while simultaneously bolstering their own pockets and their precious military machine. 

     The entrenchment of belief in the almighty dollar over everything is further sewn into the fabric of our existence by the ruling class. Constantly the rich chase us for our funds, minimizing our pay on one end while maximizing cost on the other. Rent continues to spiral upwards in any place there is work to be had, hyperinflating the cost of living just because the landowner knows they can get away with it. Landlords charge triple the rent just to get into a place, referring to "refundable security deposits" while finding every excuse not to pay them back when the time comes. Meanwhile, managers and owners of companies are finding ways to pay their workers less every day, cycling schedules to avoid paying overtime, offering pittances to make them thousands of dollars every day, and holding back checks for up to 3 weeks at the beginning just to be sure you're desperate enough continue working for next to nothing. As a working class person, this was my reality every day for a very long time, and for most it will be for the rest of their lives. 

      Another one of the side effects of being crammed into this system is that it grants you no time to think, your mind constantly flooded with the objectives of your master, the Corporation. When you do have time off, the only things you think of are either escaping the mental space your job puts you in or the indignities and crushing weight of the job you will be returning to. The concept of hating Mondays and loving Fridays is rooted in a culture based around working menial jobs that traditionally only give weekends off. People tend to develop unhealthy coping mechanisms for said jobs, with the most common blue collar drug being alcohol and the whole culture revolving around "heading to the bar" after work is done just to cope with the stress of working. Even the depression, stress, and anger of the working man is monetized, with alcohol, cigarette, and porn companies pandering to the proletariat in order to be their comfort. "Drink, smoke, masturbate! Dull the pain! Do anything but think of a way out of this!"

     The curators of Western culture do not want the people to be independent. Yes, companies and politicians bandy around the words "freedom," "independence," and the like, but these are token gestures to convince you that their pathway is the only way to achieve said freedom. Meanwhile, everything  in America is hyperregulated, taxed, numbered, under surveillance, tracked, and accounted for, with any real attempts by the people to be free shut down or ostracized by the same culture that claims to be the only one worth believing in. Are you making money without reporting every cent to the government? Jail for you. Did you build something on your own land without telling them? Either be fined or tear it down. Did you get into a fistfight because someone wronged you? To jail you go. Are you a minority with a firearm that dared use it in self-defense? Say goodbye to your weapon and your life. Their version of what it means to be free is simply having the freedom to give them all of your money in one way or another, and the rich will have it no matter what.

     I am a working class person, but I am committed to removing my cog from the machine. I am still young in a sense, as I have more than half of my life ahead of me statistically, so I have time to continue working toward my newest goal. You see, I have found one honest way to work within the confines of the structure we have been born into while still making money. Not everyone has this option, but because of certain life decisions I have made, I am figuring how to escape the tyranny of this cycle. Simply put, I work for myself now, and while the safety of a regular paycheck is not guaranteed as working for a company is, the freedom regarding my daily time that I now possess allows me to figure out what my next step should be. Does this make me guilty of being a cog still? Yes, but I spin more freely than I did when I was just someone working for someone else, giving all my time and effort to a company that believes I only deserve $12-15/hr. while someone else who does less work than I rakes in thousands of dollars a day behind my efforts. Now, at least, I can set my price as opposed to being auctioned off like the slaves they want us all to be.

Have a good day, World.

Hello Again.

 Good day again, World.

It's been a very long time since I've written here. In the meantime, I have gone out into America, my desire to learn and adapt without being crushed by the heel of modern society leading me on a great journey. I have experimented with making videos, creating music, and finding a career that did not leave me feeling empty and worthless inside. After several attempts to "fit in" with groups of people claiming to be there for my benefit, I have found none who mean what they say they do. The amount of friends I have has dwindled to single digits as I gradually uncover more about myself, and the desire to interact with others has similarly eroded away. 

     Additionally, the social, political, and economic climates have drastically shifted during my absence from this medium. Where there once was a shred of dignity and bipartisan effort is now cult-like worship and the purposeful erosion of faith in our political systems. Dictatorial leaders spout tripe and lies to the people, stoking fears while hiding the true depths of their disservice to those who they claim to protect. Indeed, the hypocrisy of these leaders is so self-evident that they need to go on the offensive just to hide it. Blame the media, blame the protesters, blame the people, blame the Democrats, blame everyone but yourself. Now, we are in a post-truth society, one that does not accept facts as valid and prefers to eat its own insanity over provable, correct statistics and figures. The news has become as it was in Orwell's 1984, where truths are overwritten by narratives, then turned back on once a new one is drafted by the powers that be.   

     Financial independence is becoming more difficult to attain every day. Landlords are artifically inflating their prices all over the country, charging more money to the poor and bad of credit than those who already have money and can easily afford said prices. There is a country-wide gentrification happening, and nowhere that one can reasonably afford to live has any infrastructure that works for the working man. The reason behind this is simple: greed. Those who already have land and property wish the rest of us to be slaves, using all of our time and money to feed their ever-expanding maws and stomachs. To those who say capitalism is the only working system, I say you're wrong. This is the end result of capitalism: all money consolidated to the top of the pyramid, leaving the bottom with just enough not to riot and kill the rich a la the French Revolution. The short plan: 1.) keep feeding the military so that if the people revolt, they can be dealt with using excessive force. 2.) overregulate every single aspect of people's lives so that we can take more money from them arbitrarily. 3.) Don't tax the rich; that's what the poor are for. Instead, actively demonize the poor, take away the programs we have supporting them, then tell them they're just not trying hard enough.  4.) Enslave every poor person and minority we can get our hands on through the prison system, then put them to work for free. We need to reestablish a slave class so we can really make a profit. 5.) Distract the people with baubles, widgets, chemicals, and circuses so that they do not realize that we are taking everything from them. 

