Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

The arc of the moral universe does not bend itself. it is up to us to bend it.

So many bastards, so little time.

Speaker Mike Johnson is a vile traitor to the House and the Constitution.

This country desperately needs a functioning fourth estate.

… pundit janitors mopping up after the gop

Of course you can have champagne before noon. That’s why orange juice was invented.

We can’t confuse what’s necessary to win elections with the policies that we want to implement when we do.

Peak wingnut was a lie.

We can show the world that autocracy can be defeated.

Accountability, motherfuckers.

Fundamental belief of white supremacy: white people are presumed innocent, minorities are presumed guilty.

Republicans are the party of chaos and catastrophe.

The media handbook says “controversial” is the most negative description that can be used for a Republican.

You’re just a puppy masquerading as an old coot.

Fear or fury? The choice is ours.

She burned that motherfucker down, and I am so here for it. Thank you, Caroline Kennedy.

This really is a full service blog.

GOP baffled that ‘we don’t care if you die’ is not a winning slogan.

You know it’s bad when the Project 2025 people have to create training videos on “How To Be Normal”.

Text STOP to opt out of updates on war plans.

My right to basic bodily autonomy is not on the table. that’s the new deal.

Museums are not America’s attic for its racist shit.

Every one of the “Roberts Six” lied to get on the court.

The republican speaker is a slippery little devil.

You are here: Home / Popular Culture / Balloon Juice After Dark Open Thread: Sub-Adult Content

Balloon Juice After Dark Open Thread: Sub-Adult Content

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There’s no way Disney’s announcement could be connected to the other pop-cult news of the day, and yet my mind immediately Went There…


Westworld, but… uh… very nearly family-friendly?

Reader Interactions

52Comments

  1. 1.

    Spanky

    My mind wants to turn “SW” into “Southwest”. I don’t think it means what I want it to mean

    ETA: At least my brain has gotten past making “VC” mean “Viet Cong”. Only took 20 years.

  2. 2.

    Ken

    Just when the insurance industry was beginning to get a handle on covering driverless cars….

    (EDIT: Referring to the Disney robots, not to Onlyfans.)

  3. 3.

    Urza

    Disney owns The Simpsons now.  You would think some executive would remember the Itchy and Scratchy Land episode.

  5. 5.

    Jerzy Russian

    I am happy to report that I did not know what OnlyFans was coming into this post, and I still don’t know what it is coming out.

  6. 6.

    Poe Larity

    And here I was thinking “Germany or Florida?” had been replaced by “Texas or Taliban?”

    We could do a horror movie with Mickey Robots everywhere.

  8. 8.

    Jerzy Russian

    @Spanky:   I don’t know what that SW is either.  Would it kill people to reread what they write and correct points of possible confusion?

  9. 9.

    RaflW

    I already have a severe case of dark ages dyspepsia (as a friend puts it). Maybe its from reading a lot of SF as a young person — and some recently, like William Gibson’s Jackpot Trilogy.
    This post is not helping.

  10. 10.

    Nicole

    There are going to be so many videos of people being sexually inappropriate with those poor robots.  Only Fans will have to reconsider its content decision.

  13. 13.

    RaflW

    @RaflW: eta I shoulda just said “The Peripheral” as I haven’t read book two, and book three doesn’t exist. I was thinking that one of Gibsons other recent books had been book one. Oops.

  14. 14.

    Rocks

    Wait, wait – I saw this one…it was with Will Smith and Bridget Moynihan! It had a happy ending (after the fact), but it didn’t end well for the creators.

  16. 16.

    Mary G

    I have no qualms about the robots, but a few bad apples in the paying customers class will do stupid things to them hoping for a viral selfie and there will be injuries, broken robots, crying, lawsuits all won by Disney, and a host of lifetime  bans from all Disney properties.

  18. 18.

    FlyingToaster

    What’s bizarre is that there’s a LOT of SFW content at OnlyFans; one (webcomic) artist my teen is into has all of their merch on sale there.  We got 2 sweatshirts, a pair of socks and a straw-cup — “we” meaning I, age 60, ordered merch as requested once I’d reviewed the links.  No different than YouTooz or Redbubble or Zazzle or CafePress.  Little kids, or even young teens, ain’t got no credit cards, or PayPal accounts.

    SMDH

  19. 19.

    waratah

    If you are able to tape Lawrence O’Donnell he has a really good show tonight.

    He is trying to educate the difference between Vietnam and what is happening Afghanistan now.

  20. 20.

    dexwood

    Dear Balloon Juice After Dark, today I bought new flip flops and a bottle of vegetable oil……

  21. 21.

    hrprogressive

    I have no interest in participating in OnlyFans as a user, or performer, but I thought it was a reasonable outlet for consenting adults to engage in consenting adult behavior.

    I hope there is a mass exodus.

    And frankly, I wish I had the VC to take up the mantle.

