The term 'Pornography of Violence' has been used by many writers. It was explained by Prof. Robert Knox Denton of the State University of New York, "emotionally arousing material that focusses on doing harm to people in a way that, perhaps tacitly, seems to condone that behavior in order to gratify the author or reader". Denton also is the author of 'The Semai: A nonviolent people of Malaysia', perhaps the only nonviolent human community left on earth.
Pornography is said to have originated from Greek pornographos, 'writing about prostitutes'. Prostitute from latin prostituere, 'exposed publicly, offered for sale', which today and always could apply not only to women who offer their body, but to many others in many other fields, which have all become respectable or accepted business. Thus any literature or works of art depicting violence, related to, or originating from, any form of prostitution could be considered 'Pornography of Violence'.
"War is the pornography of violence" is a song by Brian Routh. It has a dark beauty, filled with the monstrous and the grotesque. The Bible calls it “the lust of the eye” [1 John 2:16] and warns believers against it. War allows us to engage in primal impulses we keep hidden in the deepest, most private interiors of our fantasy life." wrote columnist Chris Hedges in Truthdig. That is why we find that "Death and Destruction are never satisfied, and neither are human eyes." Proverbs 27:20.
Britain has started 'commemorating the Great War'. It is a celebration really of the start of the first world war. No war should ever be called 'great', because there could never be anything great about massacring other human beings. Instead of celebration we should mourn the dead and all the people who suffered, and discuss ways and means of preventing another such crime. Simon Jenkins of the Guardian called it a 'media theme park', that there are even great war fashion shows, and that the Royal Mail has issued "A special souvenir selection that enables you to enjoy both the stories and the stamps". Even the British government is asking people to enjoy the death of 20 million with another 17 million wounded during this war.
The film critic David Edelstein used the term 'Torture Porn' for some horror films coming out today. He says "And just as women are objectified in so much sexual pornography, in torture porn, it is the victims which are objectified, reduced to mere conduits of our sadistic hunger."
Mary Anne Layden, Director of the Sexual Trauma and Psychopathology Program, University of Pennsylvania, wrote, "Pornography is a potent teacher of both beliefs and behaviours, and in fact provides the ideal conditions for learning." She was talking about pornography and sexual violence, "We also learn better when aroused...the arousal may come from excitement, joy, fear, disgust or sexual tension....Pornography can offer all these elements..."
We learn not only what is good and beneficial to us and to mankind, but more often the evil and harmful acts and behaviour. That is how pornography of violence breeds more and more violence. Violence on visual media cause more harm. As Layden says, "A split-second look at an image can convey more information than a split-second look at words. Words are often perceived as opinions while images are often perceived as events or facts."
'Pornography of violence' is with us too, not only when we go on and on about the 30 years of conflict, but also from the past, writing novels, poems, biographies, making films, winning awards and hitting best seller lists. In the beginning there was no violence. Man did not show any violence towards man or animal, and probably there was no word for violence. Today we do not have a word for the absence of violence.
As difficult as it may be to admit, we have grown up with and grown accustomed to violence as our model of “conflict resolution.” We may hold an unbearable grief inside ourselves at this state of our world – but we are no longer surprised by it.
We have to blame all historians and epic poets for the violence around us today. They have almost all justified violence and brain-washed us to believe that violence is the only way to resolve conflicts. The only literature without violence was found initially in the Jain and Buddhist writings, till we came to the Sufi literature.
"In 75 percent of the television programs sown during hours when American children are most likely to be watching, the hero either kills people or beats them up. This violence typically constitutes the 'climax' of the show. Viewers, having been taught that bad guys deserve to be punished, take pleasure in watching this violence." This applies to our countries too, when we see the amount of violence shown on television and films, and the way people are getting addicted to this enjoyment of violence. It is the implied threat of violence (and its strategic use) that has kept a population of 7 billion human beings controlled by the agenda of a few thousand intimate power brokers. Violence is the vehicle by which “power over” is maintained. Just as the sex industry thrives on pornography, the power brokers and the arms industry thrive on pornography of violence. The arms industry is probably today the largest single business on earth.
Even though the United Nations is supposed to unite nations and create an atmosphere of peace on earth, five of the UN Security Council permanent members are the biggest arms traders in the world. This means creating world peace is not in their best interest. They would never prevent pornography, sexual or violent, because it would not be in their interest.