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Culture War Roundup for the week of January 30, 2023

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My general read on this stuff is that our moral framework including freedom of expression and thought imply that these things cannot be punishable moral transgressions, and the ick factor comes more from the way it changes our expectations of the phonography viewer.

They aren't causing real damages by doing this (except in the case of distribution and claims of authenticity which is covered by the moral frameworks around libel). Using your likeness moderately infringes your intellectual property but in my experience most people don't have that strong of moral reactions to IP violations. I think there is some sense of sexual property that is infringed in that you should be able to extract desserts from your sex appeal and reproductive potential, but I think there has been a lot of pushback against this moral precept as part of the sexual revolution. The pornography viewer hasn't done anything wrong yet but they have revealed that they want something from you (implicitly, that you don't want to give them).

Imagine you own a boat and your neighbor fantasizes about having your boat. I think it is clear that his fantasies don't constitute immoral action, but it brings into question every interaction you've had. When he gave you his old garden tools to help you get started was that genuine generosity of a lie to get in your good favor. If you leave on vacation can you trust him not to steal it. Some of these are resolved by disclosure, e.g. if your neighbor gives you the garden tools in exchange for lending him the boat for a fishing trip, but it doesn't resolve the unmatched value functions.