It recently came to light that both Mastercard and Visa are no longer allowing payments to the popular adult site, Pornhub, to which many conservatives are cheering because, well, porn. I, however, am no so quick to join in on their cheering.
Over the past couple of years reports have come out that “the Hub” has been host to a number of videos that contain illegal content including child exploitation and sexual assault, and to this fact I say, “so what”. Not that I do not think these things are awful, as they most certainly are! Those who commit the crimes committed in these videos should be found, prosecuted and penalized to the fullest extent of the law! PH, however, is not responsible for the content published to their platform, and from what I understand they have worked to remove anything flagged as illegal or inappropriate. If we want to ban interaction with other places in which this kind of activity takes place then just cancel the whole internet. Oh, and Hollywood. And the music industry. In fact, just cancel the whole world. PH is doing what it can as a platform provider in which others post their content.
Unlike Facebook, however, who has a history of allowing videos of terrorist insurgents beheading men, women and children continue to remain on their platform, even after repeated reporting. These videos, along with videos of people doing drugs, assaulting animals and many other criminal activities, can often times be easily traced back to their creator by simply looking at who posted it. Instead FB is quick to remove videos and images of things it deems inappropriate like the Confederate Flag, or items that make fun of protected classes of people or certain protected politicians.
Instead I see this move by Mastercard and Visa as simply another test run of controlling businesses and people by proxy, via their financial institutions. This is a good reason to always have some cash on hand, some precious metals and jewels in a safe, and some food and necessities stashed in the closet. Whether or not you agree with PH’s content I think most of us would agree that it is highly disturbing for businesses to involuntarily control where and what we can do with our own money.
Today, Pornhub, and the people cheered.
Tomorrow, churches.
The next day, all citizens.
And the citizens will cry out and wonder why there is no one to save them.
Snapper's Domain 
High IQ take. Controlling where and when you can spend your own money is not something that should be decided by others, not even the banks themselves.
Conservatives won’t be cheering when paypal decides to blacklist them completely from their services. Preventing someone from spending money is a death sentence.
Exactly! So I don’t know how this glaring fact is being missed by some high level people! Andrew Torba of Gab is cheering the move and calling “conservatives supporting Pornhub” fakes and losers and “the left can have them, they are not conservatives”. I mean, make PH illegal if its illegal, but until that takes place, whether someone likes porn or not, its a legal business with legal protections, and actions taken against it, uncontested, can be spread to others, with PH becoming a baseline of being able to do it without question or concern!
It reminds me of this quote:
“First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a socialist.
Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a trade unionist.
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.”
Cheering the banning of anything is bad policy.
Once people have accepted the premise that they can be controlled, there is not much hope for the few that value freedom.
It’s already started:
https://www.amren.com/news/2019/04/chase-bank-shuts-down-alt-right-accounts/
We’ll be seeing lots more of this.
PH is a perfect way of starting the slippery slope because, as OP notes, they are not breaking the law. They cooperate with law enforcement.
TPTB are trying to normalize refusing essential services to people they dislike, nor those committing crimes.
See also big banks frequently breaking the law themselves or turning a blind eye to profitable money laundering.
In addition, COVID might be used as an excuse to justify a cashless society.
“coin shortage” if I remember right…
Well stated, Snapper. “They” ALWAYS choose people or organizations that are disliked by the “majority” as a way of starting things rolling down the slippery slope. There have been more than enough examples historically that the “normies” should know better by now than to cheer such things on. Wight of Leads’ comment at 12/11/20 11:59am sums it up nicely.