I enjoy good literature and film; I just don’t get enough time to enjoy either one. One of my best friends studied literature in grad school and loves film analysis. He tells me that cultural critics and analysts in the field have coined a new term to describe those people who need to see increasing amounts of detailed, graphic violence in order to properly enjoy their horror films. That term is “gore-porn.”
I find that term quite helpful and insightful because the analogy works so well. Plenty of research exists to confirm the thesis that regular old pornography does not satisfy a real need, and so ends up creating a felt need for itself. Soon the consumer of pornography is bored with the graphic nature of his current pornographic diet, and requires more and new and unique depictions.
So it is with those who watch horror films. They enjoy the adrenaline rush (or endorphines, or whatever biochemical process is involved) of seeing blood, guts and all of the violence involved in producing blood and guts. But just as with pornography, the consumer of horror films soon finds that his felt need is not being met adequately, and he become bored. He, too, requires more and new and unique depictions of bloody violence.
Here I would like to suggest that America’s neoconservatives have a similar problem. I call it “Neocon War-Porn.” Perhaps someone can suggest a better term, because while both sexual pornography and horror films are things that are generally watched, I don’t believe that most neoconservatives would actually enjoy watching a real war (just think of how much pleasure is taken in watching Saving Private Ryan or Blackhawk Down – and those are still not the real thing).
In any case, by Neocon War-Porn, I mean that neoconservatives love war and news of war. But soon, that isn’t enough. They need more wars and they need more human beings to demonize for the purpose of warring against them. Muslims fill the demonization need for neoconservatives in much the same way that centerfolds fill the need for porn addicts, as evidenced by the recent hysteria about the Muslim cultural center near ground zero in New York. In both cases, most porn consumers (of both the sexual and war varieties) do not actually know a person like the type they are objectifying (real women or real Muslims). They are content to be “stimulated” by the way others use real women or real Muslims to bring about a certain desired effect.
The analogy doesn’t end there, either. Both kinds of porn are endorsed by seemingly mainstream personalities. The media tells us that viewing pornography is “just something men do,” while Hugh Hefner is accepted enough to even have a reality TV show (of course, it’s not so much about him). In the same way, most (neo)conservative talk show hosts perpetuate the meme that war is good, but more war is better because it stimulates the economy (a lie) and kills more Muslims (because all Muslims are terrorists, right? – just like all women want to perform degrading sex acts for your personal pleasure, right?). That meme says that love of war and an hatred of Muslims are “just things conservatives do,” while the only people who are taken “seriously” by the news media are those who love war and hate Muslims.
Perhaps I should be more afraid of Muslims than I am. But at least nobody has to die in order for me to be politically stimulated.
