You have to *ask* why I say this?
The real Victorians may have claimed to look down upon a lot... but they were a lot closer to reality. Read about what life was really like...and remember that the majority of the population was not even middle class, but lower and/or working class (a class much put down in this country, as though someone who actually *makes* something should be looked down on). The story is that even Queen Victoria used to run around the Palace, at night, in the nude, on occasion (and how do you think she had 8 kids?).
This country, on the other hand...where do I start?
How 'bout tv and movies? We constantly hear how Uprightstanding Moral Folks don't want to send a Message To The Children that free sex is Bad, and insist on warnings, and prior censorship, of adult shows. When have any of the same folks that say that, asked for the same for war, or crime, or old John Wayne cowboy movies, with folks being shot, left and right? Either the shows send a message, in which case, is the message we want to send to our kids that killing is good, and violence and murder is good? If, on the other hand, they don't send a message, then what right do they have to insist on censorship of adult shows? Hell, what right does anyone have to insist on that, anyway?
The conservatives go on and on about "smaller government"...but want, in reality, to make government larger, obviously, since they want to enforce this censorship.
Nuditiy in general is a joke in this country. When I told a friend about a "clothing-optional" event I'd gone to, their reaction was, "why would you want to show off your body to everyone?", as though that were the only possible reason. If you want to debate this with me, I'd like you to start out by explaining the function, and functionality, of your typical modern bathing suit...and what reason there is for its existance. As an excercise, pretend you're trying to explain this to a Martian, who has fur, and doesn't wear clothes.
For that matter, it is a matter of court record (ref. available upon request) that, at a hearing about a nude beach in Florida, one elderly lady (in the opposition) actually said, "if we were meant to run around naked, we would have been born naked!".
Or, as my friend said in the first tirade, take the specifically political arena. Why didn't Newt the Grinch resign, the same way he forced Jake Pickle of Texas to resign, for exactly the same reason - a sweetheart book deal?
And then there's the question of televangelistas. God, Himself, held Anal Roberts hostage, for ransom? Know anyone stupid enough to give him money? Obviously, a lot of folks did. Or who decided to forgive Bakker, other than Jeezuz calling him up on the telephone, and telling him directly?
Think this isn't spread everywhere, even though hardly anyone is descended from them Puritans? A friend, who'd spent time over in the UK, commented to me that you couldn't find a British-style pub in this country. Over there, he said, they were family places, where oyu brought the kids, and had meals, and conversations with friends. Here, most of them have the lights so dim that you can hardly see who you're with (you wouldn't want to be seen in a drinking establishment, would you?), and the music (or sports) is so loud that you can't hear them, unless you scream in their ear.
Now let's talk about politicians. The "general opinion" seems to be that
"all poiticians are crooked"...except, sometimes, one's own. Since I have
this weird idea that we live in a republic, this leads to some difficult
questions:
Are you a sucker?
(To be continued)