Porn Study Tries to Suggest that Republicans are a Bunch of Perverts

Everyone's buzzing about a new study that suggests that conservatives are porn-addicted hypocrites (good news for Stormy Daniels) who rail against immorality to the tune of 70's wah-wah guitar. Here's how New Scientist sums it up:

A new nationwide study (pdf) of anonymised credit-card receipts from a major online adult entertainment provider finds little variation in consumption between states

...However, there are some trends to be seen in the data. Those states that do consume the most porn tend to be more conservative and religious than states with lower levels of consumption, the study finds.

"Some of the people who are most outraged turn out to be consumers of the very things they claimed to be outraged by," Edelman says.

I took a look at the study, and my favorite part was this heading:

Why Study Online Adult Entertainment?

I guess, to improve your one-handed typing skills?

I took a look at this study, and while the conclusion may or may not be true, the data doesn't support it. Even if it is true, though, I still say it doesn't matter.

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First, the study. They draw conclusions by comparing small variances in geographical porn data with demographic data, and assume a correlation. My buddy Caleb asserts that this is like saying that 80% of New York Times readers in Georgia are conservative. I've never had someone walk into the bathroom and catch me "reading" the New York Times and tell me I'll go blind, but I guess I see his overall point.

Still, even if Republicans are as firm believers as anyone else in meting out corporal punishment to "the monkey," does that diminish their argument against pornography? Indeed, does hypocrisy weaken any argument?

I say it doesn't, and I think when people on the left point out this kind of hypocrisy, it's more so they can make fun of Republicans than out of some sense of intellectual outrage. I know that's why I do it.

If someone's idea is wrong, attack the idea, not the degree to which they adhere to it. If Hannibal Lecter kills someone, then eats a cheeseburger, do we scold him? "See, you don't even like human flesh that much, you hypocrite!"
Republicans have a similar tactic, deflection, where they compare their thing to something that's not remotely the same, then make you argue about that. For example, "Well, why is it OK for you to eat dinner, but not Hannibal Lecter? Why are you allowed to wear a mask at Halloween, but all of a sudden Lecter's a jerkoff for wearing someone's actual face?"

Killing and eating people is just wrong.

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