  Beware the Religious Right, they only want to Flock You
4/6/2005 15:23:00
It's been said that if the current US administration wasn't hell bent on
a war with Iraq, they would be focusing all their attention on American
morality. Namely on these fronts: First Amendment Rights, The Rights of
Women, and a complete dis-service to our gay population. We should ban porn (in any form, ideally, but starting with the
internet), and we should return women's health & reproductive rights to
the states similarly held in 'those wicked Arab countries.' Gays can't
really exist here. We won't let them on our ark. Women, including those damn annoying lesbians, should be barefoot,
pregnant, & married to men who are not allowed to view naked women - even
though they will desire women, because a man who looks upon another man
is the worst abomination. If this is your image of
the ideal America, then stop reading, turn on Rush Limbaugh, and ask
where the hell dinner is, because I guarantee you won't like what I have
to say. Beginning with 'internet porn,' the thought process is
'remove the evil source of raging libidos, not only will Americans
stop having any physical relations until wed, but those smut peddlers
won't be able to coerce & train our fine men & women into
homosexuality.' If we take away those evil pursuits that make a sane
man act impulsively insane, we'll all be better off!  It is my
personal belief that the current administration is living under the
overly-simplistic notion that we can all return to a simpler, easier
time, if we all regress as a society, we will be not only be God's little
sheep, but the government's (white, heterosexual & patriarchal) sheep as
well. This is just plain dumb. Didn't these folks go
to school? Have they learned nothing from the fundamentalist blunders of
the past? Replace the words 'internet porn' with
'liquor' and what have you got? Prohibition, folks. Did prohibition
work? The issue at hand, people, is not 'internet porn,' just as
prohibition was not just about liquor. It was about a culture clash in
our society. The 1920's gave birth to 'modern values.' Values that
emphasized youth, self-fulfillment -- all challenging the traditional
values. These 'modern values' brought women to work in the cities, as a
result, men & women (heavens!) were drinking in clubs. Of course we must
turn-back the clock to good-old-fashioned-traditional-family values. We
must get back to fundamentals!  The easy start was for
fundamentals to restrict liquor: if they can't control themselves, we
will put an end to the vice that destroys them! And prohibitionists were
born. But the prohibitionists had more than just
problems with their logic; prohibitionists just didn't like 'others.'
Prohibitionists had nativist attitudes. They disliked immigrants. This
was in part because it was considered that consumption of alcohol was an
important part of many immigrants lives, especially Catholic immigrant
cultures. But it also had a lot to do with 'those folks with their
different religions & ways,' and sure, I bet those darn immigrants 'took'
their jobs... Also, prohibitionists referred to
ideas from eugenics, a science popular during this era that dealt with
the improvement of the white race through hereditary engineering. Their
claim was that alcohol would 'poison the white race and make it
impure.' And then there was the second coming of the Ku Klux
Klan.  The KKK revived itself in the 1920's as a
popular organization that attracted men & women who resisted modern
values and 'loose' morals. This second coming of the Klan added
anti-Catholic, anti-immigrant, and anti-feminist sentiments to the
anti-black stance. It was noted that "support for Prohibition
represented the single most important bond between Klansmen throughout
the nation." Gee, if we substitute 'internet porn' for 'liquor,'
can't we substitute 'gays' for 'anti-Catholics?' Blacks are now
African-Americans, and immigrants are now called 'foreigners.' And
obviously, the KKK's little regard for women, barefoot, pregnant &
sitting at home bleaching their whites, remains rather on target I
see... But several groups were protesting efficiently. And
some of them made some pretty darn good sense: "If ninety per cent
of our people must be protected against their own personal desires and
inclinations by . . . the remaining ten per cent, the United States has
ceased to be a Republic. The people do not govern themselves but are in
the hands of dictators whose self-assumed superiority decide personal as
well as public affairs."
From Pierre Du Pont, AAPA pamphlet: A
Business Man's View of Prohibition, 1929 Eventually reason was
heard. One of the main reasons prohibition failed, and so quickly (13
years), was that it was not enforceable. Anyone with the money or the
connection could get liquor. There were speakeasies, bootleggers &
gangsters, any one of which would help you for a price. And so, the
wealthy & privileged in this country will not loose access to abortions
either. Supposing Bush & the members of his
administration missed all those history classes, knew nothing of the
prohibition years, what about the current fundamentalist movements?
The current administration derides the current
fanatical fundamentalists in other countries, with other religions, yet
copy not only the failed reasoning but the same tactics as these
'heathens.' Is porn to blame for the sexual behavior of 'kids today?'
Is porn to blame for unwanted pregnancies? Will making abortions & the
morning after pill illegal stop the immoral behavior? Duh, I think
not. Sheep in the Fundamentalist Flock? Does
porn 'talk folks into joining the homosexual population?' Umm, Bush, read
a book, any accredited study on homosexuality will do. (Contact me, I'll
help you read the big words & even help define them for you.) Bush et
all mock 'those countries' for their backward ways, the lack of women's
rights, the abuse of persons & denials of rights based on 'God's Word,'
and yet what are they trying to do here? If the administration doesn't
notice the irony of their own actions at home, as they pass off rhetoric
about 'those poor imprisoned Iraqis with no freedoms,' well, I do.
But what I want to know is: will it take us 13 years
of stupidity for us to learn this lesson all over again? (Hint:
Bush was re-elected.) © DeeDee, my friend & a Sex-Kitten columnist, who says "Beware the Religious Right, they only want to Flock You."
Reader Comments: No Comments At This Time.
Back To Blog
| 
