plato's cave

Kaya mo bang hulaan ang pamagat ng drawing na ito? (Kung sirit ka na, tingnan ang "comments" para sa sagot)

WARNING: L & A

the following is an excerpt of things that go through my mind when i ride a bus and i am trying to ignore "daisy siete" on the on-board t.v.

i dont know who came up with the word, but "post-everything" is a good way to describe the intellectual world today; its even a good way of describing blogging. in a post-everything world, one of the watchwords is exploitation. meaning its to be avoided. but i have two problems about it on my mind:

1. is profiting from human suffering always exploitation?
this seems to be a no-brainer but take this example: I like taking pictures. we all know the really great pictures are the pictures that tell a human story. especially moving pictures happen to be about the bleakness of the human condition. since i dont really earn anything from photography and i dont get my pictures published anywhere except the net, i am an amateur; i take pictures for the personal enjoyment of it. so, if i take a picture of an especially pathetic looking quadraplegic leprosy ridden beggar, i am really doing it because i think it would make a good picture, not because i am serving some higher cause (except, maybe, art), or because i earn a living out of it. so i am profiting from the beggar's pitiful condition. is it exploitation? obviously i could give him some money for his trouble, but not much since photography drains the funds enough as it is. is a token amount enough to compensate the exploitation that i think happened? is the offense mitigated if i ask for the person's consent? i could give him a copy of the picture but that doesnt help his condition any and i still get more from my end of the bargain (e.g. improve my portfolio, aesthetic pleasure, admiration from people, etc). is it ok to shoot scenes of social reality or should i stick to party pictures and inanimate objects?

2. is pornography always exploitation?
there is no denying that porno is enjoyable to me and many other people. i dont really buy into the belief that watching porno makes rapists; might as well say that watching the ten commandments will make you want to become a priest. there is however the question of exploitation. it is generally agreed by me and my friends that a beautiful woman will strip and fuck for the camera if and only if she meets the following requirements:

either she:
a) has no other skills, has a low IQ score, for some reason cannot or does not want to get married, and is desperately in need of money

or she:
b) is suffering from any of various mental disturbances (schizophrenia, personality disorders, nymphomania, alien mind control, etc.)

or a dreadful combination of both

if that is the case, if you are the sort of person who despises exploitation but doesnt have anything against jerking off (a consciencious type of pervert) would watching hentai be the safe thing to do? or is the enjoyment derived from cartoon bimbos a vicarious kind of exploitation?

i tell people 3 things after completing the term (a trimester, or maybe trimenstrual because its a period of three months). that they should:

1. recognize individual differences
2. never lie to themselves. lie to others but never to yourself
3. forget everything else and remember the two things above