The "decency" police are back! (Circus Vargas, Circus Vargas!)

Let me be clear. There is a special place in hell for anyone who exploits children to make sexually explicit material.

But when adults produce content that features only consenting adults - and distributes it only to adults - it's none of anybody else's damn business. That's what makes the OnlyFans controversy so aggravating.

Up until about 15 years ago, you used to hear a lot about "decency." I live in a region where an art museum was actually prosecuted over an exhibit, government officials tried to set up a censorship board to scrutinize what was shown on cable TV, and numerous computer bulletin board systems were raided over content that was perfectly legal. There's still a lot that's wrong in society today - but this type of censorship had become relatively scarce since then.

Until now.

London-based OnlyFans is a favorite of online porn models - who make up the lion's share of the website's business. But now the site is banning sexually explicit content - after pressure from big banks and credit card companies.

That's like if ESPN got out of the sports business or if the major party nominating conventions got out of the comedy business. If you take away porn, there's not much remaining of OnlyFans, other than a few musicians and chefs.

OnlyFans already specifically prohibited illegal content. The material the banks objected to is legal. Some of this legal material was the main source of income for content creators.

The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children has found fewer than 100 instances of child exploitation on OnlyFans per year. Meanwhile, the organization has found about 65,000 instances on Twitter and 20 million on Facebook. Why doesn't anyone go after precious, precious Facebook?

Even though OnlyFans was already taking a tough line against illegal conduct, Congress has launched an investigation against OnlyFans - while Twitter and Facebook go unpunished.

Going after a website's legal content stinks of the "decency" crusades of a couple decades ago. Since last year, a new wave of puritanism and false morality has taken over much of the world, especially Western countries. It guides not only views on sexuality but also censorship of other materials and the draconian COVID-19 measures - which were unheard of during the swine flu, Ebola virus, and other pandemics just a few years ago. This new false morality is essentially a new pseudoreligious movement.

It's a recipe for disaster.