    Again, not out of any prurient needs of my own. Just because there should be a way for people to do what people want to do, in a way that is not sketchy. And no, the acts performed, again, among consenting adults, are not inherently sketchy.

  22. 22.

    Quinerly

    The original West World with Yul Brynner scared the shit out of me. Watched it again sometime in the last year. Still rattled me all these years later.

  23. 23.

    gwangung

    @Nicole: 

    No, they won’t. Not when they are being threatened by Visa, Mastercard AND the banks.

    And not just the business…the top executives personally.

    (You know…the way we should approach white collar crime?)

  24. 24.

    Chetan Murthy

    OK, so, to um, Zeddy’s thesis (on making enough $$ to terraform Mars): I thought there was a long-running joke about people who pay for pr0n ?

  25. 25.

    RSA

    @Jerzy Russian:   I don’t know what that SW is either.  Would it kill people to reread what they write and correct points of possible confusion?

    Huh. I assumed “software” because “software platform” is a very common term in information technology.  But I have to agree with other commenters that “sex worker” is probably intended.

  26. 26.

    Major Major Major Major

    The first VC firm to understand the overwhelming market demand for both a safe, fair, enduring SW platform for performers and a secure, non-money laundering-adjacent payment system for users is going to have enough money to terraform Mars.

    Riiight because the problem is VCs not identifying this obvious market… rather than the fact that it’s horribly complicated.

  28. 28.

    Sister Golden Bear

    Only Fans without sexy, sexy is like Fox News without racism — their business model is gone.

    I have a friend who’s developed a quite revenue stream there — yes, she’s a sex worker, and Only Fans enabled her to become a successful, self-employeed businesswoman who’s not dependent on the skeevy (and men dominated) pron industry.

    It’s the latest in series of moves — thanks SESTA/FOSTA — that’s pushing sex workers further underground into more and more dangerous working conditions, while doing fuck all toward reducing actual sex trafficking.

  34. 34.

    randy khan

    I don’t frequent OnlyFans, but it’s always been my impression that the stuff they’re about to kick off is what actually makes money for the site.  (And, if I believe the article I just read on Slate, it’s a way safer space for sex workers than most any other choice.)  So this seems like not a great business decision.

    I mean, it’s great to have good relationships with banks, but those relationships tend to go south pretty quickly when you can’t pay your bills.

  36. 36.

    Nicole

    @Captain C:

    Now I can totally see people making inappropriate videos with the Star Wars robots set loose around Disney.  Thanks.

    I worry for Babu Frik.

  37. 37.

    Leslie

    @Quinerly: Same reaction to the original, but I haven’t rewatched it yet. I should do that.

    @Sister Golden Bear: It’s disgusting that these companies can throttle non-harmful adult content because … why? Why do they keep getting their panties in a twist? I don’t understand it.

    On a completely different note, I got a text message tonight from one of the Democrats on the Newsom recall ballot.

  41. 41.

    Another Scott

    I have only read about this here, but from the “Deltaone” tweets above, I kinda wonder how much of the pressure is coming from HR at the banks.

    “Our M&A and Private Banking groups are wasting too much time on OnlyFans during work, and there’s potential embarrassment for the company if their usernames are hacked! Shut it down!!1”

    :-/

    I thought smart people were wanting to make uncontrollable finance like Bitcoin less appealing??

    (sigh)

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  46. 46.

    MobiusKlein

    The fraud rate on porn sites is very high.

    Add in anti money laundering, and legal exposure for enabling underage experiences, and you get a feeling why banks and credit card industry don’t like the profit margins

  49. 49.

    Ruckus

    @waratah: 
    You are correct, that is one of the best commentaries I’ve ever heard any newsperson say on TV.
    And he’s right. No war ends well for the country that loses. And yes we lost because there was never any winning that fight. Joe Biden knew this in 2009 and he knows it now. Lawrence said it well. War is hell, in the beginning, in the middle and the only thing that makes the end a bit less hell is not losing. And he’s right that Vietnam was far worse. Far more people died in Vietnam, something like 20 times more than in Afghanistan and in just over half as many years. And the thing is that we were never going to win in Afghanistan. NEVER. Not in 20 yrs and not in 40.

  50. 50.

    J R in WV

    Only way to win in Afghanistan was to move all the females to another culture, and all their children with them. Leave the Taliban with no one to mistreat/rape.

    And there would still be captives that were hidden away and thus not rescued from the culture… so mot really possible, all the remaining captive women and children would be the worst losers in history.

    Really, tho, that’s the SciFi way to win, and in real SciFi something horrilfic would go wrong with that plot..

  52. 52.

    Anonymous At Work

    @MobiusKlein: Yeah, just gotta figure out how to make registration and validation rigorous enough to weed out fraud and money laundering but not so tough that fans and SWs feel too intimidated to use it.

    Granted, I think M^4 (I shall call him Caleb) has the right take, that the fraud, creepsters and money-launders want this more than SWs and fans do.

Comments are closed.