The Slate piece is larger in Scale than this smaller topic.

Post #386,922 by Ashton 2/26/14 6:04:26 AM Reply	The Slate piece is larger in Scale than this smaller topic. (Making it 'meta-' to this more pedestrian argument about the effects of certain mindsets.) It goes to (tries-to and IMO largely succeeds) where the Deepest-repressed Âearz are to be found ... by the spelunking-est shrinks: In Murican men. Have stayed out of this progression until it went its course. Don't mean to pile-on, if it seems the case. I have long held the opinion that the root-cause of many Murican idiocies can be laid on a bunion at the feet of the earliest fucking-Puritans. (And this is unsurprising: the prime characteristic of the -call it- Mindset of Certainty? is acted-out in precisely such a manner): See it: in the condescending/Boolean-tested essays of one marlowe or in a member of that Baptist Church Hatemonger National-icon du jour. In a Universe of Uncertainties/one where the Principle of Uncertaint(ies) Rulez even our physics! an individual's possession-of [possession-By] Certainty ..is impervious, is incorrigible: as it derives from the Emotional brain being allowed to trump the Intellectual brain: with no 'contest' being allowed. Thus, for most Muricans, the experimentation of a nascent human being is perpetually stunted in this culture, a fact I noticed in my several schools, along with the pig-ignorance + hypocrisy [My 'experiments' are OK but ... ... Yours are Sinful cha. cha. cha.] Our porn is further proof: artful Erotica is a rarity in the banal in'n'outs of the popular offerings, alleged to be 'about sex'. More human/humane and advanced cultures--inherently see the Ugly difference 'twixt the two ideas. And laugh derisively at our artless, juvenile hack-work. (Ex: ?? Read some Anais Nin--for just a few examples of pukka-Erotica.) I could give clear examples of the forced-dichotomy of this issue, as it affected relations with a few cohorts, or such recognized as possible peers --from childhood on, but ... too many words. And a digression.) Back to the Scale of this brouhaha--'framed' as 'a legal issue' re. "Commerce": ALL entirely arbitrary constructs, codifications of Puritan-defined 'attitudes' --as must be followed, IF you want to coexist in a Murican milieu, without daily bloodied noses or fists. IMO, Mike's exploration of (an as yet unwritten Sonata and Variations) advancing various rationalizations on 'denial of service', in the service of manifesting Free Will as an individual / within a culture which also demands certain conformities (??) could.. be taken as a certain laudable Effort--maybe even to break the never-mentioned Puritan Covenant? But I don't Think So, thus must withhold the epaulets and Orchid-cluster which that should merit (by my lights--the only ones I can see by.) Nope, this has been a bug-hunt for mere rationalizations, advanced by conflating Principled IssuesÂ with a mere personal mindset towards ..the behavior of others which does-Not coincide with What I Prefer (for Me.) That is my inference from the phrasing and the content of the rationalizations tried within this thread. I admit my bias: the Puritans were nasty (wannabe-) mofos who evangelized from imagined Certainties: the Way You* should look at the world. Period. * Who? amongst this tribe, would dare to reveal-to-self: ~~ Wow.. ain't she a MILF!! Let. Alone. ... Wow.. ain't he a GILF!! I cannot ascribe Mike's 'bias' as self-evident to him and I bloody-well won't judge from that ignorance. All I can summarize with, is: Your Right to 'Be/to Express! Yourself' Ends--where Your disapproval interferes with My ability to be left. alone. by Others of your mindset. Some.. and Way-too-many-Here: rabble with guns. (Once expressed by.. Dear Lord--please protect me from your Followers.) My 2 kopeks. Law above fear, justice above law, mercy above justice, love above all.
Post #386,933 by mmoffitt 2/26/14 9:58:32 AM Reply	If I have such a bias, I am unaware of it. One of my late father's closest friends was for years a closeted gay man (it wouldn't do in the 1960's and 1970's to "come out" when you were a high school teacher - even in Southern California). He did come out finally, leaving his wife and dying of AIDS a handful of years later. Then in the late 1970's I was arrested for failing to appear for a traffic citation. I was 18 then and taken to LA County Jail. I was terrified and called my then best friend, a bisexual man living with his ex-homosexual lover in Hollywood. He bailed me out and I spent the night at his and his ex's apartment. They had friends (all gay, not that it matters) over and they all tried to cheer me up. Later we went out to a bar (yes, one of those bars). I never felt uncomfortable in such situations. Nor have I ever felt uncomfortable in the presence of non-hetero folks since. I do remember feeling odd about not being hit on (as someone here said) at the bar we went to that night and my gay friends all laughed and said, "You can smell the straight on you." I've heard that, too, from current lesbian friends. I'm not sure if that's a complement, but I've heard it several times from several different people so maybe it's true. With one exception (and it was a business oriented problem, nothing at all to do with lifestyle), all of my personal interactions with gay people have been pleasant experiences. I do not feel hatred toward homosexual people. If I have a bias against them, I'm completely unaware of it and cannot imagine from whence this bias came.
Post #386,935 by a6l6e6x 2/26/14 10:07:23 AM Reply	Re: "a business oriented problem" And in another post you mentioned the continual erosion of "rights". There was a right to work 9 year old boys 14 hours a day in coal mines. Gone! There was a right to have to have indentured servants. Gone! There was a right to own slaves. Gone! Where will it end? :) Alex ÂThere is a cult of ignorance in the United States, and there has always been. The strain of anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that "my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge.Â -- Isaac Asimov
Post #386,936 by mmoffitt 2/26/14 10:09:42 AM Reply	Indeed. :0) What we need is a strict dictatorship of the People.
Post #386,964 by Ashton 2/26/14 5:04:00 PM Reply	Who (first) said..? "The people is an ass." (Before 'Ass-hat' was coined ... to save words?)

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