     This constant grind has tired and frustrated me to no end. Before the sun rises, I am awake, my mind screaming with rage and looking for some sort of answer to my plight. How do I get out of my situation? What path is there to take? I have begun working for myself so I at least have some time to think rather than constantly being on someone else's clock. Even there, those who oppose me bury my ads under a bevy of theirs, using their financial strength to flood the pages with ads and push mine under. Do the rich never feel as if they are rich enough? Do they all feel as if their coiffers will never be full, or are they simply ensuring that to be the case by expanding them? How can a family of three or four need a ten bedroom mansion with a ballroom and seventeen cars? It is madness that those who already have to excess would feel the need to steal the pennies out of my pockets. Yet somehow, they do, with fees, taxes, hyper-inflating prices, and beating us to near death with their strength. 

     In short, I am broken. The world has gone mad, and I have witnessed it. While I know the only way is forward, I also have no idea what forward means in the modern day. Occupy Wall Street crashed and burned, and now QAnon has taken its place with their conspiracy theories and white supremacist overtones. Nazis have re-surged into the public eye under the guise of "Proud Boys" and Trump supporters, waving rebel flags and attacking people for thinking differently than them. When you point out these things to most, they claim you're overreacting or that "the left wing media told you that." You show people videos of horrendous things perpetrated by their cohorts, they say "Well, it was just that one guy/group" without bothering to acknowledge the poison that has affected everyone in the group. Truth is becoming irrelevant, and lies are spouted with smiles. The rich are eating us at an accelerated pace, and the words "independence" and "freedom" are now code words for the rich Right doing whatever they want to whomever they wish. 

America has been falling for a long time now, and I am here to witness it crash. 

I have been known by many names, but now, I am simply Null. The other names have left, for the other emotions have, as well. Hollow. Empty. Null. 

Good day. 

 

Thoughts: Amateur Porn

     For years, people have decried the porn industry for a variety of reasons. While the arguments against it are myriad, the arguments boil down to three major statements: 1.) Porn exploits women, 2.) porn dehumanizes sex, or 3.) porn is immoral and damaging to relationships. Now, female exploitation is not an argument that any logical person could argue against when it comes to the major porn industry, as it is pretty much legalized pimping. The same could be said for the argument of the dehumanization of sex, seeing as more and more men seem to be retreating from the exercise of even attempting to get to know women for that purpose (much less pursuing a "relationship") and going straight to the computer or phone for that gratification. As to the third, I make no comment, but I do understand where those people may be coming from.

     However, I believe that there is one growing exception to any outcry that may have been raised in the previous paragraph: amateur porn. Pornographic material that was made specifically for the enjoyment of the exercise, not with the initial intent of having one person or company make hundreds of thousands of dollars off of a group of people's performances. Many performers are solo women with webcams, cell phones, or digital cameras that just wanted to make something for either themselves or the rest of the world to see. Perhaps they get off on the idea that someone out there is watching their erotic offering, appreciating their body and thinking wholly of them. I've communicated with a lot of women who make these videos, and when I ask them why they do these videos, their responses have been something to the effect of  "Because I like knowing that I'm making someone cum. It gets me off." If that's not the ultimate expression of female power, I don't know what is. 

Amateur pornography is also empowering because it doesn't require the performer to have a "porn body." You don't need to have abs, tanned, smooth skin, Botox, a tummy tuck, a boob job, ass implants, a huge cock, a face lift, anal bleaching, or any of the things that the industry requires its workers to have. It is a celebration of the body as it is, hair, cellulite, wrinkles, and all. It also allows people of all genders, orientations, ages, and fetishes to have something to fap to, which is something that I appreciate. 

     Amateur porn also allows people that may feel marginalized to show their sexual side to an increasingly more accepting public, regardless of casting couch requirements or popular conceptions of what is sexy. So if one day, you want to watch the hirsute girl with the wolf ears, paws, and tail butt plug fuck herself with a dragon shaped dildo that shoots cum-colored lube, you can go see that. If you want to then go watch a MTF transgender get her cock sucked by an FTM transgender before the FTM fucks the MTF with a strap-on, then that's there too. Why do those videos exist? Because the people who made them saw fit to say, "Hello, Internet! I want you to have this!" It did not happen because some person in a tall leather chair in a three piece suit said, "Hmm...the algorithm says that this kind of niche will make me the most money. Tell the models to start making this!"

     Even more interesting is the fact that a good portion of it is made specifically with another person in mind. I have seen countless videos that were made for one person, but shared by both parties involved because they both thought it was something beautiful enough to share. I've seen captions like "Hubby and I..." or "My wife decided that she wanted us to..." all over the internet. Many times, I've seen live webcams with couples who'd decided to broadcast themselves together in order to either make money together or just because they liked showing off for other people. If you peruse Tumblr long enough, you'll find people of all shapes, sizes, and genders posting pics of their naked bodies in erotic acts for both their significant others and for whoever stumbles into their page to see. 

     The reason why amateur porn is both so accessible and gaining steam these days is because of how easy the Internet has made it to share files. Sure, most sites that offer extensive collections of amateur porn are big, corporate run entities, but here's the beautiful thing: somehow, they manage to offer enough content that you can watch as many videos as you want for absolutely free. Taking the YouTube model, they've enabled ads everywhere, but if you're good, you can avoid all of them and never have to worry about viruses or anything like that. It's all there, freely offered, freely displayed, and freely watched. 

     See, that's the beauty of the thing: amateur porn is made just because whoever wanted to make it decided to share it with the world. It's an expression of human eroticism, and while there are still some sub-genres that I have issue with (voyeur, candid upskirts, etc.), it is far less exploitative than industrial porn. So if you do watch porn, watch amateur. It's genuine, and in a world full of falsehood, it's refreshing to see.