Porn

Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart made famous the phrase “I know it when I see it” in 1964. The case was Jacobellis v. Ohio and Stewart was referring to pornography.

That was long before the appearance of websites devoted to (though certainly not before the existence of) what’s called “book porn.” Page after page of shelves packed and stacked with Brodart-wrapped collectibles and first editions, cheesecake close-ups of gilt leather bindings and wide-angle shots of massive private collections. Even grainy stalker-like photos of public library interiors and ordinary bookstore windows.

Intoxicating for the bibliophile, funny in context to the casual reader, book porn, like its earthier counterpart, is easy to spot.

I was thumbing through the current issue of “At Home” magazine at the only place in Greenville that serves fresh apple-carrot-ginger juice yesterday morning when it struck me (eyes widen, slaps forehead) that I was looking at bathroom porn. And kitchen porn. And elsewhere, at self-adornment porn and – hell –  fundraiser gala (as in, tax-deductible compassion) porn.

Frank celebrations of wealth. Not just “rich American” wealth, not chicken in every pot wealth, or even $5 latte wealth, but hard-core three-home, private plane, horse stable, impulse weekend getaways to Europe wealth.

There’s a scene early in the film “Spirited Away” when Chihiro’s parents, who’ve been gorging on food to the point of wallowing in it, are transformed into pigs. The otherwise empty market where this food has appeared from out of nowhere is enchanted and the food itself is a trap, sprung by their greed. Chihiro escapes the trap because her physical and spiritual appetites are those of a person who’s physically and spiritually healthy.

Hold that thought.

The gray area between complete satisfaction of basic human needs and obscenity is large, I’m sure. Large and ever-shifting. And to a point, wealth is relative. But there’s another point, well inside the zone of superabundance, where most folks – 99% of us, anyway – know exactly what we’re looking at.

And it’s kinda scary.